Should I appeal?

Applying to College
1

<p>I just got rejected to 5/6 of the universities I applied to. Well, I haven't checked UCB yet but I'm not holding my breath.</p>

<p>If I were to appeal, I would have these as components:</p>

<p>-My brother's arrest late in my Junior year. He was arrested for graffiti and drug paraphernalia. This affected me by having to drive him to court, probation offices, drug classes and had incredible affects on my parents. He is the only brother I have and the event had me prioritizing him over myself especially in school. I still managed to passed all of my AP tests but my GPA suffered.</p>

<p>-As Senior Class Vice President, I was elected by the senior class. Unfortunately, last year's officers had left the senior class funds in debt to the ASB by about only $100 due to ordering too many things and not being able to sell them. We risked cancelling our prom/gradnight/other senior activities. The elected President pretty much ran for office for the title to put in his applications. However due to a whole lot of charisma and perseverance, I asked for unity in our senior class and small community to raise over $7,500 to our class funds through T-Shirts and selling food at football games/after school. This effort is continuing as we reach our prom in May. </p>

<p>-An alumni from our school passed away last summer and our school worked together to create a scholarship program for his name.</p>

<p>-This year, 3 of my relatives (my grandparents' brothers and sister) passed away. Two of which were in the same week during school. </p>

<p>-Another student from our school passed away but he was my teammate/close friend/classmate. I congregated with my other close friend and we arranged a vigil a night after his death over social media. We were surprised with hundreds of people at our school. Noticing the affect of our message, we also created a memorial service at the nearby church as well as a fundraiser at a restaurant to aid his family. The experience was astounding and being a pallbearer for someone your age and someone you've played sports/had classes with is an incredible experience. Although this event has a less than pronounced effect on my academics, I think it could help show what kind of person I am and it does apply as new information. In no way do I mean to seem arrogant, though.</p>

<p>-I was elected by my entire school to be on the homecoming court. I was the only one on the court to not be a basketball player, football player or be over 5'8". I do not have an athletic body nor am I an exceptionally handsome man, but a lot of people have told me they wanted me on the court due to my character.</p>

<p>-Won Most Congenial in Yearbook. (lol)</p>

<p>I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything, but through my experiences in high school I feel I have taken up characteristics of someone with a lot of charisma and leadership.</p>

<p>For background, here were stats in my application</p>

<p>GPA: ~3.89 UC GPA (I am not exactly sure. It is in the range.)
SAT I: 1720
(I do think these are the reasons for my rejections. They are very low. The majors I applied for are too competitive for me to be considered, I think. Immense regret.)
Extracurricular:
Varsity Lacrosse 2 yrs
Varsity Wrestling 3 yrs
ASB Leadership Commissioner
Senior Class Vice President
Awards:
Mesa League Champions (2 years/Back2Back for Wrestling)
Union Tribune Athlete-Scholar
AP Scholar with Honor
CSF Scholar
Personal Statements:
I used to think they were great, but overlooking them now they seem mediocre and do not distance me from everyone else. I will always regret not having better essays.</p>

<p>Other questions I have would be
-I heard you may have up to two letters of recommendation? I plan on appealing to UCSD, UCLA (maybe?) and UCSB. Would I need to have 6 people write letters of rec? Would I also need to write a different appeal for the three schools?</p>

<p>Thanks so much for any insight. I know UCs are very discouraging of appeals which is why I would rather not embarrass myself further as I know I got rejected with a thorough review of my application. :&lt;/p>

2

<p>Where did you apply? It sounds like you applied to a lot of reach schools and no safeties. </p>

<p>Not sure whether these factors would make a difference for an appeal. You might consider going to community college for 2 years and transferring</p>

3

<p>I am sorry for your losses, and I’m sorry you’ve been disappointed by the results of your college search and applications.</p>

<p>I’m also sorry to say, I will eat my hat if anything you’ve said here makes a difference. </p>

<p>Your brother was arrested a year ago. If that had a significant impact on your schooling, the time to mention it was in your applications, or (better) in your guidance counselor’s recommendation. If it didn’t merit a mention then, it will ring hollow now.</p>

<p>You lost three great aunts and uncles. My condolences. But I don’t think losing three grandparents, let alone three great aunts and uncles, is a basis for revisiting an admissions decision. </p>

<p>You lost a friend and teammate. Again, my condolences. But every school year many schools experience the untimely death of a student (or several); it doesn’t get the senior class into college.</p>

<p>You were elected to student leadership positions. Then you led. Presumably, the colleges you applied to already knew you had been elected to these positions. They expected you to be leading.</p>

<p>By and large, you’re missing the point of college admissions. It’s not about whether you’re a great person. It’s about how well you do the job of being a student. Extracurricular accomplishments and character and all that other stuff really only function as tiebreakers at highly selective colleges that have far more applicants who are academically well qualified than they can possibly accept. Those colleges and universities will deny your appeal because they are full. And colleges and universities that aren’t quite that selective will deny your appeal because you’re basing it in things that, to be candid, are less important to them than your transcript and your SAT scores.</p>

<p>The thing to do now is to plot your best path forward, not to try for another run over the path you’ve just traveled.</p>

4

<p>The only thing I see that could possibly warrant an appeal was the situation with your brother’s arrest. If you did not mention it in your application (which you probably should have) you may have grounds for an appeal. Honestly, I don’t think you have the best chances of getting the rejection reversed. </p>

<p>However, if you want to appeal, appeal. The worst thing that could happen is they say no again. Best of luck to you! Hopefully you are happy wherever you are in the fall! :)</p>

<p>P.S. I don’t think UCSD or UCSB are accepting letters of rec. any more. I know UCLA doesn’t.</p>

5

<p>@crizello
I applied to SLO, SDSU, UCI, UCLA, UCB, UCSD and UCSB. I honestly thought my stats were at least competitive enough to land a spot at SB, Irvine and SLO. I’m admitted to SDSU though, thank goodness. I knew LA, SD and Cal were definite long shots though.</p>

<p>@Sikorsky
Thank you for the very in depth response and words of wisdom. I’m not trying to use sympathy to persuade the admissions office, it’s more revealing things that I lacked in my application that would reason for my rather diminished GPA. Though, I really get your perspective in that I am losing track in what the admissions office actually wants; high grades/high SATs. ECs are only there to push me if there is someone else that has the same/lower stats as me and with my grades I just wasn’t competitive enough.</p>

<p>@India2013
The only place I would put it would be in my essays, correct? I wasn’t really focused on what was holding me back in school but what would make me a good candidate. I messed up a lot on my application, especially in my descriptions/essays and I guess the appeal is a way for me to desperately try and have them look at me again. My brother’s arrest is actually new information. Although he was arrested in the late Junior year semester, his probationary period didn’t start until the Winter time after the court dates were finished. That was when he I had to drive him to do community service at thrift shops, meetings for the addicted and etc.
Thanks for the heads up! Another question (if I actually go through with this appeal), I wanted to know how the appeal process worked. Would they read my appeal and then look back at my application? What are the components of the appeal? I know it’s a written letter with my seventh semester transcript. Anything else?</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the replies. They help a lot!</p>

6

<p>I’m not really sure how the appeal process works (I am appealing this year as well for UCLA). From what I have read however it seems like UCLA and UCSD don’t want letters of rec or even transcripts, just the your letter (I could be wrong though).
I think that your brothers arrest could be grounds for an appeal, but it would be a reach. I would still give it a try though, at least for UCSB and UCI.</p>

7

<p>Your GPA seems really good for some of the schools. I think it’s your SAT score that’s low. Was your SAT affected by anything? </p>

<p>I really don’t want to sound harsh or anything, I think you have some incredible stories and that you accomplished a great deal more than I did in high school but I just don’t see it making a huge difference. But if you want to, appeal! Like another poster said, it can’t hurt.</p>

8

<p>If you feel like it could make a difference, go ahead and appeal. You can talk to your GC about this. In my experience, tough life experiences come across a lot better to admissions offices when presented by the GC, teacher or someone else in the school. That said, top school tend to take these things into account when a student excels despite these ordeals, but not as a reason for not making the mark. IMO your grades and SAT are not up to par for those schools. But you have these stories brewing in you so use the energy to write your appeals, enlisting your GC’s aid.</p>

<p>Then forget about the whole thing and look at what other options you have and use your energy and resources to pursue them. If the appeal comes through, great, but do not waste time counting on it. Appeals rarely work. The only ones I have seen work, and even they do not most of the time, is when there has been and out and out mistake.</p>