I recently got rejected by UC Davis and waitlisted by UCSD. My GPA is 4.25 W and 3.69 UW. The problem is I took a lot of weighted classes, but would often get B’s, explaining my low unweighted. First semester senior year, I got all As taking 3 AP classes(AP Physics 2, APES, AB Calc) which I feel is a better representation of my ability than my sophomore and junior years. Should I appeal my decisions?
Everyone else is being rated by their 10th and 11th grade coursework. By senior year, most students have figured out how to study for AP classes.
The California publics have been inundated with applications and are impacted in almost all of the majors.
An appeal only works if there is NEW and COMPELLING evidence that someone made an error; the school made an clerical error or something like a traumatic medical emergency that took months of rehab and you have paperwork to prove that.
There are a lot of factors that goes into college decisions so it might not have been your GPA/stats that is the problem. Is UCSD your first choice? If I was in your situation and UCSD is my first choice then I would appeal since it wouldn’t hurt (in my opinion).
However I don’t think your explanation is compelling enough for them to change their decision.
My understanding for at least UCSD, you cannot appeal a waitlist decision. Place yourself on the waitlist and see what happens. Doing well Senior year is expected since all admission decisions are provisional. Good grades is not considered new or compelling information which is what is needed for an appeal. With luck, you will get in from the waitlist.