UCLA Appeal -- Class of 2024

Colleges and Universities A-Z New York University
1

I am strongly considering appealing my UCLA rejection and was wondering what some successful appeal letters have included in the past. I’ll be totally honest, though I do have some unique circumstances in my life that were present both during my college application process (my Mom having Stage 3 colon cancer) and now (a close 19-year-old family friend dying from cancer), I am not sure how/if those should be mentioned in my appeal.

I have read a billion times over that you should only appeal if you have truly EXTENUATING circumstances (which I don’t feel like I do) but I’m desperate.

Here is some context about me:

I applied to the Computer Science major in the engineering school.

Unweighted GPA: 3.98 (all As and A+s throughout HS with 2 B+s)
Weighted GPA: 4.24 (every school weights differently for ex. mine doesn’t weigh honors courses)
SAT: 1530 (780 on math, 750 on English)
SAT Subject: 800 on Math Lvl 2, 790 on Chem
APs: APCS A (5), AP Chem (5), AP Psych (5), AP Calc AB (5), AP Lang (4)
Current APs: AP Macro, AP Micro, AP Calc BC – My school also has these courses equivalent to APs called “ATs” and I currently take 2, AT Computational Physics (equivalent to AP Physics 1) and AT Computer Science (course after AP Comp Sci A, partially based off the discontinued AP Comp Sci AB exam)
Recommendations: Besides the one from my college counselor (which I think was strong based off the fact I knew her very well as we went on a service trip and she was the sponsor), one was written by my AP Chem teacher and one by my AP Lang teacher (both of which I had a good relationship, especially with my English teacher as he was also my fo rmer sports coach and he taught me for 2 years)
ECs: I filled out all 10 slots, most prominent activities were my involvement in dance (I’m part of my school’s dance company and am an organizer/choreographer of my school’s middle school program), paid summer internship at a tech-startup, service volunteering in my school’s Elementary school, and event management for various service events and my school’s TEDxYouth@SAS event.
Essays: Obviously those are very subjective if anyone’s curios I’ll share haha

For reference, other school’s I’ve gotten into are Carnegie Mellon University (School of Computer Science), UMich (College of Engineering, Early Action), UCSD, Northeastern (with scholarship), UBC (with scholarship)

Yes, I have heard a billion times over that I have gotten into great schools (notably CMU and UMich) with great programs for my field but living in a big city and having a school that’s super spirited has always been incredibly important to me – and I feel like I’m giving those things up by attending either of those schools. I wanted to apply to USC (though I know it’s still a prestigious school, I feel like I had a better chance) but my parents (who aren’t very knowledgable about the college process in the US) refused to let me apply so now well here I am. I don’t know.

2

Why don’t you just go to CMU or UMich? Focus on and cherish the achievements you already have! I’m not exactly sure myself, but I feel like appeals should be on something significant that impacted your academic career. It seems as if your grades and SAT are high enough for the situation to seem unnecessarily mentioned (despite your situation being entirely valid). If it didn’t affect your academic career, then what will UCLA look at with this new information?

3

@bryanngocpham B/c I don’t like the location of both and specifically the campus of CMU. Have also not heard great things about social life at CMU. My ultimate goal in uni is to be happy. That’s what I was asking, what other reasons can I give in an appeal/what reasons have been given in the past?

4

You can always try appealing using personal attributes because that must’ve been the flaw in your last application. With your stats, you were extremely qualified for UCLA. Now it’s your job to describe your difficult situation and connect it back to 1) why you didn’t put it into the application in the first place? 2) why did this hardship make you a better fit for UCLA? I advise against just using random insignificant information as that can sound desperate on paper. You need to have gone through something that really changed your attitude or made you really strong.

5

@sushi48. UCLA does not consider an applicants level of interest in their admission decisions and they really do not care you do not like your other choices. You need to appeal based on new information not presented in your original application. What has changed that makes you the right student for UCLA? What can you contribute to the campus and student body if you attend?