Hey guys I was going to appeal to UCSB I know my chances are super low but I had a lot of family issues that I didn’t address which explains my low GPA and showcases how it affected me through high school keep in mind I had 13 AP classes and 4 honors so I definitely wasn’t slacking off in high school Tell me if you would admit me off what I’m saying and if not please tell me what I can do to improve it thank you so much for your time guys!
Dear Admissions committee,
After careful consideration we are unable to offer you admission as a freshman for the Fall of 2017. ” Every year students receive rejection letters like this, dismayed at the results of their four years of perseverance and hard work. UCSB was no exception to me. Having family currently attend UCSB for their undergraduate studies and visiting Santa Barbara numerous times during the summer I began to cherish Santa Barbara as a place of serenity as well as a hub full of intellectuals who are committed to enshrining the belief of “independent thought, critical reasoning, and creativity”. While I am humbled to be evaluated by such a thoughtful and astute committee of talented individuals at UCSB whose decision I completely respect, I have new information to bring to light to showcase the struggles I had to overcome in these past four years and how I overcame those struggles to flourish into the resilient and curious student I am today. I hope the new information I present is important enough to show that out of all the amazing colleges I applied to and have considered UCSB has a special place in my heart and is the type of campus and environment I know I can prosper and succeed in.
My mother immigrated to the USA when she was around 15 years old and my father immigrated here after he finished up college in India. They came here without knowing a soul except for my mothers immediate family and fathers cousins. Since my parents are both very introverted they maintained a close relationship with my moms immediate family which then ended up making me form a close bond with my cousin Nevin who is currently at UCSB in the graduating class of 2020. Nevin and I were very close and had many amazing memories as we grew up until one day my parents and his parents had an altercation which severed that bond and did not allow us to see each other for over ten years. After I received my driver’s license in the spring of 2016 I would visit Nevin as his parents did not have a problem with my brothers and sisters but mainly my parents. After I met Nevin for the first time in over ten years it was like I had somewhat kept in touch with him over those eight years and it was as if our relationship between each other had rekindled. I want to go to UCSB to continue to foster and rekindle that relationship and make up for the lost time that was lost between us as Nevin is an amazing person and is willing to help anyone out especially me when needed.
Despite my resilient nature there were situations that broke me and affected my performance in school but I trudged on and continued to perform at the best of my abilities. My parents during my upbringing have had many marital problems and constantly have had arguments which I have come to ignore and just focus in my studies, but one time one of these arguments resulted in my father leaving my house for over two months. During my spring term finals week of sophomore year my parents got in a very heated argument and as a result my father walked out of the house giving us no whereabouts of where he went and who he was staying with. My mother started telling us he had actually left and would not come back which greatly stressed me and deter my performance yielding results I hadn’t had aspirations for in the beginning of the term. I thought I was going to have to start working to provide for my younger brother and sister and began to worry about having to become a “father” of the house for such as young age. I remember going into my Spanish class about to take my final when I received an email from my father saying to not be stressed out and to do good on finals. The message broke my heart as my dad hadn’t said a word to us for over two weeks I originally went into that term with a 4.3 and expecting to ace my finals but clouded by my father’s words and filled with dread I failed my finals and my resulting GPA became a 3.75. Over the summer I tried to focus on my volunteer work at Yuba City Care Center determined to succeed in school and leave my parents and get away from their problems and not to follow in their footsteps. Their problems seeped well into my junior year of high school and made it difficult to balance my extracurricular and arduous schedule. But with hard work and the right mindset I was able to overcome my situation and do well that year getting A’s in classes I originally struggled with such as AP Calculus BC and AP US History.
My junior year I started talking to Nevin again, and started questioning him about his plans after high school to which he told me he wanted to go to UCSB and major in economics in hopes of running his father’s company. I kept UCSB in mind and when I reached home after visiting him I religiously researched UCSB and fell in love with the campus. Beautiful beaches, intriguing academics it had all the amenities I wanted in one and it was a place I could stay and catch up with Nevin again. I found out Alumni such as Benjamin Halpern, Ph.D. had attend there and had become exceptional in their field, winning awards such as A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences. Since one of my side hobbies is environmental activism UCSB would be perfect for me to test my skills as an activist and would help me communicate my goals and spread the benefits of protecting beautiful environments like those at Santa Barbara for many people to enjoy many years in the long run. I have a huge interest in joining A.S. Recycling club at UCSB as their mission of “true environmental progress requires direct, hands-on action and personal responsibility, not just ideals and slogans” aligns exactly with my motives of preserving this beautiful campus and making it accessible to all as I believe active participation and telling people personally to take care of the environment is a much better than sticking signs up and hoping that people will do the right thing and preserve our environment.
I want to thank you for reviewing my application a second time as UCSB remains my top choice and has manifested into a personal dream of mine to achieve. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for all of us and with that being said I hope I can become a Gaucho in the upcoming fall class of 2017.