<p>I am looking for any ideas, wording etc for people that have been successful for appealing USC decision. My son was denied today for class of 2014 and simply devastated. He did well on his ACT, has 4.25 weighted and 3.9 unweighted lots of leadership, community services etc. Any hints etc would be appreciated. We are having the guidance counselor from our school reach out to them Monday to see if we can find out why he was denied.</p>
<p>We are in the same situation with my daughter … any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Sorry to hear that. Please let me know what USC says. The seniors I know have all been rejected. So sad. I’d like to hear what they want because these students were very impressive. Thanks.</p>
<p>Appeals should include only new and noteworthy information. Do not repeat things already in your orginal applications. Take a hard look at your orginal application. Did your essay truly describe who you are? Did you struggle with grades at any point in high school? You can explain what happened and what you learned from that experience. Did you receive an award after you submitted your application? Talk about that. Were your letters of recomendation not what they should have been? Perhaps submitt a new letter of rec showing your growth in your senior year or a letter from some community involvement. Do you all have the instructions for appeals. If not, can someone post current instructions? My son was successfull in his 4 or so years ago. He kept his appeal to a one page single spaced page letter but he also thought outside the box. </p>
<p>If anyone was successful in appealing, I would really appreciate a PM with advice.</p>
<p>@bbgg Thanks, that’s really helpful.</p>
<p>I’m in the same position… I think what’s most important right now, more than ever, is to be yourself. Express yourself; and when I say yourself I mean the student, not the parent.</p>
<p>@bbgg - thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice and info. His grades have always been excellent (1 B+ freshman year in 1 class) the rest all A’s in all classes including AP so I think he will focus on his recent scholarship award vs some life changing moment If anyone has an example of what they sent in I would appreciate it…so we can see what the structure was like. It says no rec letters but he is so well thought of at his school and so heavily involved I am wondering if a rec letter from principal or headmaster would help. Been a long road of sacrifice for us keeping him in his private school-I worked 3 jobs. I hate to not see him get into the school he worked so hard for…</p>
<p>If anyone has a letter of appeal that worked for them and you would not mind sharing, please PM me. In the past, the kids from our school with his GPA, test scores etc always got in. Not sure what changed.</p>
<p>hi i’m also interested in appealing my admissions decision. if anyone who successfully appealed could also PM me that would be so fantastic and helpful! i was truly devastated by my rejection and i still want to give my best shot with USC. </p>
<p>@ohiokrs - I do interviews for another college. When they say NO additional recommendations, they mean it. I often am in the position of telling parents they over think the process - and in doing so really hurt rather than help their student. The “but this couldn’t hurt” may just tick someone off as evidence the student can’t follow instructions or is arrogant enough to think the rules don’t apply to them (specific language used by several adcoms I know). That becomes an easy “denied.”</p>
<p>At this point your son has to take control and you have to take a step back. If he’s going to survive USC he’s going to have to navigate part of this on his own. The common app doesn’t leave room for much content on passion or motivation. Yes - he can focus on a recent award. But if a life changing moment is his instinct, then let him try it.</p>
<p>USC takes very few people on appeal - but they take some. I know at my own college the reasons why an Adcom chooses or doesn’t choose a student often comes down to the subjective. There is no right or wrong - only gut instinct on what to showcase.</p>
<p>I know - as a mom - that it’s hard not to take this personally. And to want to “help.” But he’s got to step up and fly solo this time. </p>
<p>My son thought outside the box. He received advice from his teacher and counselor. I was worried about him “thinking outside the box” but in his case it worked. . His counselor offered to make a call to admissions but she never received a call back. I do agree with Arts and Letters that this must be your son or daughters work. Their heart must be in their appeal not yours. Also, there many stunning students that do not receive aceeptance from USC the first time around. </p>
<p>One last thought, seeing someone else’s appeal letter is not going to help. You can’t copy it and these letters are all different. Do not focus on this. Focus on your own. Go talk to your counselor or a teacher who has been a mentor to you. 
</p>
<p>Arts & Letters and bbgg gave great info. Not to sound harsh, but if you really have to search for help and things to put on an appeal do you really have anything to say? Should you be appealing? It isn’t a do-over. They can’t give everyone that option. It should be new info or a significant change, not resubmitting the same application and pleading the same great stats. Zillions have those and were also rejected, only so much space. As said above, perhaps a mentor can help with this (teacher or counselor) and they may be able to tell them whether it is really worth doing, or help soften the disappointment and get them to focus elsewhere. Focusing or at least being interested in other options is good anyway, an appeal may not work and the agony of this rejection is just getting extended. I know it is still raw but even if appealing, not getting into one school needs too be seen as an opportunity elsewhere - you don’t want them thinking where they may end up is a fail. You can create a bumpy road to college if you put it all your hopes and dreams in one school. Wish you well.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the feeback. He is a take charge kind of kid and will definitely be seeking out info from his guidance counselor on this and writing his own appeal letter. I wanted to get feedback to start the ball rolling for him…what he does with it from here on out is up to him. I am not one of those over involved parents who lives through their child. He takes charge of his own schedule, homework, grades etc and has since about the age of 8.</p>
<p>We are not taking it personally, it matters little to me where he goes to school as long as he is happy. We are from Ohio and when we say USC here most people think of University of South Carolina and so USC is not a status thing. After saving for 2 years, we took a trip out to Cali and there were a few schools he fell in love with. One he knew he would never get into (Stanford) and the other was USC. We certainly did not go out there thinking he would love it…we had heard the neighborhood was not great. But I am a big believer you get “vibes” or a “feeling” when you visit a school and he could really picture himself thereand absolutely loved it.</p>
<p>I was not looking to “copy” anyone’s letter, just looking to see the structure and if there was anything in particular that people who were successful focused on in their appeal letter. He is already thinking about his other options and where he would like to go. We will have to put down a deposit elsewhere so he needs to also love where he has already been accepted which is several schools in Ohio (he doesnt want to stay in state), Boston College and University of San Diego. </p>
<p>I have received some very good feedback and we are going to do exactly what the directions say. I do not think he should have to parade the fact that he no longer sees or speaks to his father for the last 4 years in order to get into a college unless he wants to share that information. It did not impact his grades…probably caused him stress but he is a lot like me in that you just keep going.</p>
<p>I appreciate the information and advice shared on this site:) It is very helpful and much needed. </p>
<p>So it would be safe to take this as another essay albeit with new information, but with room for “out-of-the-box” creativity type of essay? Thanks guys</p>
<p>Hi, I’m an international student and I will be appealing this year as well. My situation might be unique though, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. My high school transcripts weren’t received by USC, which means I had an incomplete application and therefore didn’t get in. I do have excellent scores however(top 1%of my class). The reason my transcripts didn’t get to USC on time was because my school principal(who acted as my counsellor), didn’t accredit them by the deadline and finally gave them to me when it was very late in the admissions process. My teachers also sent in the recommendations after the deadline, so I’m not sure if USC reviewed them. I did get into UCLA, UCSD and Berkeley, but USC has been my dream school since forever and I want to give it another shot. </p>
<p>When USC said they need “new and compelling” information, does this count? I worked very hard on my essays and standardised testing and application in general, and I’m heartbroken that I couldn’t get in because of factors totally out of my control. I did try and convey it to my teachers and principal how important these things were, but they didn’t make it a priority, and there’s only so much I could do before coming off as downright rude. It isn’t common in my school to apply to international colleges, so they didn’t understand, or maybe weren’t that interested, about how much this could hurt my chances. </p>
<p>I’ve really worked hard throughout the school year to keep up my grades, and I want to have the chance to showcase that to USC. I’ve had straight A’s throughout high school and even won a scholarship in 11th grade because of my academic performance in 10th and 11th. I also won a state level award after sending off my common app, but I’m not sure how much that will help. My main concern are my grades, and maybe letters of rec, but since they explicitly stated that they don’t want them I don’t want to take any chances and coming off as someone who can’t obey instructions. </p>
<p>What should I do? And how do I present all of this in one page? Thanks in advance for all your help </p>
<p>As an international student admitted for fall 2018 without merit scholarship, I probably can’t go because I can’t pay. I don’t know if this can make your son feel better, but even some admitted students have problems, too.</p>
<p>Getting accepted after appealing is EXTREMELY rare. I advise you to only put the effort in an appeal letter if you have NEW and compelling information. If this applies to you, you want to share that information in the most compelling way. If you are simply restating what is in your application or restating why you want to go to USC, you do not have much of a chance. Just being realistic. Good luck! </p>
<p>Lyanna18. This missing transcript would indeed be compelling information on your appeal. Write an appeal explains what happened. Also included a recent transcript in a sealed envelope from your school. </p>
<p>Would it not be advisable to include information already mentioned in an interview? or if I said an admissions person additional information and they never responded?</p>
<p>Im also going to write an appeal letter, and im going to include how i came to america just 5 years ago from a non english speaking country, and that it was hard for me to adjust to new environment etc. I had straight As except i got Bs in english and history throughout my high school, and even though english and history were challenging subjects to me, i still took honors and AP classes for those subjects. Also I took the most APs (14) and most honors classes(4) among my classmates. Along with those classes i was the sound director for my school so i had to spend A LOT of time (sometimes till midnight) in rehearsing for drama, choir, dance shows etc, which prevented me from spending more time on my challenging classes. Btw, Im top 4% in my class with uw gpa of 3.85 and w gpa of 4.3. I got 32 on ACT.</p>
<p>Do you guys think writing about my adaptation to america and my idiosyncrasy of always pushing my limits, thus not being able to get straight As and as good scores on standardized exams, would be good enough ? D: </p>