Bozioless

I have been a member of the forum for quite some time, yet have never really posted anything on here. I usually came on here to read posts and ease the anxiety of waiting for decisions to come out. Today, I come here seeking advice.

From day one at my CCC, transferring to UC Berkeley has been my goal. Yet, on Friday, I received a rejection letter from them upon logging onto their decisions site. I was and am pretty devastated, mostly because it was so unexpected after all my hard work. I am a Political Science major, my stats good and my personal statement was heartfelt, honest, and very well-written. I also have extensive volunteering experience. I even ran a workshop at my CCC for people writing personal statements for Berkeley and every person I helped has been admitted. I also got into every UC I applied to, including UCLA. Just not Berkeley.

The past two days, I have been going over everything in my application to see what went wrong. There may have been an error, as UCLA contacted me a week before they accepted me, asking me to fax them a copy of my "official" transcripts. Before that, I had sent a notification to the UC System, after finding out my GPA had been miscalculated due to an Incomplete class not changing to an A. They stated that my message would be forwarded to all UC's I was applying to. However, both UCLA and UC Davis still contacted me after this point.

I was advised by someone working in the Transfer Center at my CCC to contact each UC directly about this, but I assumed that the message "Please note: This communication and your response may be shared and reviewed by the following campuses to which you may have applied: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Santa Cruz." meant that they would all get the message.

The future lawyer in me is pointing out the "may be shared" part of that message.

Please, any advice on how to go about trying to solve this, and what steps I should take next is appreciated.

Thank you!

KarmaGo

Mind posting your stats?

Bozioless

Objective:

• UC GPA: 3.72 (Not very high, got poor grades my first semester due to multiple hospital visits) 4.0 since then)
• Major Pre-reqs Completed: Yes (4.0)
• Intended Major: Political Science
• IGETC: Certified in Spring

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars: Started a club on campus that provides academic support for students in all subject areas (school budget cuts have removed much of the academic support). Student volunteers volunteered over 1,000 hours for my club last semester, and will volunteer even more this semester. Vice President of another club that promotes the acceptance of diversity amongst the student population and also promotes the various cultures within our community.
• Job/Work Experience: Worked as a freelance programmer after parent became unemployed. Not much money, but it pays for books and other school supplies.
• Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer in local hospital, work with intercity children to help reinforce reading and attain literacy, volunteer as a tutor for Political Science, English, Pre-Calculus, run personal statement workshops.
• Personal Statement: Very good.

Other

• Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
• State (if domestic applicant): CA
• Ethnicity: Asian (one giant category, but it's South-East Asian)
• Gender: Male
• Income Bracket: $60,000 (unemployment insurance)

Bozioless

Bump (10 characters)

KarmaGo

Well you've been accepted to all the other campuses. What are they going to do? Rescind you just because you've contacted Cal? You should pursue the mistake about the letter grade switch if you can. But beyond that, appealing successfully will be difficult unless you have anything new to show since you sent in your application. Nothing groundbreaking, but definitely you want to show Berkeley that you have improved as an applicant and that you deserve another chance.

Bozioless

Thanks KarmaGo. I'll give them a call on Monday to check up on that error. After that, I will go from there.

I do think I have newer information to show as well regarding my performance as a student. Especially with regards to my chosen field of study.

northbeach

definitely appeal and tell them what you told us here. you have nothing to lose. good luck. and remember it was much harder to get admitted to ucla this year and last. so you did a great job, and UCLA is a fabulous school. and check out the "ask ms. sun" blog. she has great tips for appeals. good luck dude.