I was rejected from UCSB as an engineering major (and my alternate was biological sciences) and UCLA as an engineering major as well (my alternate was not considered since it was not an engineering major which I had no idea). My GPA is a 3.88 UW and 4.6 W. My ACT score was a 27 which I know is very low for these majors. I have explanations as to why my grades lowered just in my sophomore year as my mother had a tumor and I was the only one taking care of her. I do have some new accomplishments as I have won an award, got a job, still maintained a 4.0 in my senior year, got on the dean’s list for the college in which my high school is in for all four semesters and made it to 400 volunteer hours from my freshman to senior year in high school. Is there any chance that I would be able to get into UCSB at least through an appeal despite my low ACT scores? Also, should I write about why I should be at that specific school in my appeal?
I am sorry to hear about your mom, hope she is ok. The UCs ask about special circumstances when you apply. That was the time to mention it. There is no harm in appealing now, they can’t turn a “no” into any less of a “no” so there is no downside.
Since you mention the ACT which is less common for west coast students, are you OOS?
Thank you! She is doing just fine now 
I’m actually in-state; I did take the SAT but it was worse than the equivalent to my ACT score so I just reported my ACT. I did get a 710 on the SAT subject test for Math II if that makes any difference.
Go to CC
since you are a CA resident, what the previous poster says makes sense if you are instate and don’t have any 4-year acceptances for engineering. Look into the TAG program which guarantees admission at the UCs that take part. See http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/ UCSB unfortunately does not offer TAG for engineering but does for majors in L&S. Irvine offers TAG for engineering I think. Some CCC take part in TAP which is supposed to give priority for UCLA, but only for L&S so that won’t help for engineering.
Also one way to get much of the college feel even if you attend a CCC before transferring is to go to one near a UC or CSU that is a residential campus. I write about this for UCSB in http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/468098-backdoor-way-to-get-into-ucsb.html
I also suggest making as sure as you can that engineering is really right for you. Do you understand the workload, who hires engineers and where, the career path? You ought to talk to some working engineers if you can (perhaps parents of friends). Half or more of those that start engineering end up dropping out of the major at most schools. It isn’t because they couldn’t do the work if they wanted; the bar to get in is high enough that all have the smarts. They decide its too much work compared to what they see their friends doing, or they decide it isn’t the job they want after all.
I was thinking about appealing for admission to UCSB as a biological science major instead of engineering. I do realize that the workload is very rigorous, but the reason why I wanted to do engineering was because I really enjoy math as I am in Calculus III/Multivariable calculus as a high school senior. I will consider going to a community college or attend UCI. My ideal college was UCLA but they wouldn’t consider my other major which is what I wanted to do and it isn’t as impacted. Thank you for all the advice! I appreciate it
Not really a good reason. You’ll do a lot of math as an engineering major, enough to satisfy the most avid fan. However the career is not sitting around and solving equations; engineering time is too valuable to have them work it out, nor do most enjoy solving them. Instead engineers in most disciplines run software packages that work out solutions. The engineering value-add is figuring out the design that meets the goals.