How would one go about appealing rejection to a “safety” school? I honestly think a mistake was made, but I don’t know how I’d word that in a way that doesn’t come off as accusatory or demanding.
If I have nothing significant to add, would it be worth attaching a letter of rec (school doesn’t ask for recs in the application process) and stating that “x school is my number 1 choice” etc etc even if it’s not?
The school was a safety in terms of admission and cost, which is why it’s somewhat important to me.
@“Erin’s Dad” I talked to my GC briefly about it. How would they do that? The school was UBC (we’re in the US) so I don’t think my school/counselor is familiar with their admissions department.
I suppose you could ask if everything on your application was in order and if there is anything that you can do so that it could be reconsidered… I would not appeal it, however, unless you plan to go if admitted as part of the process involves respecting (if not agreeing with) the decision that was made.
@gardenstategal I would be happy to attend, but due to parental pressure, it’s very likely I’ll end up at a UC. I plan on waiting to appeal–maybe until after I’ve received the bulk of my decisions–although that probably hurts my odds of successfully appealing. I don’t suppose someone from admissions would be willing to tell me why I was rejected, if I were to ask them nicely?
I don’t quite follow: would it be disrespectful for me to appeal if I didn’t 100% plan on attending if I were admitted?
So this is British Columbia in Canada you’re talking about? I hosted the representative during her visit at the local high school. She was very nice. There are different standards for Americans versus Canadians. Go ahead and call, appeal if possible, but it sounds from your post likely you will be staying in California.
@Oregon2016 Indeed it is. Thing is, I’m actually a Canadian citizen, which I believe may have affected my chances of admission.
@happy1 I think I’ll do this after I get a decision for my alternate choice. Are admissions generally more forthcoming when speaking to counselors? Alright, I won’t.
@ShipAlreadySank , I think @happy1 and I were getting at the same thing. His/her advice is “Don’t say it’s your first choice if it’s not.” I fully agree with that.
I don’t think that you should ask the adcom to do something outside of the process and consider changing their decision unless it’s going to change the outcome. If you’re saying you probably won’t go there anyway, what difference does it make to them if they change their decision? The process is set up so that you send an application, and they either offer you a place in the class or not. You’re saying that they made a mistake, and the reason it matters to you is…?? It the answer is that you are desperate to go there and can’t believe that’s not going to happen, then a discovery of their “mistake” will mean that they get a student they accidentally rejected who will be an asset to their community. If the answer is that you wanted to their acceptance as a bargaining chip with someone else or because you had a bet with a friend that you’d get in (just making these up, btw) but that you had no intention of going there, what does the adcom get out of its additional work and admission of an error?
Your GC is the best one to make the call. He/she can call and ask for feedback on your application and why you were rejected simply because he/she wants to better understand what UBC is looking for so that he/she can direct the “right” kind of student to them in future and advise his/her charges appropriately. This is a somewhat normal practice as it benefits both parties. It is possible in this process that they’ll change their mind, but that may not be the outcome. If the GC is more direct and asks for the decision to be changed and you choose not to go, this leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth and potentially poisons the relationship for future applicants.
I’m pretty sure you know this, but offers of admission aren’t “prizes”. I know it can feel that way, especially when you’re in the thick of it, but the whole point of this college application madness is for you to gain entry into a school that’s going to be a good fit for you and give you a chance to learn and grow. It feels awful to get rejected, even by a school where you probably didn’t want to go, so you need to be very intentional about what you hope to get out of this “appeal” and why.
I hope you’ll let us know what you end up doing and how it turns out.
@gardenstategal Thanks for your reply. I will ask my counselor to inquire for me, probably after I receive a decision for my second choice UBC program.
Yes, I’d like to go to UBC. It was and is one of my top choices; I was in the process of convincing my parents to consider letting me attend. I wouldn’t have bothered to apply if I wouldn’t be happy to attend. To suggest that I applied for any reason other than that is both presumptive and insulting.
@ShipAlreadySank , apologies. I didn’t mean to be insulting or presumptive. (“just making these up, btw” clearly didn’t capture what I meant. ugh – the dangers of communicating this way.) I thought that your reference to "safety’ meant “if all else falls through” rather than "really want to go and am sure they’ll take me. Sounds like you know where you want this to go. And I’m sincere in wanting to know how it goes. Good luck.
Well, the decision does seem surprising given your stats and citizenship. I didn’t get the impression that Canadian public universities ding their own well-qualified applicants to make room for higher paying foreigners.
@gardenstategal It’s fine. When I wrote “safety”, I meant that I expected to be accepted. Applicants from my school in the past few years had an almost 90% acceptance rate. C’est la vie, I suppose. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. I’ll try and provide an update if my inquiry goes anywhere.
@bouders Yes. Faculty of applied science (or what we’d call engineering). That was probably a factor. Maybe in a month, I’ll have a definitive reason, if all goes well!
@Oregon2016 It isn’t necessarily about tuition, but I’m willing to bet that domestic students are stronger than international students, so I’m a weaker candidate when compared to Canadian students instead of other international students.
May I know which faculty you’re applying to? It might be because the faculty you’re applying are more competitive than others. I heard that the admissions decisions from UBC this year are crazy.