Sorry this is long but bear with me please!
I applied to all nine campuses because I honestly thought I had a fair chance at the more selective schools, but needed the safety schools because my GPA was very inconsistent in high school. I was accepted at UCSC, UCR, UCM, and waitlisted at UCSB. I had supplemental requests from UCLA, UCI, and UCD but was ultimately rejected from those schools too.
I know it’s a reach but I’m planning on appealing my rejections from Berkeley and SD, just because I haven’t had the chance to fully explain the reason for my low grades to those schools, whereas LA, Irvine, and Davis have already seen part of my story.
I’m being kind of dramatic I know, but I feel like I’ve had to deal with more than most high school students. Between having a full time waitressing job working 35+ hours a week (under the table though, so I’m hesitant about mentioning it), my parents’ divorce, my grandmother being diagnosed with breast cancer, my mom’s car accident, and me being raped, I was not able to put in my full effort into school. My job takes away a lot of my time, and I’m exhausted after work, so I’m usually only able to fit in 1-2 hours of homework/studying a day. Leading up to my parents’ divorce, the environment at home was very tense. There was physical fighting almost everyday, which made it difficult for me to concentrate both at school and at home. After work, the only place I’m allowed to go is home (city curfew), so my 1-2 hours of schoolwork isn’t very efficient. I did the majority of my schoolwork during brunch and lunch at school. I was able to get my work done with the limited time I had, but not being able to take breaks and interact with classmates during the 7-hour schoolday just to stay afloat in my classes took a toll on me mentally. My grandmother being diagnosed with breast cancer and my mom’s car accident added a lot of stress to me. I continued showing up at school through it all, but I needed to work overtime on weekends to help my family financially, because child support from my dad wasn’t enough to cover both medical bills. I was raped my junior year by a classmate, on my way home from work. That was the only thing I briefly mentioned in my application because it affected my grades the most. I missed a week of school to physically recover after that, and was pulled out of classes the week I came back for police interviews. I failed AP Bio and APUSH (but got 4’s on the AP exams and made both classes up over the summer with A’s) so I earned my lowest GPA that semester (3.2 weighted).
Though my 3.6 GPA and 2040 SAT seem very mediocre on their own, I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish in the most stressful two years of my life. I took 2 AP classes and 1 honors class my junior year (got 4’s on both AP exams) despite still physically recuperating from being raped during the testing. I earned A’s in college level courses at UCSD and my local CC and have 15 units of credit that directly relate to the major I applied for.
Which areas should I focus on in my appeal to give a context to my performance in school? My job was a recurring responsibility that I feel had the most impact overall on my performance at school, but because it’s illegal I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t mention it.
Side point, but the guy who raped me got into UCSD - it’s just added motivation for me to do whatever I can to make my appeal successful I guess.
