I write this letter of appeal with the goal of attesting my competence for admittance to the University of California, Santa Barbara. In my original UC application, I excluded the most pivotal event in my life out of apprehension. I was fearful that I would suffer the consequences of sharing my life a second time, as experiencing them the first time was stressful enough. The disenchantment of college admissions decisions brought me to the realization that I can no longer allow the events of my past to remain my weakness, rather I must learn from them and turn them into my strengths. While I understand that the odds are stacked against me in this fight, I feel the urgency to give my dream university one last attempt before moving on to the next few years of my life. I hope that by the end of this letter the committee will not only recognize my true capabilities, but also reconsider how I could potentially be a valuable asset to the UCSB community.
Throughout my life, I have come face-to-face with many trials; the biggest being my struggle to cope as a victim of sexual abuse. Since the age of six, I have endlessly contemplated the details of molestation, but I never fully comprehended what had actually occurred— until it hit me at the start of 9th grade. From the start of my freshman year to the end of my sophomore year, I battled greatly with the disgust and contempt I felt not only for what happened, but also the feelings that corrupted my self-perception. Drowning myself in a sea of negativity, I fixated on the events of the sexual abuse I went through; my self confidence plummeted as a result, especially as my grades fell due to constant anxiety and lack of focus on academics. No matter how much I tried, I never was able to do as well as I wanted to. I ended up taking my problems out on myself; I believed that the person I wanted to be and the success I wanted to achieve would be impossible for me to reach, simply because I was “eternally damned to incompetence.” I doubted my own abilities so much that simply walking into a classroom and opening my books made my heart race and my hands shake. It was nerve-wracking to even think about giving myself a chance, in fear that I would disappoint myself again. All this time, I didn’t realize that I was beating myself up for something that was out of my control. I was the only one telling myself that I was incompetent. I was the only one that was hindering myself from grasping success.
My closest friends believed in me and encouraged me to participate in the extracurriculars they were involved in on campus. As I saw my friends become more involved in campus life, I became more open to joining them. I even remember my opening speech at the first Model UN conference I attended—I stumbled on my words, my voice cracked, and I ended my speech very abruptly. Running back to my seat with my bright-red face hanging low, I tried to calm my frantically-beating heart. Despite the embarrassing blunders of my first speech, I heard other delegates begin to commend me for the points I made, encouraging me to (nervously, but nevertheless) continue making speeches and adding onto debates. By the end of the two-day conference, I was the lead sponsor of my bloc and even earned myself an award. This first award was a kickstart to all of the accomplishments I made while in high school, in spite of the daily struggles I faced. I attended more conferences and excelled at public speaking, often winning awards from the most prestigious conferences run by top universities such as Stanford and UC Davis by the end of junior year.
Watching myself succeed resparked the motivation to reclaim my life and live to become the person I wanted to be— someone with purpose, drive, and confidence. I realized that I am more than capable of finding success in the things I commit myself to, however achieving that success would be impossible if I continued living life with a pessimistic state of mind. I made a commitment to evolve into the best version of myself, beginning with the mindset that I would make the most out of everything. I saw improvement in my athletic ability, extracurricular involvement, and academic scores. Within three semesters, my weighted GPA went from a 3.0 to a 4.33. This was better than I’d ever done before, even with the drastic increase in number of AP classes I took in comparison to my sophomore year. My dedication and drive to pursue my interests even earned me an offer to serve as a TA at the UC Berkeley Biology ATDP class the following summer. As I saw these opportunities unfold in front of me, I decided that I wanted to pursue even greater things for myself.
I expected to approach my senior year with the same mentality I had as a junior. Despite my drive to chase success for yet another year, my grades fell due to other responsibilities I took on. Pushing myself to take on two jobs, I struggled to pay for maintenance, fuel, and repair fees on my car. I worked to help lift some of the financial burden off of my parents, as they have done more than enough for me. I also wanted to learn how to begin taking care of myself. I spent many of my nights working until 10:00 PM followed by a 30 minute commute back home, leaving little time for studies. Coming home late didn’t sit well with my parents. Countless arguments and fights erupted between us, causing a rift in our relationship. As reflected on my transcript, the stress of school work, college applications, my financial responsibilities, and my strained relationship with my parents took a big toll on my academic scores at the end of my first semester. I still continue to struggle under all of these pressures today, however I know what I want. I know that pressures in college won’t be any less difficult on me, and I have come out of these adversities a stronger candidate that has already had her first taste of the stressors of adulthood. I want to keep pursuing success, and I believe that UCSB is the place for me to continue my endeavors.
As UC Santa Barbara is renowned of its excellence in the sciences, I hope to spend my next four years studying chemistry here in pursuit of a career in pharmaceuticals. With excellence comes great difficulty. Knowing that, I believe that my persistence, patience, and motivation will lead me to prevail over the challenges I will face. The size of the campus along with the size of its population draws to my attention. It is the perfect balance between experiencing the environment of a large university and receiving the quality education of a smaller university. This aspect of UCSB will allow me to make the most of my potential, as a mid-size student body enables the possibilities of creating great networks, and yet allows me to get the help I need to do well academically. I hope to not only have the privilege to partake in the benefits that UCSB has to offer, but to also give back to the UCSB community. Chemistry club, Women in Science and Engineering, the Pre-Pharmacy Student Association— even clubs that are unrelated to academics, the possibilities are endless at UCSB. With its (extremely) wide variety of clubs and student organizations, I hope to become a valuable addition to the campus, as I hold a place in my heart for involvement in extracurricular activities. With UCSB’s diversity in both its fields of study and student organizations, I am certain that I will leave UCSB a less ignorant person, given the chance to attend. Whether it be through community involvement, or through simply working hard as a student, I can only hope that the Admissions Review Committee sees how I can be of value to the UCSB student body.
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Good luck, and I hope you get into UCSB!!!