<p>I got this here from UCLA’s website:</p>
<p>[FAQ</a> - Denied Freshmen - UCLA Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/FAQ/FR_Not_Adm.htm]FAQ”>http://www.admissions.ucla.edu/FAQ/FR_Not_Adm.htm)</p>
<p>Q: I would like to appeal my decision. What should I include in my appeal letter?</p>
<p>In rare cases, students may find it necessary to be in Los Angeles due to a personal hardship. In itself, this is not necessarily grounds for reversal of an admission decision since there are several other colleges in the Los Angeles area. Academic qualifications combined with the particular hardship listed would allow for an additional review of an applicant. If you base your appeal on an emergency or sudden-need situation, please be prepared to document your circumstances.</p>
<p>Well, that’s interesting. A personal hardship that makes it necessary for a student to be in Los Angeles. Like, what would that even be? Is the implication that the student can only do something in this one city, and that going to college elsewhere makes that impossible? I imagine that would mean something like having to take care of sick relatives or something, but that’s just a wild guess. Does anybody have more concrete examples?</p>
<p>Yes, sick relatives - </p>
<p>Example.</p>
<p>Person lives on the westside (making UCLA an “obvious” choice for schooling since many other schools are too far). A parent dies, therefore they have one parent left and maybe 2 other younger siblings at home. You are now promoted to a “parent” and therefore cannot feasably leave home for you doing so would due harm to the welfare of your family.</p>
<p>This is 100% what happened to me, except for I was accepted to UCLA and did not need to use this “excuse” per se as a means of an appeal.</p>
<p>Okay, but they said there are several other colleges in the Los Angeles area. One could always just go to one of those; it doesn’t necessarily have to be UCLA, right? They even said so themselves. So why does it seem to give a “boost” to your appeal if you were rejected? It doesn’t seem like that’s something colleges would really care about.</p>
<p>Two things…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You haven’t been rejected yet, so don’t stress too much. Enjoy your senior year. I wish I could go back to the second-half of senior year, best 6 months of my life!</p></li>
<li><p>The only way it really works is if you probably live within a 10/15 minute radius of UCLA, since there aren’t that many colleges with that radius of UCLA other than a couple. Explain how the fact that you need the shortest commute time possible between school/home/job etc for the welfare of your family.</p></li>
</ol>