How to write an appeal letter to admission?

[LIUpharm333]

I am a transfer pre-pharmacy student at LIU pharmacy school. For the past three semesters I've accumulated a gpa of 3.9 and I scored 92 on the PCATs.

However, My past gpa from other schools that I have attended (Cornell, Binghamton) brought my pharmCAS gpa down and resulted in a rejection letter yesterday.

The Pharmacy office told me that I can write a letter of appeal. Is there anyone who has gone through that process who can help me? How do you write a formal appeal?

P.S. I was invited for an interview Round 1 on Feb. 26, 2008.

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[RxWildcat]

Have you done a search of the forums? I haven't heard of this before, you might have better results if you ask over at the pre-pharm forum

 

[Farmercyst]

Moved to pre-pharm for discussion.

My personal advice would be to call them and see who you should address the letter to. Then they can tell you if they accept them in the first place, and if so, to whom it should be addressed. Before then, content doesn't matter as much. As for afterwards, what you listed above seems a good place to start.

 

[jh2]

I am a transfer pre-pharmacy student at LIU pharmacy school. For the past three semesters I've accumulated a gpa of 3.9 and I scored 92 on the PCATs.

However, My past gpa from other schools that I have attended (Cornell, Binghamton) brought my pharmCAS gpa down and resulted in a rejection letter yesterday.

I've heard rumors that you can petition through a letter of appeals to the admission office. Is there anyone who has gone through that process who can help me? How do you write a formal appeal?

did you have interview?

 

[LIUpharm333]

Thanks for the advice.

LIU does accept appeals.

I did get an interview.

When I called the pharmacy dept., I was told that the reason why I got rejected was because they used the pharmcas gpa instead of the LIU gpa like they used to before this year.

I guess it's time to post this in the pre-pharmacy section. I just figured the pharmacy section would have someone who went through this process before.

Thanks for your comments guys! <3

 

[jh2]

Thanks for the advice.

LIU does accept appeals.

I did get an interview.

When I called the pharmacy dept., I was told that the reason why I got rejected was because they used the pharmcas gpa instead of the LIU gpa like they used to before this year.

I guess it's time to post this in the pre-pharmacy section. I just figured the pharmacy section would have someone who went through this process before.

Thanks for your comments guys! <3

did they tell you how to do the appeal process

 

[LIUpharm333]

did they tell you how to do the appeal process

The woman I spoke to said to just focus on my finals. Then, after my grades are out, to come back and submit a long, well thought out letter at the office.

Right now one of my professors is writing an appeal letter on my behalf. He's outraged that I didn't get in.

 

[jh2]

The woman I spoke to said to just focus on my finals. Then, after my grades are out, to come back and submit a long, well thought out letter at the office.

Right now one of my professors is writing an appeal letter on my behalf. He's outraged that I didn't get in.

Just need to write an appeal letter,right? good luck. I am that I am waiting for my rejected letter since I did not even have interview

 

[PharmDstudent]

The woman I spoke to said to just focus on my finals. Then, after my grades are out, to come back and submit a long, well thought out letter at the office.

Right now one of my professors is writing an appeal letter on my behalf. He's outraged that I didn't get in.

Focus on your finals.

Please do not exaggerate your professor's response just to prove your point. I highly doubt he's "outraged".

Besides, it's your GPA that got you in this position. Maybe you need to do post-bac work like everyone else who has a low undergrad GPA.

 

[jh2]

Focus on your finals.

Please do not exaggerate your professor's response just to prove your point. I highly doubt he's "outraged".

Besides, it's your GPA that got you in this position. Maybe you need to do post-bac work like everyone else who has a low undergrad GPA.

are you LIU pharmacy student? do you know that if people did not call up for interview yet, do they still have chance to get in. also how does the appeal process work

 

[PharmDstudent]

are you LIU pharmacy student? do you know that if people did not call up for interview yet, do they still have chance to get in. also how does the appeal process work

No. I do not go to LIU. However, I have read several threads about students who want to appeal the admission committee's decision. It's pretty balsy if you ask me. You could end up ticking them off, which could mean that they will never accept you later on (because you made them angry, for whatever reason, when you appealed).

The best thing that you can do is to make your application sparkle in other ways. The OP may need to apply to another pharmacy school if LIU uses the PharmCAS GPA. There are so many ways for students to enhance their application, but there aren't so many students who actually go out there and attempt to improve their application.

 

[bklyngirl]

I'm surprised that you were accepted as a pre-pharmacy transfer, as I was intending to apply as a pre-pharm transfer last fall and the admissions office clearly stated that they did not accept pre-pharm transfers for years 1 & 2, but that I was welcome to apply to the many other programs that they offered. They did say that I could apply for year 3 admission(first professional year) as long as all preprequisites were completed prior to admission.
Also, as far as GPA I'm in the same boat as you right now. I'm planning on applying to LIU for Fall, 2009 admissions. At the college I'm attending now, my overall GPA is 3.8, but my freshman year GPA from a private liberal arts school is below 3.0. At this point, when combined my pharmcas GPA will be approximately 3.2-3.3.
You mentioned that you were denied due to Pharmcas' GPA calculation. Was it calculated at or above the 3.0 that is required for admission at LIU?

 

[Sparda29]

Well, I didn't get my letter yet, leading to my suspicion that they never got my application. I called them numerous times to check the status of my application but they never answered if they had it or not, compared with LECOM, Thomas Jefferson, and St. John Fisher who were able to run my social # and find it.

What I believe happened with the appeals last year was, if you fixed the problem, such as below a 3.0 GPA, or incomplete classes and there was a spot available, you would present the evidence, such as an unopened transcript and they would let you in.

Now, with the letters, I have no experience regarding these. What I would imagine is that you write the letter, try to get backing of some professors (they write a sealed letter stating they support your argument), then show up at the Pharmacy Admissions in a professional dress code and argue your case.

For me, if I get a rejection, it will probably be because I never updated my Fall 2007 scores on the PharmCAS website, resulting in my PharmCAS GPA being slaughtered.

 

[jh2]

Well, I didn't get my letter yet, leading to my suspicion that they never got my application. I called them numerous times to check the status of my application but they never answered if they had it or not, compared with LECOM, Thomas Jefferson, and St. John Fisher who were able to run my social # and find it.

What I believe happened with the appeals last year was, if you fixed the problem, such as below a 3.0 GPA, or incomplete classes and there was a spot available, you would present the evidence, such as an unopened transcript and they would let you in.

Now, with the letters, I have no experience regarding these. What I would imagine is that you write the letter, try to get backing of some professors (they write a sealed letter stating they support your argument), then show up at the Pharmacy Admissions in a professional dress code and argue your case.

For me, if I get a rejection, it will probably be because I never updated my Fall 2007 scores on the PharmCAS website, resulting in my PharmCAS GPA being slaughtered.

I did not hear back from LIU, either.

 

[cdpiano27]

This is a very weird, weird school. Why did they accept you into their pre-pharmacy program if your transfer GPA was not good enough to begin with.

You invested a lot of money to go to LIU since it is a private school. If you had known that you were screwed because of your PharmCAS GPA you could have stayed at SUNY-Binghamton, payed a lot less money for pre-pharm, and applied to other schools.

You have done extremely well in THEIR pre-pharm courses. And since they accepted you into pre-pharm and you did superwell, they should accept you into their program based on the performance in THEIR prep courses. Otherwise, they just took your money by accepting you into their prepharm curriculum if they knew that you had no chance because your previous GPA from other schools were not good enough.

I never heard of any other school that lets you appeal a rejection like this. It is pretty weird. But it was their fault for letting you into the prepharm program just to waste your time and money.

 

[cdpiano27]

Isn't the pharmacy program for LIU and downtown Brooklyn near the Brooklyn Marriott, and the Williamsburg Savings Bank building with the clock on top? I have relatives who live near there.

 

[Sparda29]

Err, I don't know much about the history of Downtown Brooklyn, but it is near a huge Washington Mutual Bank, Fulton Street Mall.

 

[bklyngirl]

As I mentioned in previous post, I was told last year by admissions representative on LIU tour that school will accept transfers to all other undergraduate programs, EXCEPT PRE-PHARMACY. Maybe LIUPHARM333 was registered as a transfer student for liberal arts studies or another discipline, focusing on prepharm curriculum.
If so, this does not give you the same preferencial advantage as pre-pharm majors who begin their studies straight out of high school and complete both pre-pharmacy years 1 and 2 at LIU.

And yes, LIU is near the Brooklyn Marriott. This neighborhood has been on the upward trend for the past five or six years, and continues to thrive. Crime rates continue to decline while neighboring suburbs like Long Island are experiencing increases in crime. Unfortunately, the lower and middle class are slowly but surely being squeezed out of the neighborhood as housing prices continue to sore even during these dismal market slumps.

 

[collegegirl247]

good luck and make sure your letter is not pushy!

 

[LIUpharm333]

My professor is actually "outraged" because he wrote my rec letter. He knows my credentials. In fact, he begged me, an undergrad student, to work for his lab. Even after I said no, he kept insisting until I caved in. I think his outrage is more towards the fact that LIU rejected someone with my stats rather than he feels sorry for me, although I'm sure he does feel bad too. He's worked at LIU for many years, he knows all the bad things about LIU and this just compounds all the negative things about LIU to him.

My pharmcas gpa was pretty low: 3.0. Although, it will probably go up after this semester. Let's just say 3 great semesters of taking pre-pharmacy courses don't upset 7 poor semesters of engineering/hotel/landscape/business courses on pharmcas.

 

[LIUpharm333]

This is a very weird, weird school. Why did they accept you into their pre-pharmacy program if your transfer GPA was not good enough to begin with.

You invested a lot of money to go to LIU since it is a private school. If you had known that you were screwed because of your PharmCAS GPA you could have stayed at SUNY-Binghamton, payed a lot less money for pre-pharm, and applied to other schools.

You have done extremely well in THEIR pre-pharm courses. And since they accepted you into pre-pharm and you did superwell, they should accept you into their program based on the performance in THEIR prep courses. Otherwise, they just took your money by accepting you into their prepharm curriculum if they knew that you had no chance because your previous GPA from other schools were not good enough.

I never heard of any other school that lets you appeal a rejection like this. It is pretty weird. But it was their fault for letting you into the prepharm program just to waste your time and money.

THANK YOU!! ahhh.

 

[UES Girl]

My professor is actually "outraged" because he wrote my rec letter. He knows my credentials. In fact, he begged me, an undergrad student, to work for his lab. Even after I said no, he kept insisting until I caved in. I think his outrage is more towards the fact that LIU rejected someone with my stats rather than he feels sorry for me, although I'm sure he does feel bad too. He's worked at LIU for many years, he knows all the bad things about LIU and this just compounds all the negative things about LIU to him.

My pharmcas gpa was pretty low: 3.0. Although, it will probably go up after this semester. Let's just say 3 great semesters of taking pre-pharmacy courses don't upset 7 poor semesters of engineering/hotel/landscape/business courses on pharmcas.

Your pharmcas GPA, hence the "real" GPA, is incredibly low. My Pharmcas GPA is 3.3 and I think it's very low. I don't see why you would be appealing, have you considered that perhaps, you got rejected solely because of your GPA ?

 

[PharmApp2008]

If you only applied to one school then I'd say right now you appear a little cocky. I had a 3.8 GPA with 91 PCAT and there wasn't a single school that I applied to that I was "expecting" to get into, rather, I applied to several schools and hoped to get in somewhere.

 

[Rumplestiltazepam]

My professor is actually "outraged" because he wrote my rec letter. He knows my credentials. In fact, he begged me, an undergrad student, to work for his lab. Even after I said no, he kept insisting until I caved in. I think his outrage is more towards the fact that LIU rejected someone with my stats rather than he feels sorry for me, although I'm sure he does feel bad too. He's worked at LIU for many years, he knows all the bad things about LIU and this just compounds all the negative things about LIU to him.

My pharmcas gpa was pretty low: 3.0. Although, it will probably go up after this semester. Let's just say 3 great semesters of taking pre-pharmacy courses don't upset 7 poor semesters of engineering/hotel/landscape/business courses on pharmcas.

3.0 GPA is bottom of barrel GPA for many schools, I don't see why you are so "outraged/surprised"? Average for my entering class was 3.6 . What do you think gave your application automatic acceptance capability?

Good luck with the letter though, if you get in more power to you.

 

[Nubianssense]

LIUPhar333 don't pay any attention to these people. They are hear to bash instead of giving you positive criticism. I am sure your professor voucher will hold up. You will get in so do not worry if worst comes to worst apply again next year and give your self more options next time.

 

[bklyngirl]

I wish you good luck as well, but in the meantime if I were you I'd be planning on getting ready for the 2009 application cycle. You may not get the appeal decision until late August and there may be many other LIU students planning on appealing for various reasons too.
It's wise to learn from this experience - although your overall GPA may be the mst important factor in LIU's admissions decision, your impressive background (high PCAT, EC's and upward grade trend) will make you a very desirable applicant at many other schools. Don't lose hope or confidence! You have worked very hard but should not have placed your bet on only two schools - especially two 0-6 schools which have very limited space for transfers.
You should apply VERY EARLY to many schools and I'm sure you'll get an acceptance from at least one. Since you have like 10 college semesters completed already, you should considere applying to 3 year accelerated options as well. You may find that, in the end, it may be you turning down LIU for a school that looks at the WHOLE PACKAGE when making decisions. These schools tend to have a much happier student body, which in turn produces an academically thriving group of individuals.
Also, consider the fact that LIU's NAPLEX passing rate is the lowest of the bunch, so their admission making decisions and curriculum plan need some renovation.

 

[UES Girl]

LIUPhar333 don't pay any attention to these people. They are hear to bash instead of giving you positive criticism. I am sure your professor voucher will hold up. You will get in so do not worry if worst comes to worst apply again next year and give your self more options next time.

NO ONE is here to bash, I just don't see what it is here to be sooooo incredibly outraged about. I am sorry, it may sound harsh, but 3.0 GPA is the bottom of the barrel GPA, lots of applicants apply with 3.5 GPA and above, if people can't get in with 3.9 GPA in some cases what do you expect to happen to a candidate whose GPA is barely above the minimum 2.8

Also, it sounds, like the guy is almost pissed that his 3 semesters of hard work somehow do not magically erase his 7 semesters of poor grades. Welcome to the real world, but it's a lot easier to maintain a 3.9 GPA for 3 semesters than it is for 5 years. I've been in school for 5.5 and out of those for the first 5 regular semesters + 2 summers I had a 4.0 GPA. Yet, I don't expect my first 2.5 years to magically overpower the next 3 years.

Appeal your decision, or not, either way I wish the guy sincere luck. I just don't see what it is soooooooo outrageous about the fact that he got rejected with such a low GPA.

 

[mrblah]

NO ONE is here to bash, I just don't see what it is here to be sooooo incredibly outraged about. I am sorry, it may sound harsh, but 3.0 GPA is the bottom of the barrel GPA, lots of applicants apply with 3.5 GPA and above, if people can't get in with 3.9 GPA in some cases what do you expect to happen to a candidate whose GPA is barely above the minimum 2.8

Also, it sounds, like the guy is almost pissed that his 3 semesters of hard work somehow do not magically erase his 7 semesters of poor grades. Welcome to the real world, but it's a lot easier to maintain a 3.9 GPA for 3 semesters than it is for 5 years. I've been in school for 5.5 and out of those for the first 5 regular semesters + 2 summers I had a 4.0 GPA. Yet, I don't expect my first 2.5 years to magically overpower the next 3 years.

Appeal your decision, or not, either way I wish the guy sincere luck. I just don't see what it is soooooooo outrageous about the fact that he got rejected with such a low GPA.

I for one agree with you. The OP should focus his/her efforts in bringing up her gpa or any other inconsistencies for the next application cycle.

To the OP: While LIU may allow you to appeal, what are the chances that they have a seat to give out? Most pharmacy schools will have the seat a few months prior to the beginning, nor will they kick out people they've already given the seat to. An appeal should be a students last resort, and only if there are legitimate reasons for such a action.

While some of you believe LIU's appeal process is a "common" process, I don't believe it. If thats the case, LIU will get 1400 appeals per year, ranging from the legitimate to the absurd claims.

Your 3.9 gpa is very impressive, unfortunately, schools look at your whole academic history, not just what you did in the last few semesters. However, has it ever occurred to you that your gpa may not be why you were rejected. If you got a interview, you clearly are a qualified candidate, but GPA isn't everything. Your interview performance may not be as impressive as you might think it is. While a impressive GPA will get you that interview, how you conduct yourself at that interview, LOR's and EC's will make or break your chances. It isn't uncommon for people with high gpa's to be turned away. Don't think your EC's or LOR's are that impressive, its a mistake people make. You need to realize many people have academic chairs/deans write LOR's, or impressive EC's. Unfortunately, pharmacy is extremely competitive. Schools can pick and choose the candidates, and not the other way around.

Nobody is bashing you, we are offering constructive criticism. Anyways, don't be "outraged", get over it and moved on. Do your appeals, but you need to be realistic about your chances of getting in. At the same time, don't put all your eggs in one basket, explore your options as someone else suggested.

 

[bklyngirl]

I agree - your Pharmcas GPA must have been acceptable by LIU, as they DID grant you an interview. Although a 3.0 is their GPA cutoff requirement, their admissions average GPA is 3.5. This means that a good portion are accepted with lower stats quite similar to yours, SO it could be possible that your interview was what led to your denial.
Also remember that you were probably one of many students who provided great LOR's from LIU faculty members. No extra points here. I'm sure that every attending pre-pharm student needed one as well, so the chem/bio professors must have been flooded with rec requests.
Some volunteer time in a NYC hospital pharmacy department could truly enhance your application for next cycle. Brooklyn hospitals always accept volunteers as there never seems to be enough help. I have just finished 100 volunteer hours and will be signing on for another 100 next month. It is doable as a full time student, as you only need to commit to 4 hours per week. Long Island College Hospital is quite close to LIU and I'm sure they would welcome you with open arms.

 

[LIUpharm333]

I appreciate everyone's imput, especially those who considered my feelings, and also those who gave me very raw feedback.

What is "soooo outrageous" is the fact that LIU took their sweet time, but ultimately did not look beyond the pharmcas gpa. My colleagues who got in had good pharmcas gpas, but had lower current LIU gpas and their PCAT scores range from 17 to 72. LIU ignored the PCAT completely, ignored the trends of student performance, ignored the interviews (My interviewers thanked ME for the services I had done for our community, I've chartered 3 student organizations in the past, another reason my past gpa isn't the best--After I stopped pouring all of my time into these humanitarian organizations, my grades went up); all that LIU really looked at was the pharmCAS gpa. (My LORs were pretty good from my orgo professor and chem professor). I do know that I may have gotten rejected solely based on my pharmcas gpa. The "automatic acceptance capability feeling" comes from the fact that LIU used to only look at the LIU gpa in the past. They switched it in october 2007. If they made the switch in august, before they let students enroll for their courses, I'd have less to say. But it feels like they just took my $35,000 and ran... laughing.

Bottomline, you guys do make a good point: Pharmacy is a very competitive field. Period.

I am going to write an appeal this summer. I'll update on how it went as a thanks to everyone for taking your time to respond. Even if it gets denied, I think it's worth trying before the 2009 cycle begins.

I'll take brklyngirl's advice to volunteer more hours in a hospital. I have over 1000 volunteer hours, but only about 60 hours in a hospital. I may look into working at a pharmacy. Thanks nubianssence for the positive words.

"People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel."





WITH THAT BEING SAID
Can anyone answer my initial question? Does anyone know how to write a formal appeal letter? Is there a certain methodology/formality behind it?

 

[Sparda29]

And I did write an answer to that.

You have to analyze why they rejected you and write a convincing argument to make them overturn their decision.

LIU usually accepts more than they are supposed to because they know that there is quite a bit of attrition during the 1st professional year.

 

[cdpiano27]

How can LIU accept someone with a 17 PCAT, if they require the PCAT? Even if someone had a 4.0 GPA from LIU, a 17 composite PCAT is no excuse. It shows that they put absolutely NO EFFORT INTO THE TEST. Even if I took the test now, with not seeing chem for 6 years and not seeing general bio for 11 years, I could probably do well enough on the two verbal and math sections right now to get more than a 17 composite with no study.

I think that is the outrage. And by the way, a 72 PCAT is not so great either.

One should aim for at least 80 composite realistically. I personally would take the test again if my composite was lower than 80.

 

[LIUpharm333]

How can LIU accept someone with a 17 PCAT, if they require the PCAT? Even if someone had a 4.0 GPA from LIU, a 17 composite PCAT is no excuse. It shows that they put absolutely NO EFFORT INTO THE TEST. Even if I took the test now, with not seeing chem for 6 years and not seeing general bio for 11 years, I could probably do well enough on the two verbal and math sections right now to get more than a 17 composite with no study.

I think that is the outrage. And by the way, a 72 PCAT is not so great either.

One should aim for at least 80 composite realistically. I personally would take the test again if my composite was lower than 80.

THANK YOU!! outrage. Perhaps I should've mentioned earlier that people with PCAT scores of 17 got in.

Sorry Sparda29, I must've missed that. Thanks.

 

[Sparda29]

How can LIU accept someone with a 17 PCAT, if they require the PCAT? Even if someone had a 4.0 GPA from LIU, a 17 composite PCAT is no excuse. It shows that they put absolutely NO EFFORT INTO THE TEST. Even if I took the test now, with not seeing chem for 6 years and not seeing general bio for 11 years, I could probably do well enough on the two verbal and math sections right now to get more than a 17 composite with no study.

I think that is the outrage. And by the way, a 72 PCAT is not so great either.

One should aim for at least 80 composite realistically. I personally would take the test again if my composite was lower than 80.

Yeah, a 72 PCAT isn't too hot. If I was on this site back in December, I would have known that and would have taken it again. But after comparing my scores with my friends at LIU and seeing that I had the 2nd highest score, I figured that it would be a lock.

In my opinion, a 3.2 with a 72 PCAT is better than a 3.7 with a 17 PCAT.

 

[bklyngirl]

Glad to hear you're considering on volunteering in hospital pharmacy. My experience with this has been great so far, and I may even be getting a PAID part-time position here for the summer.
You also may want to try and get another LOR to include with your appeal letter - preferably from an LIU alumnus if you can. If you read over LIU's pharmacy bulletin, they do mention (in other words) that LOR's from LIU alumni hold strong.
Wishing you the best of luck on the appeal process!

 

[Sparda29]

Well, I just got the appeal rejection letter today. Apparently even though my stats went way up, they don't think there is sufficient evidence to back my appeal.

So time to get cranking on the 2009 Application. Graduate with a B.S. in Biology next year as well.

 

[cdpiano27]

Well, I guess they do not care about the PCAT. How can you study in an intensive program and get only 17 PCAT even if you do not study much for the test. I think if you got a 3.7 from a tough program and had to study the material every day you would get at least an 80 overall.

And they accept those people? 72 is not even that great. Are there others getting accepted in the 90s? There should be.

LIU seems messed up and I would never want anyone to spend all their money to take pre-pharm classes there thinking that it will give them an edge.

 

[cdpiano27]

I think I know where the school is now. Ten years ago, I shopped with my relatives at the Fulton Street Mall; they live in Brooklyn but closer to the East River. The school is near that big indoor shopping center which is near the building with the clock on top?