UC's--Appealing--Anyone had success?

[Shpamme]

I was wondering if anyone has ever had success appealing pre-interview rejections at UC's. If you have, I was wondering what your general format of the appeal letter was. Did you structure it similar to a LOinterest? Or was there "something extra special"? Thank you so much..

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[byong_soo]

i haven't done it but i heard from a premed advisor that it's very unlikely for UCs unless you are one of those high stat rejects- i.e. 38+ MCAT, 3.9+ GPA

 

[swtiepie711]

Shpamme, Love the pic (avatar? I'm not 100% clear on what an avatar is?)!

 

[Shpamme]

Hahaha.. not everyone gets it, so I'm glad you like it swtiepie! I got it by screenshotting off cafepress.com. I do that sometimes when I get bored.. I know, such a nerd. =)

Byong_soo, thanks for the info. I definitely don't have the best undergrad stats, but I've done a lot since that I think might have gotten overlooked if I was screened out solely based on numbers. In fact I'd had adcomms at other schools tell me this is why it took so long for me to get interviews--they had to do a manual screen, and when they did, they liked what they saw and decided to give me an interview. That's why I really want to appeal at UC's and think maybe, just maybe I have a shot?

It's not 100% necessary because I feel lucky to have gotten interviews at some places I'd really like to go.. but it'll give me peace of mind knowing I did everything I could do this cycle.

 

[chaldobruin]

I appealed to both UCI and UCSD and nothing so far..

 

[CampusHippo]

I applied for an MSTP at a UC and wasn't offered an interview for it, but was for the MD program. I appealed for an interview for the MSTP and got one. (Still waiting to hear back on the outcome.)

My stats were easily in range and I had an excellent letter from a clinical faculty member at that UC that I had worked with full time for over a year, and I had a "significant other" enrolled there. I used the letter to talk about how well I knew the culture of the school from working there, and why I thought it was a good fit.

The MSTP admissions folks that I talked to about it were totally happy to accept the appeal, and didn't seem put out at all. The attitude they had was something like, "We make mistakes sometimes; we're happy to give you another look if you give us a good reason." I suspect that the MD post-secondary appeals are handled a similar way.

-CHO

 

[byong_soo]

I applied for an MSTP at a UC and wasn't offered an interview for it, but was for the MD program. I appealed for an interview for the MSTP and got one. (Still waiting to hear back on the outcome.)

My stats were easily in range and I had an excellent letter from a clinical faculty member at that UC that I had worked with full time for over a year, and I had a "significant other" enrolled there. I used the letter to talk about how well I knew the culture of the school from working there, and why I thought it was a good fit.

The MSTP admissions folks that I talked to about it were totally happy to accept the appeal, and didn't seem put out at all. The attitude they had was something like, "We make mistakes sometimes; we're happy to give you another look if you give us a good reason." I suspect that the MD post-secondary appeals are handled a similar way.

-CHO

not to be pessimistic, but i doubt it. u had compelling reasons. and number of applicants to MD program is WAY more than MSTPs especially for UCLA, UCSF

 

[Lanced]

I was wondering if anyone has ever had success appealing pre-interview rejections at UC's. If you have, I was wondering what your general format of the appeal letter was. Did you structure it similar to a LOinterest? Or was there "something extra special"? Thank you so much..

I'd be curious to hear how you've fared outside of the UCs. Sounds like we're in similar boats though -- you can check out my MD apps if you're curious.

I was rejected pre-secondary at UCSF, they granted me a secondary and then rejected me again, $60 richer. Granted it was a stretch either way. I called and they told me to write a letter. I wrote one similar to a LOI -- some bullet points about why I was a good applicant and good fit for the school.

I'd say appeals are a no-lose situation and well worth 30 minutes to write a letter.

 

[Shpamme]

Hi Lanced, Thanks for sharing your experience! Did you ultimately get interviewed at UCSF?

Outside of the UC's I've fared okay. Not spectacularly in terms of numbers garnered, but I feel happy because I came a long way since I started on this process.

This cycle I applied to 30 non UC schools. Rejected pre-secondary at 6 of those. Before I got tremendously discouraged by a lack of interviews, I filled out secondaries at roughly 20 of the remaining 24 schools. Of those 20, I got interviews at 4, rejections from 5, and I'm still waiting to hear from 11. Based on feedback from SDN about whehter schools are interviewing still, I'm writing off five of those.

I didn't apply to any top-tier schools--I stuck to middle-tiers given my stats and the fact that I like...forgive me if this is a misconception.. but lower pressure environments. The schools I've interviewed at are midwest schools. Most of the schools I haven't heard a peep from are east-coast lower tier schools.

As I said, some places I've interviewd at told me that my lower undergrad stats are what slowed interview invitations down. But ultimately, they gave me interviews based on the strength of what I did sicne. So thus the concern about whether an appeal would help at UCs.

I'm writing the letter like you suggested..but still having trouble figuring out the "oomph' that needs to go into it. I obviously don't want to state that "I'd for sure go there if accepted".. because I want to save that oomph for my LOI to schools in case I get waitlisted. But is there some other magic catchphrase that works for appeals?

 

[remo]

This isn't quite what you're asking about but I appealed to all the UC's except UCSF for a secondary and received them all. This was in October when I had not received a single secondary (my AMCAS was done in early July). I think I would have been screened out pre-secondary without my appeals. I also appealed a pre-interview hold at UCSD and that did not work.

 

[Shpamme]

Thanks Remo.. Yeah, I did that for all the other schools for some reason, but not for the UC's which in hindsight was really silly of me. I was just so discouraged by November that I was ready to give up.. so I didn't pursue it with the UC's. Now I wish I had, because I ended up getting interviews from schools after submitting my petition letters. Sigh.. hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[TleilaxuMD]

This isn't quite what you're asking about but I appealed to all the UC's except UCSF for a secondary and received them all. This was in October when I had not received a single secondary (my AMCAS was done in early July). I think I would have been screened out pre-secondary without my appeals. I also appealed a pre-interview hold at UCSD and that did not work.

So you are happy that they sent you secondaries so you would have to send them $60 a pop....and still end up with the same result. Wow, just WOW!

BTW: I am selling the golden gate bridge and I thought you would be interested.

 

[Shpamme]

Remo, just ignore him. He totally attacked MiesVanDerMom in another thread for a totally legit question. He's.. what do you call them? ... Troll?

 

[remo]

So you are happy that they sent you secondaries so you would have to send them $60 a pop....and still end up with the same result. Wow, just WOW!

BTW: I am selling the golden gate bridge and I thought you would be interested.

No I got an interview at one so far so it was definately worth it.

 

[TleilaxuMD]

No I got an interview at one so far so it was definately worth it.

So this interview must have garnered an acceptance...right?

 

[jester384]

appealed to ucsf by mail rejected pre-secondary, my stats aren't great but was getting interviews from top 10's so i figured why not. a guy on the interview committee sent me back a letter that said, "liked your app but have lots of people" blah blah blah. so i don't actually know if my file was given a second look or not, either way, appeal didn't work.

 

[Pfannenstiel]

In 3 months, I'll be getting my MD from UCLA - but 4 years ago, in December, I received a pre-interview rejection from them. In fact, it wasn't until I interviewed at another UC 3 months (!) later that I heard another applicant talking about appealing a rejection. I went home and wrote a letter to the dean of student affairs, and one week later I had an interview. The rest, as they say, is history.

The letter was pretty straight-forward. I respectfully requested that they re-examine my file and stated that I thought that I would make a strong addition to the entering class. I talked briefly about some personal traits/experiences that I thought would contribute to my success as a medical trainee...

Best of luck to you. Don't give up on what you want - you never know unless you try.

Edited to add: My stats were pretty strong, but I had been out of school for a few years and I didn't have a 38+ MCAT or a 3.9+ GPA.

 

[Sammii118]

You're a breath of fresh air! I just submitted my appeal to UCLA so hopefully I have your luck