If you’re looking to write the UCSB appeal letter, you are probably already aware of how hard getting accepted can be.

After all, the admissions office admits on their site that very few students get admitted through their appeal process. Before you get to writing your UCSB appeal letter, there you may first be wondering whether it would even be worth it to apply for an appeal.

In fact, here at PenningPapers, we receive as many requests for appeal letter editing as we do questions on whether people should apply.

Of course, everyone’s situation is unique. However, for about 90% of people, we’ve spoken to, the answer is the same.

So, this guide on how to write the UCSB appeal letter will be split into two parts. First, we’ll cover whether it’s worth it to even apply for an appeal. Then, we’ll cover how to actually write the UCSB appeal letter and stand out amongst the rest of the appealing pool.

Table of Contents

1. Is Appealing to UCSB Worth it?
   • How Many People Get Accepted Into UCSB Through Appeals?
   • Do I Still Have a Chance of Getting Into UCSB Through Appeals?
2. How to Write the UCSB Appeal Letter
   • Deadlines
   • What is the basis of your appeal? (Beyond your desire to be at UCSB or improved fall grades, why do you want us to reconsider your application?)
   • What details or context was missing that would enhance our understanding of your accomplishments? (What new information can you share not originally presented in your UC application?)
   • (Optional) Did your application correctly reflect what is on your transcript? If not, what was incorrect? (If you forgot to list a class, had edits to your grades, or did not explain any academic curriculum here is where you can tell us.) 

Is Appealing to UCSB Worth it?

Yes. It is.

The UCSB appeal process may seem daunting. However, from an ROI and acceptance rate perspective, we’ve found that sending an appeal letter to UCSB is often very much worth the effort.

ROI-wise, the time dedicated to writing a strong UCSB appeal letter is worth the investment. You only need to invest a few hours into creating a strong appeal letter; so, writing a set of strong UC appeal letters is oftentimes worth the effort even considering the slim acceptance rate.

The acceptance rate being slim is also another factor. Considering that the appeal process is an entire second chance at getting accepted into UCSB, it’s hard to say trying again is not worth it. After all, for students applying as freshmen or transfers, what more is there to do? The only exception to this would be if you’re swamped with research or work. Even then, college students can typically carve out a few hours to try their chances with the appeal process.

We’ll cover this more in-depth in the later sections below.

How Many People Get Accepted Into UCSB Through Appeals?

Every year changes, sure. However, we’ve been able to dig up the stats for UCSB appeals in the 2020 admissions cycle. We made it into a nice, pretty chart too. How nice!

UCSB received 1122 appeal letters and accepted 11 of those letters. That makes their appeal acceptance rate just shy of 1%.

Alright, so that seems pretty scary and dreadful, right? Strangely, we’re actually quite optimistic about most applicants and their appeals. There’s a lot to that, though. Let’s deconstruct this in the next section below.

Do I Still Have a Chance of Getting Into UCSB Through Appeals?

One of the concerns we hear from clients is that they’re afraid of writing the UCSB appeal letter. They’re often worried that the slim chances of getting accepted would just be a waste of time.

We’ve even heard people online recommend not writing an appeal letter because it would “add unnecessary stress to admissions officers who don’t have the time and resources to look through it.” This is preposterous. Sure, the admissions officers are busy. But, the appeal process is a literal function of the application process as a whole.

It exists because there are people worth accepting from the appeal list.

With that said, whether writing a UCSB appeal letter is worth it is up to you and your time dedication. From the clients we’ve talked to, we found that writing an appeal letter is more often than not worth it. You can figure this out on your own by doing the math.

Out of the 1122 appeals sent to UCSB, 11 get accepted. This can make the appeal process for UCSB seem quite grim. However, also consider that most essay questions for college application appeals take about 2-4 hours each.

The UCSB appeal process contains 2 mandatory questions plus 1 optional question.

If you are finishing all 3 questions, that means you’re dedicating 6 hours at least to appealing your UCSB application. At max, you’ll be dedicating 12 hours. Add these hours to any other appeal letters you’re doing and you’ll realize that this process is not as grueling as it seems. In fact, the amount of hours you put in for a second shot is not too bad considering how much time is dedicated to the actual college application process.

Okay, but the competition seems scary. That’s a fair answer. After all, that’s 1122 applicants with only 11 being accepted.

However, another important thing to note is the quality of applicants appealing their application to UCSB. What does the average appeal letter look like? Well, here at PenningPapers we’ve seen our fair share of appeal letters. We can tell that from looking at these appeal letters, we now understand why the acceptance rate through appeals is so slim. They’re not at the quality they should be.

That’s why we’re so optimistic about our clients and their appeal letters.

So, consider the fact that many appeal letters, even those coming from fantastic 4.0 GPA students, are not at the level they should be. If you write a strong appeal letter, you’ll have a significantly higher chance of acceptance compared to the rest. So, we’ll get right to that. Here’s how you write a strong UCSB appeal letter to stand out amongst everyone else.

How to Write the UCSB Appeal Letter

Note: UC schools are test blind and do not consider SAT and ACT score reports. For Freshman high school applicants, write only about content from grades 10-11. Admissions officers can only judge content from grades 10-11; so, don’t write about anything else such as Senior year Fall grades.

The UCSB appeal letter includes both a mandatory and optional part. We’ve pasted these from the official website below for you to see.

“You must submit answers to two questions, each with a 500 character limit. An optional third question is available.”

UCSB Appeal Official Website

1. What is the basis of your appeal? (Beyond your desire to be at UCSB or improved fall grades, why do you want us to reconsider your application?)
2. What details or context was missing that would enhance our understanding of your accomplishments? (What new information can you share not originally presented in your UC application?)
3. (Optional) Did your application correctly reflect what is on your transcript? If not, what was incorrect? (If you forgot to list a class, had edits to your grades, or did not explain any academic curriculum here is where you can tell us.) 

It is important to cover a few details when answering each of these questions. And yes: it is best to answer number 3 if applicable. The point of the appeal process for the University of California is to show that your application is not what it seemed to begin with anyway.

If you feel like you don’t know what to say to that question or any of the three questions for that matter, then we’ll cover that more in-depth below. We’ll also cover some important points when writing the UCSB appeal letter such as deadlines and formatting.

Deadlines for Appeals

Here are the deadlines for UCSB’s appeal process. Note that writing the appeal letter often takes more time than most people think because they often do it wrong.

• Freshman applicants: April 15 (appeals open April 1)
• Transfer applicants: June 15 (appeals open May 1)

At PenningPapers, we’ve received a lot of calls from people asking for short reviews of their appeal letters 1-2 days before the deadline. More often than not, the appeal letters did not follow the proper instructions provided by the university. We find this especially true for students writing the second UCSB appeal letter about providing new information.

Typically, this new information does not even apply to UCSB’s requirements. So, make sure you write your UCSB appeal letter early and get it checked with a consultant before submitting it. With an acceptance rate so slim, it’s imperative that you get this right.

What is the basis of your appeal? (Beyond your desire to be at UCSB or improved fall grades, why do you want us to reconsider your application?)

This question seems quite simple: we want to appeal to UCSB because we’re upset we didn’t get accepted! Of course, don’t actually write that.

The reason anyone writes appeal letters to universities is often that the application they sent did not demonstrate the abilities and strengths the application was supposed to. So, unfortunately, there isn’t much room for you to write about anything else for this question except that. Just remember to write this formally and in a manner that stands out amongst the rest.

For this question, you can’t talk about how you’re passionate about going to UCSB and you can’t talk about how your academics have improved over time.

Instead, the basis of your appeal letter should be that the application you’ve submitted originally does not demonstrate the person you are. In addition, you may want to write the appeal letter to show how the missing info you did not provide is vital to the admissions decision. So, it shouldn’t be that you forgot to add one small detail or edit your essay. The basis of any appeal letter should be that you’ve missed out on crucial information not originally stated.

Also, note that the UCSB appeal questions have a 500-character word limit. So, be concise and to the point.

What details or context was missing that would enhance our understanding of your accomplishments? (What new information can you share not originally presented in your UC application?)

Okay, so you’ll need to be careful with this one too.

You may want to think of answering this question by asking yourself this: what elements of my application are not obvious just from reading it? What would an admissions officer not notice about your application if they only read what was on paper?

Here’s an example.

Let’s say you earned a 3.5 unweighted GPA in your Sophomore year and a 3.75 GPA in your Junior year. Let’s also say that you conducted a few projects in digital marketing to create online passive income streams. You can say that the reason you’re appealing to UCSB is that your application does not demonstrate the level of work you’ve put in as well as the depth of character your academic background portrays.

The increase in GPA shows that you’ve learned to adapt to academic settings and can further handle the future academic obstacles ahead of you at Santa Barbara. The projects you’ve conducted in generating online passive income streams have a steep learning curve. Nonetheless, you’ve managed to increase your GPA; this shows that even when you’re conducting your own projects at UCSB you’ll still be able to juggle your academics properly.

It’s important to note that these reasons need to “enhance our understanding of your accomplishments” as the prompt states. We often find applicants will write their appeal letters like they’re shooting a shotgun. The pellets fly everywhere, hoping to land the target by probability rather than accuracy. This is not how you should write the UCSB appeal letter.

(Optional) Did your application correctly reflect what is on your transcript? If not, what was incorrect? (If you forgot to list a class, had edits to your grades, or did not explain any academic curriculum here is where you can tell us.) 

If your answer to this question is “yes”, then there’s no excuse not to answer this.

Most appeal letters are written because there are issues and insufficiencies in the original application. Most people only really get to write about how they could not show the depth of character they wanted. However, in this case, showing that there was a literal mistake in the original application is a major advantage that would truly qualify your reasons for the appeal.

It’s important to make sure you’re answering this question without playing a “blame game”. The admissions office is very wary of students and excuses to make up for insufficiencies. If there was a mistake and it was your own fault, that’s no problem. Just be honest. Mistakes with transcripts happen and that’s exactly what the appeal process is here for.

Also, if applicable, you may want to show admissions officers that the mistakes that occurred in your application were beyond your control. For instance, we have a few applicants who cannot get their high school grade transcripts updated to the latest grade changes because the school’s protocol does not allow for it. We also had students who had network/tech issues with submitting the application. This led to editing issues in the PIQ section, teachers being unable to submit letters of recommendation, etc.

These are all issues that are beyond the applicant’s control; thus, they warrant a reasonable reconsideration for appeal.

If you have any further questions on how to write the UCSB appeal letter, or you want to see if what you’ve written is strong, contact us for a free 30-minute phone consultation! We can provide both free and paid editing/writing services for appeal letters to help you stand out amongst the application pool.