So: you’ve just been rejected by UCSB and are scouring the internet for example UCSB appeal letters that worked.

Ouch.

It’s not easy; after all, there aren’t a lot of options out there on the first page of Google that have successful examples of UCSB appeal letters.

That’s actually why we wrote this article. We wanted to provide our users with example appeal letters that worked and got our students accepted.

But there’s a catch.

Just because we’ve provided UCSB appeal letter examples in this article by no means indicates you have everything you need to get accepted off of the appeal process.

This is especially true since MOST students get rejected from UCSB’s appeal process.

Take a look at the chart we’ve provided on Santa Barbara’s appeal acceptance rate in our sister article.

How to Write the UCSB Appeal Letter –PenningPapers

UCSB accepted a meager 1% of its applicants. It changes every year. But, it’s safe to say this number is going to float in the low single digits for much of the coming years.

Below, we’ve provided our UCSB appeal letter examples, covered what made them successful, and linked to our guide on how to answer the appeal letter prompts. But, with the low acceptance rate, we HIGHLY recommend receiving expert college admissions essay help from us. With such minuscule chances of success, it’s worth receiving every bit of help you can get.

You can sign up for our UC Appeal Service here.

With that said, let’s get to the guide.

Table of Contents

UCSB Appeal Letter Examples.
What Made These Essays Successful?
Our Guide to the UCSB Appeal Letter.

Professional College Application Help.

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UCSB Appeal Letter Examples.

UCSB Appeal Acceptance; Pre-Biopsychology major –PenningPapers

We’re very proud of our client for getting accepted into UCSB. The odds were certainly against them, especially with such a slim single-digit acceptance rate.

If you too wish to receive help with your UCSB appeal letters —or any appeal letters in general— feel free to contact us for a free consultation. We’d be happy to help with your appeal process. Our expert admissions essay writing has helped countless others get accepted into the school of their dreams.

With that said, let’s talk a bit about the 3 prompts.

UCSB’s official website says you “must submit answers to two questions, each with a 500 character limit. An optional third question is available.”

We’ve provided 3 UCSB appeal letter examples below. The 3rd prompt is optional. So, it may not be applicable to everyone. In addition, some people may want to write more on the 3rd option than others. Our client insisted on keeping it short, though.

UCSB Appeal Prompt 1.

“What is the basis of your appeal? (Beyond your desire to be at UCSB or fall grades, why do you want us to reconsider your application?)”
UCSB Appeal Prompt 1

“During high school, I have faced challenges hindering me from achieving my full potential. Due to trauma regarding being repeatedly sexually abused, I battled hospitalization, mental illnes diagnoses, a fight for justice against my abuser, and a life-threateing eating disorder that limited me from engaging in other extracurricular activities —including a biotechnology internship, volunteering at a hospital, and shadowing a doctor.”
UCSB Appeal Letter That Worked 1 –PenningPapers

UCSB Appeal Prompt 2.

“What details or context was missing that would enhance our understanding of your accomplishments? (What new information can you share? We already have your UC application to reference, what’s NEW?)”
UCSB Appeal Prompt 2

“The mental drain I endured severely limited my academic performance; yet, strangely, it also helped me excel —my experiences are why I spread mental helath awareness through an organization I co-founded and became a sexual assault survivor advocate, through which I worked alongside my school principal to revise policies and train administrators to better handle sexual assault cases. My experiences were painful, but, I am proud to have healed and am thankful they allowed me to help other people.”
UCSB Appeal Letter That Worked 2 –PenningPapers

UCSB Appeal Prompt 3.

Did your application correctly reflect what is on your transcript? If not, what was not correct? (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.)
UCSB Appeal Prompt 3

“I accidentally left out that I took a one-semester Dual Enrollment class, Introduction to Criminal Justice, during the fall semester of my senior year, in which I earned an A-“
UCSB Appeal Letter That Worked 3 –PenningPapers

What Made These Essays Successful?

There are 4 elements that set our UCSB appeal letter examples apart from the rest of the admissions pool.

No whining
Growth despite adversity
Elaboration on opportunity costs
Careful writing on controversial topics

It’s not mandatory that you have all 4 of these elements in your own appeal letters. But, you may certainly learn a thing or two from the things that worked in our UCSB appeal letter examples!

No Whining!

Everyone has their struggles. In the wake of a holistic admissions process that tries its best to understand everyone’s struggles, there’s room for sympathy!

However, our successful examples of UCSB appeal letters do not leave much space for whining.

Sure. The appeal process allows for some space for students to testify to their unusual circumstances. But, the focus should not be a sad story.

It’s okay to share negative news. But, we repeat: the main focus of the UC appeal letter is NOT to have a sad sob story.

Trying to use sob stories to get admissions officers to prefer your application is not going to work. It was a strategy used back then. But, that was years ago.

This brings us to an unusual circumstance: how much are we allowed to talk about negative news to the admissions officers? How much content are we able to share that talks about sad backstories?

As a general rule, we recommend students keep sad backstories short, simple, straightforward, and approximately 5 lines or fewer in length. This gives enough space for context but also doesn’t make the whole appeal letter seem like it’s trying to fish for sympathy.

Growth Despite Adversity.

This is probably going to be the most important aspect of writing not just your UCSB appeal letters, but all UC appeal letters as a whole.

You need to demonstrate that despite adversities or setbacks you are growing.

This attitude is a MAJOR indicator of whether you’re going to be someone who fits into the campus community or not.

Those who continue to make excuses for their insufficiencies or leverage their setbacks and tragedies as explanations that excuse their performance are not the kinds of people the UC system wants in their school. They are looking for students who have the commitment, drive, and temperament to continue with the right determination despite such setbacks.

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to be perfect.

You don’t need to say, “I went through significant troubles; but, now I’m all better.” Nor do you need to lie through your teeth.

The admissions officers just want to see that you’re someone who has the right personality to take on academic and learning difficulties despite setbacks.

If you can demonstrate that you have the right attitude toward some of the obstacles you’ve encountered, you’ll show the admissions committee that you’re someone who has what it takes to not just belong on campus but also thrive and share such great viewpoints with other fellow students.

Elaborate on Opportunity Cost.

This is going to be a bit tougher.

But, for the sake of writing a successful UCSB appeal letter, it’s going to be worth it.

In the first UCSB appeal letter example, the prompt asks the applicant what the reasons for the appeal are. Although there can be a plethora of reasons for appeal, most if not a majority of them are going to fall under the “opportunity cost” category.

What we mean by opportunity cost is, well, verbatim the opportunities that cost. That is, what kind of opportunities could you have had that you didn’t get the chance to achieve as a result of difficult circumstances?

Let’s take the latter half of our first UCSB appeal letter example:

“…a fight for justice against my abuser, and a life-threatening eating disorder that limited me from engaging in other extracurricular activities —including a biotechnology internship, volunteering at a hospital, and shadowing a doctor.”
UCSB First Appeal Letter Example Except –PenningPapers

The difficulties incurred from fighting for justice against an abuser and a life-threatening eating disorder are more than enough to explain one’s lack of engagement in otherwise potential activities and achievements including a biotech internship, hospital volunteer experience, and shadowing a doctor.

Our client demonstrate that opportunities, and very specific ones at that, were in fact available to them. The doors were open.

However, due to the messy circumstances mentioned earlier, these opportunity costs were incurred. An otherwise suitable application was “ruined” due to unforeseen obstacles.

This, however, needs to be handled delicately. You can use your previous experiences as a trauma dump that excuses a lack of involvement. Instead, it’s better to imply the impossibility of circumstances.

In our example, our client had a rather extreme case that made it very much understandable. However, if you’re not having your life threatened, you may need to explain further how your experiences or unique obstacles got in the way of your potential success.

For instance, you may want to explain how a lack of time meant you couldn’t physically engage in more activities than you wished. Or, the situations at home deteriorated mental health and made it difficult to manage, which transferred to your energy levels and therefore willingness to work in all other aspects such as grades, extracurriculars, and more.

Ultimately, try to be specific when explaining how the unique obstacles present an opportunity cost to your academic or extracurricular potential and therefore college applications.

You CAN Write About Controversial Topics; But, Be Careful.

We’ve covered this in some of our other articles here at PenningPapers. And, our opinion is unchanged.

You CAN write about controversial topics in your college admissions essays, including your UC appeal letters. Write about controversial topics only to provide in-depth context to an otherwise confusing situation.

However, you need to tread lightly. If you’re not careful with your writing, you can easily make the essay look worse than originally intended.

Here are some examples of controversial topics students are often uncomfortable writing about that we have successfully helped get accepted into top schools like USC, NYU, Dartmouth, UPenn, and many others.

These are just some of the most common college essay topics we’ve come across that our students struggle to write about.

Ironically, it’s actually the hard topics that often make for the best essay topics. That goes for the UCSB appeal letters too!

So, let’s say that you had some difficult family situations at home regarding divorced parents. You fail to mention this in your original UC PIQs, so plan to write about it in the UCSB appeal letter.

The key here, as mentioned before, is not to focus too much on garnering sympathy from the admissions officers. Your job is to USE the difficult topics you have to elaborate on the complicated nature of your academic high school/college experience.

Your experiences are a tool for explaining nuanced details (such as how it was harder to earn high grades or undertake extracurriculars.) It’ll make your appeal look MUCH better!

Our Guide to the UCSB Appeal Letter.

How to Write the UCSB Appeal Letter

There are a few other points to be considered about UCSB’s appeal process.

The prompts aren’t always easy to answer. So, we would recommend not just looking at our example essays alone. Check out our guide on how to answer the UCSB appeal prompts through the link.

If you have any other questions about our UCSB appeal letter examples or simply wish to seek help with writing your UCSB appeal letter, we’re here to help! Schedule a free consultation, and our college admissions consulting and essay editors will get back to you within 24 hours! We’ve helped students get accepted through the appeal process to great schools such as UC Berkeley and UCLA —despite their drastically low appeal acceptance rates!

Successful UCSB Appeal Letter Examples