Appealing Canceled UC Admission

Sounds like the UCs are starting to cancel admission offers (at the moment, over contract violations; cancellation notices for missing documents usually start going out at the end of July or early August).

At this stage, a canceled admission offer is difficult to overturn. But if you find yourself with a canceled admission offer, here is some advice to improve your chance of appeal.

  1. The moment you receive notice that your admission offer is canceled, contact the admissions office. Briefly describe the situation and offer a short explanation about the circumstances leading to your contract violation. See what the admissions office says and try to figure out if you have a case for appealing.
  2. Find out what the process is for appealing. Do you need to send an email or a letter and to where or submit a form in your applicant portal? What documents should you provide? Keep a record of your communication with the admissions office (take notes or retain emails/chat transcripts), don’t try to remember all the details in your head.
  3. Most importantly, ask for the name of the person you spoke to and a direct contact method (such as phone number or email address) where you can get back in touch if needed. You are staking your appeal on the information provided by this person and it would be nice to be able to find the person again if something goes wrong.
  4. Follow the instructions precisely as you put together your appeal. Provide all the documents requested and meet the specified deadline if there is one.
  5. Download an appeal letter template to help you compose your appeal letter.
  6. Your online status will change to something like “appeal under review” when your appeal is entered into the system. From there it can take couple of weeks for the campus to make a decision and your online status will change again.

While you prepare your appeal, make sure you also start looking at backup plans in case your appeal falls through.


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