How to Write an Appeal Letter for College

College admissions is a competitive process. Some future students could be applying from all over the country and even from all over the world. 

In the last couple of years, the number of college applications has increased by over 21%. As a result, it has become more likely for someone to get rejected from a college. 

When that happens, a student may consider submitting an appeal. One thing they will have to do if they go through with this process is to write an appeal letter. 

What should they put on an appeal letter? Is it possible to submit an appeal to all schools? What are the chances that an appeal letter will actually work? 

This guide will answer all of those questions and more. 

Review Your School's Policy 

The first thing that you need to do is take a look at your school's admissions process. Each school is likely going to do things a little bit differently than other schools. This is especially important if you are trying to make appeals to multiple schools. 

You need to go to that school's website or contact somebody that works in admissions for that school. One of these resources should explain what you have to do to appeal. 

There may be a maximum length you can make an appeal letter, you may need a character witness, there may only be specific circumstances that you can make an appeal for, etc. Or, you could be out of luck and the school may not even entertain appeals under any circumstances. 

The most likely scenario that a school will entertain an appeal is if there was a mistake on your application. This could have been an extracurricular activity or an award you forgot to note. However, it could be something more serious, such as an error recording a student's GPA or SAT score. 

In those situations, a school is much more likely to revisit your application because they may view it as looking at an entirely different application. Go over the school's policy closely, and if you see an opening to make an appeal, take the next step in that process. 

Appeal as Soon as Possible 

You are going to want to file an appeal as soon as possible. The main reason for this is that the longer you wait to do this, the less likely there is an opening for you on campus. 

Remember, schools are looking to fill classrooms and fill dorm rooms that they have on campus. That means that people that apply early are likely going to have first dibs for these spots. 

If you get rejected from the school, that could put you behind a lot more of these other students. Then, if you wait too long, the remaining spots can slowly fill up over time.

If that happens, then the school may not be able to let you in because they are full. This can even happen if there was a genuine mistake made in your application process. 

Depending on how your school reaches out to you, you are going to want to check your mailbox and your email notifications daily until you hear a response. Once you get that rejection letter, you should start to act immediately if you have your heart set on that school. 

It is recommended that you start the appeal process the day after you get rejected if at all possible. The maximum amount of time you should let pass by is no more than a week or two. In this situation, remember that time is of the essence. 

Check Your SAT and ACT Scores 

As mentioned above, a mistake could have been made on your application by submitting your SAT and ACT scores. Considering how big of a factor this can be in certain schools, you want to make sure that you have this right. 

It could simply be you writing the wrong score on your application. Or, whoever conducted your SAT exam recorded the wrong score for schools to see. 

You need to double-check this and make sure that the right score was sent to the school. If a score that was lower than your actual SAT or ACT score was submitted, that may be a genuine cause for the school to revisit your application. 

The reason for this is that there are a decent amount of schools that have a minimum test score standard for exams such as the SAT and ACT. They may not even look at the rest of your application if your score is too low. 

For example, the average SAT score in 2022 was 1050. The maximum score you can get on this test is 1600. 

As a result, more exclusive schools such as Harvard or Yale may want a score above 1400 to even consider you. Public universities may at least want you to hit the average. 

Let's say that you got an 1100 on your SAT. However, the school may have thought you only got 1000 on the SAT. That could be a big enough difference to reject you. 

Review the scores that were submitted and make sure that they were right. 

Account for Late Test Scores 

Another thing to consider when it comes to test scores such as the SAT and ACT is any score you may receive at the last minute. For example, the SAT is conducted seven times per year. Theoretically, students can have up to seven different SAT scores in one year. 

Normally, students would send their best test scores on college applications. However, they may not know what their actual best test score is. 

That is because they may have submitted a college application at the end of October. In the meantime, they may not have been happy with the original SAT score that they got. So, they decided to take the test again in November. 

After the November test, it is possible that the student got a better score on the SAT that time but could not get the result back early enough to submit it on a college application. 

Let's say that a student got a 950 the first time that they took the SAT exam. That could be the score that they sent in on a college application. That school may have seen that SAT score and decided it was too low to accept the student. 

Then, that student gets their second SAT exam score back and this time, it is 1150. That could be enough of a difference that it is worth mentioning in an appeal process. The administrators may see potential in this student, after all, and decide to accept them. 

This could be one of the better arguments that a student has to win an appeal. Make sure you exhaust this option if you have it. 

Be Grateful 

Remember, admissions do not have to even consider your application. So, do not go into this process making demands or accusations. If there was a mistake in the earlier process, mention it in your appeal letter politely. 

You want to be nice to these people and try to stay on their good side. At the end of the day, these are the people that have the power to approve your application. 

This means that you want to remain humble and show admissions that you are appreciative of them just reading your letter and taking another look at your application. With this kind of attitude, they may look at you and think that you are going about this the right way. 

More importantly, you gain likability by doing this. As a result, people will be more likely to help someone that they like compared to someone that they believe is arrogant and ungrateful. 

Take this into consideration and put this tone in your appeal letter accordingly. 

Check Your Grammar

Before submitting an appeal letter, you must check your grammar. Think of this like a job application where professionalism is going to be important. 

For jobs, 59% of recruiters will reject an application that has grammar mistakes. A college application may be no different in this regard. 

So, before you submit your appeal letter online or through the mail, do a thorough check of it. Make sure there are no obvious grammar mistakes or spelling errors. If there are mistakes, take the time to edit the letter and then review it again before sending it in. 

Ask Someone to Listen to It 

Once you type up an appeal letter and clean it up, you should read it out loud to make sure it does not sound awkward. It could also help give you an idea of what you sound like in the letter. 

However, at this stage of the game, it is tough to be completely unbiased about your own appeal. You have likely poured your heart and soul into this and at that point, you may get too attached to your own application.

This may be the stage where it is time to bring in a third party. 

That means that you may ask a close friend or a loved one to listen to your appeal letter. Ask them how it sounds and if any parts of it sound awkward or rude. Then, they can reveal things that fit this description and suggest changes to help fix those things. 

This can be a great way to get an idea of what your letter sounds like to someone in admissions that may read it. Although a friend or a loved one may not have the same mindset when it comes to the letter, they are still an outside party that can give you an idea of how the letter comes off. 

It can also be a great way to reveal the letter. Think of it as a sneak preview that you are only showing to someone that you trust. It is something that you intend to submit, but by revealing it to someone that you trust first, you have time to make last-minute changes if there is something that you overlooked. 

Accept Rejection 

Finally, there may come a point in the process where you have done everything that you could to overturn a decision by admissions. Eventually, you may reach a point where nothing else can be done. This is likely going to be the case if you send an appeal letter and admissions for that school still decides to reject you. 

At that point, you need to shrug it off and accept their decision. This may hurt if it was a dream school that you had in mind. It can also hurt if it was the school that was known for having the best major program in your ideal field. 

At the end of the day, you have to look at it like the school is not the only fish in the sea. Yes, it may not be your first choice. However, there should still be a respectable school out there that is happy to take you if you meet other requirements. 

Submit an Appeal 

These are things you have to think about if you want to submit an appeal for a rejected college application. Remember, admissions do not have to even review your case. Find out if your school even has an appeal process and act grateful that they look over your application again. 

Before you submit it, make sure that there are no grammar mistakes or awkward phrases. Read it over to a friend or family member to make sure.

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