My Successful Letter of Appeal to UC Berkeley

Republished from The Huffington Post: https://huff.to/Yb74KD UC Berkeley was my dream school. In fact, as a student at a large public high school in the East Bay, as the son and grandson of alumni, and as a young person interested in politics, the University of California, Berkeley, was one of the few schools I knew. I applied in November of my senior year of high school. That spring, I received a thin letter in the mail from the admissions office. I went to the garage to open it, to receive the good news. Maybe the small letter would inform me that the fat packet of smiling faces of my future classmates was on its way or available online? Nope. I decided to appeal the decision. I knew the odds were slim: less than 1 percent of the student body at Berkeley were admitted off an appeal. Additionally, I was under the [...]

An Alternative Spring Break

If you’re a high school junior, chances are your inbox and mailbox have been filled with letters from the marketing departments of colleges across the country. I also received those one page letters. And if you do not feel like waiting until the summer before your senior year to figure out whether you should apply to these schools, even better. And so it was during the spring of my junior year in high school that My Dad and I decided to take a road trip and visit some schools in the area who had been so kind to send us boiler-plate introduction letters. This time, “in the area” referred to schools beyond the city limits of Los Angeles, namely UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Sonoma Sate, and UC Santa Barbara. Below you will find some observations and tips from our trip should you choose to visit some schools during your spring [...]

Inspiration: San Lorenzo High School College Going Culture Site Visit

Part 1/3: Overview of San Lorenzo High School College Going Culture Site Visit