As a high school senior, John Impelman followed a long line of family members and applied to UCLA.
Wishing to be accepted on his own merit, he sent the same materials as any other applicant: no special recommendations, no emails to the chancellor and, certainly, no mention of his grandmother's maiden name.
And that is how the great-grandson of John Wooden got rejected by UCLA.
Impelman ended up at Occidental, where he played basketball. He now can laugh about his failed application.
"People were like, 'Why didn't you just tell them?'" he recalled.