I’m waiting to hear back from my school, SUNY Oswego which I’ve been dismissed from. I have already typed a letter and sent it in, I just wanted to get some opinions on my letter.
Dear Dr. Tomascak,
I am writing to appeal my academic dismissal from SUNY Oswego. I have done a lot of reflecting on my academic performance since leaving for break. The disappointment I have felt in myself has been staggering. This thought process has included the factors that contributed to my poor academic performance and the steps I plan to take for academic success if I can continue my education at SUNY Oswego.
I have struggled since transferring to SUNY Oswego due to the following factors that have contributed to my failure to succeed academically. The first factor was allowing myself to get caught up in the socializing aspect of college. Instead of school being my primary focus every day, I was more focused on what I was going to do with friends. The second factor was creating a schedule with no structure to succeed academically. When I created my schedule, I was more concerned with having time to socialize with friends. The third factor was not using the resources that were readily available to me that would have aided in my success. These resources included: utilizing the available office hours each of my professors had when I was struggling with assignments, meeting with my academic probation advisor, using the library as a place to get assignments done and going to the writing center to get help with written assignments. The last factor was poor time management. I waited to the last minute to do most of my assignments and this lead to me not completing assignments, handing assignments in late and doing subpar work.
My goals for academic success in the future are to improve upon the factors stated above. First, I plan to make my primary focus school work and not socializing. I will do this by getting my school work done first before doing anything else. Second, I have already set up my schedule with Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays having three classes back to back. This will maximize my class attendance, give me more structure, and an earlier start to my days. I have already signed up to retake three classes next semester that I did poorly in. These classes include: Theory of Knowledge, World History 20th Century and American Government & Politics. Retaking these classes and doing well in them will drastically change my overall GPA and I plan to retake more classes that I did poorly in, in the future. To ensure that this upcoming semester shows significant improvement, I will use the resources that are available to me to succeed. When I am struggling with something in class I will communicate with my professors. When I struggle with a writing assignment I will visit the writing center to get help. I will meet with my academic probation advisor regularly to make sure I am on track to succeed. Lastly, I will manage my time better and I will do this by starting assignments earlier to ensure they are finished and handed in on time. I will also get involved with a study group to help me study, stay focused and to go over the current class work.
Overall being academically disqualified has shown me that I was not headed down the right path to be successful. I had to reprioritize what I wanted out of college and what I want is to graduate from Oswego with a Political Science degree. This has been one of my life long goals and would make me the first in my immediate family to earn a college degree. Oswego is like a second home for me and there is no other university that I would want to earn my degree from. I take full responsibility for my academic failures and will respect your decision.
Sincerely,