Academic Dismissal and Appeals?

Student Lounge College Life
1

Hi everyone,
I am unfortunately and embarrassed to have received a letter today about me being academically dismissed at the university of Akron. I’m absolutely horrified, it’s always been my dream to go to college and because of some family issues I fell really behind. I’m going to try to appeal by showing up in person, but I’m required to write a letter stating my defense. I was wondering if anyone could read this and give me feedback. I’m not sure what my chances of appeal are at this point…

To Whom it May Concern,

I have recently received your letter regarding academic dismissal. I please urge you to reconsider dismissing me from The University of Akron.

In the beginning of the Fall 2016 semester, I fell behind in my schoolwork due to many health issues my mother was experiencing. There were many times that I would miss a class because she had been hospitalized, and as a result of that, fell so far behind I struggled immensely to catch up. I accept this as my fault, as I should have made school a bigger priority in that time in order to keep my grades up. In the Spring 2016 semester, I started off strong in an effort to bring my grades up. I established good study habits by going to office hours and tutoring, and made every effort to attend classes and finish assignments. My mother, however, passed away unexpectedly on April 9th, 2016. I struggled immensely with classes at this time, as I was not only grieving the loss of my mother, but also being responsible for things such as funeral planning, insurance and bill sorting, and taking care of my younger sibling. My schoolwork fell to the side, and even though I was in class, was unable to focus due to the large amount of stress that I was dealing with. I sought out help from the counseling offered by the university, as I neared finals and couldn’t focus on my work. I thought that I would be able to handle my remaining coursework, study for finals, and everything comes with sudden loss of a family member, but I was wrong.

I absolutely love the University of Akron, it was always my dream to attend and graduate from there. My mother did not have the privilege to attend school, so for her it was a dream come true for me to have been able to attend. I am absolutely devastated that I did not try harder and am now faced with this issue. I have been working hard to better myself, both mentally and academically so that I will not be faced with this issue again. My plans for self-improvement are to seek regular therapy sessions in order to help me move on after the loss of my mother and eliminate stress. To improve academically, I will continue to go to office hours to improve understanding of the material, going to tutoring to improve studying, completing all assignments, and using a planner to manage my time wisely.

I am asking for a second chance to prove that I can succeed at The University of Akron. Please do not think that my low GPA that led to my dismissal indicate that I am a bad student. I am confident that I can and will succeed by taking the actions that I have described.

Thank you very much for your time,

Thanks in advanced

2

I made a few grammatical changes to make it sound better, but it is good overall. I would just read over my version and make the changes that sound good to you. Good luck

I have recently received your letter regarding academic dismissal. I urge you to please reconsider dismissing me from The University of Akron.

In the beginning of the Fall 2016 semester, I fell behind in my schoolwork due to many health issues my mother was experiencing. There were several times that I missed class because she had been hospitalized. Because of this, I fell behind academically and struggled immensely to catch up. I accept that this is my fault, as I should have made school a bigger priority in that time in order to keep my grades up. In the Spring 2016 semester, I started off strong in an effort to bring my grades up. I established good study habits by going to office hours and tutoring and made every effort to attend classes and finish assignments. However, my mother passed away unexpectedly on April 9th, 2016. I struggled immensely with classes at this time, as I was not only grieving the loss of my mother, but also dealing with the responsibility of things such as funeral planning, insurance and bill sorting, and taking care of my younger (say brother/sister, not sibling - makes it sound more personal). My schoolwork fell to the side, and even though I was in class, was unable to focus due to the large amount of stress that I was dealing with. I sought out help from the counseling offered by the university, but I still couldn’t focus on my work. I thought that I would be able to handle my remaining coursework, study for finals, and everything comes with a sudden loss of a family member, but I was wrong.

I absolutely love the University of Akron and has always been my dream to earn a degree here. My mother did not have the privilege to attend school, so for her, it was a dream come true for me to have been able to attend. I am absolutely devastated that I did not try harder and am now faced with this issue. - (Don’t say that you didn’t try hard enough, mention the circumstances again and say that you were unable to devote enough time/energy to school.) I have been working hard to better myself, both mentally and academically so that I will not be faced with this issue again. My plan for self-improvement is to seek regular therapy sessions in order to help me move on after the loss of my mother and eliminate stress. To improve academically, I will continue to go to office hours to improve understanding of the material, going to tutoring to improve studying, completing all assignments, and using a planner to manage my time wisely.

I am asking for a second chance to prove that I can succeed at The University of Akron. Please do not think that my low GPA that led to my dismissal indicates that I am a bad student. I am confident that I can and will succeed by taking the actions that I have described.

3

So sorry for your loss! I think this is fine but I hope those with more experience with this sort of thing will offer advice. My question to you is, do you really feel ready to focus on your studies given how recent the loss of your mother was? Maybe take another semester or two off to grieve and get everything sorted out?

4

I would suggest posting this in the parent’s forum. I suspect that the letter is a bit long and that the third paragraph will need editing.

I think you presented a strong case. Based on what you wrote, you did everything right your spring semester. I would consider talking to the counseling center and dean of students to see if it is possible to do a retroactive withdrawal for spring semester due to your mother’s death. It doesn’t hurt to ask what your options are.

I am not a good writer but this is my suggestion:

I have recently received your letter regarding academic dismissal. I urge you to please reconsider dismissing me from The University of Akron.

In the beginning of the Fall 2016 semester, my family had a medical crisis requiring my help that caused me to missed several classes. As result, I fell behind academically and struggled to catch up. I accept that this is my fault, as I should have made school a higher priority. In the Spring 2016 semester, I started off strong. I established good study habits by going to office hours and tutoring and made every effort to attend classes and finish assignments. However, my mother passed away unexpectedly on April 9th, 2016. I struggled immensely with classes at this time, as I was not only grieving the loss of my mother, but also dealing with the responsibility of things such as funeral planning, insurance and bill sorting, and taking care of my younger sibling. This affected my academics and even though I was in class, I was unable to focus due to these issues. I sought out help from the counseling offered by the university. I thought that I would be able to handle my remaining coursework, study for finals, and everything comes with a sudden loss of a family member, but I was wrong.

My plan going forward is to seek regular therapy sessions in order to help me move on after the loss of my mother. To improve academically, I will continue to go to office hours to improve understanding of the material, going to tutoring to improve studying, completing all assignments, and using a planner to manage my time wisely.

I absolutely love the University of Akron and has always been my dream to earn a degree here. I am asking for a second chance to prove that I can succeed at The University of Akron. Please do not think that my low GPA that led to my dismissal indicates that I am a bad student. I am confident that I can and will succeed by taking the actions that I have described.

5

I’m at work right now so I’ll come back with more depth later – but second-to-last paragraph, IT has always been your dream. Missing “it” there.

6

“It has always been my dream to…” I have read this sentence in letters from many college students and yet it doesn’t really add anything to their appeal, admission, etc. For example . this line was often in letters stating, “:I always dreamed of going to…” and then sending it to another school. Funny, but not so helpful. I think letters are sharper and shorter when stray lines. are eliminated. Just my personal opinion.

7

Some of this is general, and some specific to your situation.

  1. search this topic on CC and you will see many other posts on academic appeals
  2. Make sure your letter states what the issue was that caused you to have academic difficulties
  3. Did you talk to your professors/dean of students about the issue?
  4. Did you make use of the many resources your school has? if not, why not?
  5. Find out what those resources are…e.g. counseling center, talking to professors, talking to your adviser, withdrawing from class, talking to dean, maybe taking incompletes,
  6. State how you would use those in the future
  7. How are you addressing what caused the issue? Obviously you do not have to deal with hospitilizations anymore…but who is going to take care of your sibling? Who is the executor of her estate? Will you keep having to maintain the household? Sell the house?
  8. Think about if you should continue at college, or take a break.
  9. Think about if you should continue at a community college, to be close to your family
  10. Also tell more about your family situation. Is your father in the picture? Why were you responsible for hospital visits or funeral arrangements? Did your mother have any family who could have helped?
  11. How is your college funded? Will that continue?

I would not say" my family had a medical crisis", but, for example, say that your single Mother was hospitalized and you were the only adult that could help coordinate her care.

In general, keep in mind what the college wants…they want students who can succeed. They need to know that you understand what the issue was, know now the resources that you can use, how the problems is resolved so you will not have academic issues in the future.