Academic Suspension appeal...help please!

Parents Forum
1

To Whom It May Concern:

Hi, my name is xxx. I am a sophomore at xxx I am writing this letter in the hopes of an approval for an appeal for Academic Suspension. In the Spring of 2015, I was put on Academic Suspension for failure to make satisfactory grades for the school year of 2014-2015. The reasons why I have made poor grades over the past school year were due to personal issues with family, and issues that I had with peers at school, depression, and a hard time adjusting to living on campus. In Fall of 2014, I decided to live on campus due to the stresses of commuting. I thought living on campus would be an easier alternative. During that semester, in the beginning I had an issue with my financial aid due to unusual enrollment verification. That delayed me on getting my books, in as a result of that; I fell behind in my classes. During that time, I was informed of news that my grandmother was becoming very ill, as well as conflicts with my friends that were mounting. In addition to that, it being the first time in two years since I had lived on campus, I found living on campus to be a bit of a stressful environment. I ended up making an A- in my speech class, a C in my geology class, and I made an F in my psychology class. The other classes, I subsequently dropped due to not having the resources for the class, because of in the beginning of the school year, I did not have enough money for a book reserve.

The spring semester only proved to be much worse with personal issues, as well as issues with myself. I was going through what I didn’t know at the time to be depression from my grandmother going into a diabetic coma. In Spring 2015, once again I did not receive a book reserve, so I could not pay for my books. During this semester, issues came to a head with altercations with former acquaintances of mine, which I ended up having to call the authorities. I realize that I have no one to blame for my mistakes except for myself, and that I did not handle these situations to the best of my ability, causing my education to suffer. I take responsibility for the mistakes that I have made over the past school year, and if given another chance whether it be on Academic Probation, will strive to be a better student due to the plans I have put in place for next semester, as well changes in my situation.

I intend to change my situation by sitting down with my advisor to formulate a study plan and class plan, as well as meet with my advisor periodically throughout the semester. I intend also to live off campus, so I don’t face the distractions that I had this past year with living on campus. My grandmother has gotten better with her condition, so that will not be added stress to my plate. After the authorities were called, regarding the situation that happened with the former acquaintances of mine, the situation blew over, and as a result, the taunting, negative text messages and emails came to a halt. My situation, at the beginning of the semester has gotten a lot better and will not impact my future semester at xxx, if I were able to get back into the school. I have spoken to a counselor on my issues that have resulted from the situations that I have been in this past semester and I now have better coping techniques. If readmitted into xxx School Of Business, even if on a probationary period, I will return with a new attitude ready to achieve and excel, how I did when I initially transferred to xxx My issues with myself personally, as well as family issues and living issues are behind me, and are rectified. I also intend to set dates with tutors every week to make sure I am on track, and doing well in my classes. Thank you for your time and consideration with reading this letter.

Please guys if you have any suggestions, please leave them below. Anything will help me at this point i believe. I’m desperate. if it makes a difference my cumulative gpa is a 2.49, my gpa for the semester and last semester is below a 2.0.

2

Your letter is much too wordy, and too long.

You tell what the issues were…you tell what you are GOING to do, but you fail to mention anything you have already done to ready this situation.

Shorten your letter. Take out any extraneous information.

Remember, those reading these letters are looking for the facts in a clear and concise manner.,they read a lot of these letters. Make sure yours is clear to them.

3

In addition to the very helpful suggestions above, I would suggest replacing “Hi” with “Hello” for more formality.

4

Were you being harassed by fellow students? You dance around that point.

5

yes I was being harassed by fellow students.

6

thumper 1, can you elaborate? what do you mean by dancing around that point?

7

Misss…pizzagirl used the “dance around” wording.

But I agree.

Your letter goes around and around until you get to the point. And with the harassment, you NEVER state that. Did you report it? To anyone?

My reading of your letter is that you have all sorts of excuses blaming others for what happened. Certainly noting what other did can be part of your letter…but really, the school wants to know what YOU have already done to correct the issues, and what actions you will continue or have already initiated for the next academic year.

8

You mention not having money for books for the last two semesters – has this changed? You don’t mention that.

9

thumper1, yes I reported it to my campus police. CheddarcheeseMN, yes it has changed. I decided to live off campus to alleviate expenses so I can afford to pay for my books for next semester

10

While it’s good that you’re taking responsibility for your part in all of this, I agree that you do not inform your reader about the changes that you have made, or could have made while this was happening.
Detail the specifics as concisely as you can.

Example: “…I went to the school counseling center and was diagnosed with depression. Since then, I have been in counseling once-per-week and have been developing new coping strategies, including XXXXX.
Through counseling, I also realized that although I did not have sufficient funds for books, I could have attempted to find the books in the library, find a fellow student to study with, or approached the professor for advice. Moving forward, I feel confident that when faced with an obstacle, I will make every attempt to resolve it.”

Keep it short and to the point. You do not have to let them know in your first paragraph what you will be detailing in your subsequent paragraphs.

Good luck

11

thank you hop.

12

To Whom It May Concern:

Hello, my name is xxx. I am a sophomore at xxx I am writing this letter in the hopes of an approval for an appeal for Academic Suspension. In the Spring of 2015, I was put on Academic Suspension for failure to make satisfactory grades for the school year of 2014-2015. The reasons why I have made poor grades over the past school year were due to personal issues with family, and issues that I had with peers at school, depression, and a hard time adjusting to living on campus. In Fall of 2014, I decided to live on campus due to the stresses of commuting. I thought living on campus would be an easier alternative. During that semester, in the beginning I had an issue with my financial aid due to unusual enrollment verification. That delayed me on getting my books, in as a result of that; I fell behind in my classes. During that time, I was informed of news that my grandmother was becoming very ill, as well facing harassment from my acquaintances. In addition to that, it being the first time in two years since I had lived on campus, I found living on campus to be a bit of a stressful environment. I ended up making an A- in my speech class, a C in my geology class, and I made an F in my psychology class. The other classes, I subsequently dropped due to not having the resources for the class, because of in the beginning of the school year, I did not have enough money for a book reserve.
The spring semester only proved to be much worse with personal issues, as well as issues with myself. I was going through what I didn’t know at the time to be depression from my grandmother going into a diabetic coma. In Spring 2015, once again I did not receive a book reserve, so I could not pay for my books. During this semester, issues came to a head with altercations with former acquaintances of mine, which I ended up having to call the authorities. I went to the school-counseling center and was diagnosed with depression. Since then, I have been in counseling once-per-week and have been developing new coping strategies, including talking about my issues and becoming more proactive about it. Through counseling, I also realized that although I did not have sufficient funds for books, I could have attempted to find the books in the library, find a fellow student to study with, or approached the professor for advice. Moving forward, I feel confident that when faced with an obstacle, I will make every attempt to resolve it.
I realize that I have no one to blame for my mistakes except for myself, and that I did not handle these situations to the best of my ability, causing my education to suffer. I take responsibility for the mistakes that I have made over the past school year, and if given another chance whether it be on Academic Probation, will strive to be a better student due to the plans I have put in place for next semester, as well changes in my situation.
I intend to change my situation by sitting down with my advisor to formulate a study plan and class plan, as well as meet with my advisor periodically throughout the semester. I intend also to live off campus, so I don’t face the distractions that I had this past year with living on campus. Also with living off campus, I will be able to pay for my books so that I don’t have to suffer in my classes, as what happened this past year. My grandmother has gotten better with her condition, so that will not be added stress to my plate. After the authorities were called, regarding the situation that happened with the former acquaintances of mine, the situation blew over, and as a result, the taunting, negative text messages and emails came to a halt. My situation, at the beginning of the semester has gotten a lot better and will not impact my future semester at xxx, if I were able to get back into the school. I have spoken to a counselor on my issues that have resulted from the situations that I have been in this past semester and I now have better coping techniques. If readmitted into xxx School Of Business, even if on a probationary period, I will return with a new attitude ready to achieve and excel, how I did when I initially transferred to xxx My issues with myself personally, as well as family issues and living issues are behind me, and are rectified. I also intend to set dates with tutors every week to make sure I am on track, and doing well in my classes. Thank you for your time and consideration with reading this letter.

Don’t know if this is any better. but please if you can, review it and tell me what else i need to chop or add to it.

13

The letter is way too long. Each paragraph is way to long. Just put the facts and not the other words.

14

okay. I have worked on another letter. Tell me what you think.

To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter to appeal my academic suspension from XXXXXXX When I found out about my academic suspension, I cannot say I was surprised, but I was nonetheless upset. I would like to urge you to reinstate me for next semester, whether it is on good standing, or on Academic Probation.
I admit, I had a very poor year at XXXXXXX, and my grades suffered as a result. I do not mean to excuse my grades, but I would like to explain the circumstances surrounding my poor grades. I know registering for fifteen hours was going to require a lot of focus from me, and I wanted to put myself on track so I could graduate as soon as possible. During the past school year, my grandmother became very ill, my peers were harassing me, and my financial situation prevented me from purchasing my books. I thought I could handle the workload, and realize looking back that I still could have, if I had made the necessary sacrifices to do so. Not having a book reserve set me back financially and academically to where I could not afford my books, so my grades suffered as a result of that. I could have chose to live off campus, with my parents, as I had done the first year, so I could save money, as well as not facing the harassment that I had with my peers. I was distracted from school with the situation with my grandmother, my peers harassing me, and my financial situation with purchasing my books. It cut the time I should have gave myself to study. I realize now that I could have consulted with my classmates for books, I could have spoken to my professor’s about difficulties regarding my situation, or I could have officially withdrew from the school. I thought I could handle my situation, through all of the situations that I have been in, but I proved to be wrong.
I love attending XXXXXX and it would mean so much to me to graduate from this school with a degree in XXXXXX. If I were to be reinstated, it would mean that I would be the first in my family to graduate from an HBCU, from college period. If I am reinstated, I will make much more of an effort to be dedicated to my schoolwork. I will take fewer hours, manage my time more wisely, live off campus, to alleviate the funding for my books, so I can afford them as well as communicate with my advisors, and tell my professors when any issues arise. Thankfully, the issues with my financial situation have been taken care of. Next year, if I am reinstated, I do not plan on living on campus. My grandmother is also doing much better. The harassment that I was facing with my peers has been taken care of, as I have reported them to XXXXX police.
Please consider that my low grades over the past year that led to my suspension does not mean I am a bad student. I am a good student that had a very bad school year. I hope that you will give me a second chance. Thank you for considering this appeal.
Sincerely,

XXXXXXXXXX

15

Here is what we mean by cutting it down:

"I am writing this letter to appeal my academic suspension from XX.

Last year, I was faced with 3 issues:

  1. I did not have sufficient money to purchase books, which made me unable to keep up.
  2. My grandmother became very ill (one sentence to explain).
  3. My peers were harassing me (one sentence to explain).

Because of the combination of these 3 things, I did not perform as well in my studies as I would have normally been able to.

This year, I am committed to doing better. Specifically:

  1. I will be living at home with my parents to save money, thus making it possible for me to buy the books that I need.
  2. My grandmother is no longer ill, so that stress is no longer there.
  3. The harassment situation no longer exists.

(Then you do your closure). Sincerely, XX"

See what we mean by cutting this down?
Note also the new order. The impediment that they will be most sympathetic to is that you didn’t have money - not that you had an ill grandmother (plenty of students have ill family members and don’t let their schoolwork suffer). And I’m not even 100% sure you should include the harassment, unless it’s something that was documented by the college at some point.

Best of luck to you. Do another round and we’ll take a look at.

16

Missss. Learn to use paragraphs. Having one long run on paragraph makes your letter extremely difficult to read.

17

Here are specific sentences you can drop.
“When I found out about my academic suspension, I cannot say I was surprised, but I was nonetheless upset.”
They don’t care that you were upset.

“I admit, I had a very poor year at XXXXXXX, and my grades suffered as a result. I do not mean to excuse my grades, but I would like to explain the circumstances surrounding my poor grades.”
Just explain. Don’t tell them you’re about to explain.

“During the past school year, my grandmother became very ill, my peers were harassing me, and my financial situation prevented me from purchasing my books. (a few sentences later) I was distracted from school with the situation with my grandmother, my peers harassing me, and my financial situation with purchasing my books.” See how you’re repeating yourself?

Hope this helps - this is meant to be constructive.

18

It is actually formatted in Word. When I put it into the text editor it lost all the indents. I have proof of the harassment , with it being documented by campus police.

19

Then it’s bizarre that you danced around it in your original letter. If you can prove you were some kind of target in a situation the campus police knew about, I am at a loss why you were so vague about it.

20

I don’t really know how to detail it, that’s why.