Academic suspension appeal help

College Confidential Community
1

Heres my letter to appeal my suspension, any feedback or advice would be great.

“Being completely honest, I understand that my performance last semester was not what it should’ve been and I could have done much better but I would like to give some context about why I finished the way I did. Coming into the school year I knew that I had to change something in order for me to do better. I decided that I would leave my video games at home and stop going out during the week. Although this helped me in the beginning, around the middle of October, I realized that I would not be able to succeed in college as a chemistry major and started considering other options. After a meeting with Dr.Smith at the learning center I decided I would switch majors to American Studies and drop my chemistry lecture that I was having trouble with so that I could take it during the summer at a community college and do well. Around this time I still had a hold on my account due to my gpa and I contacted the learning center for help who then recommended that I call my academic advisor, Benji Chung. This was my first time trying to contact Dr.Chung and when the call failed due to the connection, I called back and asked about my hold he told me he didn’t have the power to help me and to stop calling him. The learning center was eventually able to find me someone that could help with the hold but from this point forward I was very reluctant to try and contact my “advisor” for any help. I was told by friends that I had to email the American Studies coordinator to officially change my major but I never heard back when I emailed the contact on the school website. Because I had started the year as a chemistry major, I was still taking the lab for majors, CHM 144M. Even though I was already struggling with chemistry before, being enrolled in that lab without getting the chance to learn and review topics in lecture made things much harder and led to me struggling more than other students. This combined with illnesses greatly affected my performance in the lab and there were times when I spent so much time trying to work on lab reports that I skipped smaller assignments for other classes. Despite this I put forth my best effort and used any resources I could to help but ultimately was unable to perform well enough on the final to get a good grade in the class. Failing this one last exam caused me to finish with a 1.97 gpa instead of the necessary 2.00. I understand this is a problem, and I can admit that I have had struggles in the past but I can assure that if given the chance, spring semester will be the best ive ever performed here. As mentioned earlier I have had meetings with Dr.Smith about my academic future and she worked with me to help build my schedule for next semester and informed me that I could go to her for the rest of my time here when I need any advice. I honestly have been improving as a student here as evident by my gpa rising consistently and feel that if I’m given the chance to work towards my American Studies degree instead of chemistry during the spring semester I will finish much stronger. Thank you for considering my appeal.”

2

I personally think it is much too convoluted and focused on process versus specific actions you will take.

These types of letters imho are not meant to be a version of a long winded explanation as though you were telling your friends the whole story. Much too much like the dog ate my home work vibe.

Also any time someone starts off with “to be completely honest” it seems less honest.

I would start by saying simply along the lines

”Dear Dean Jones,

I am writing you today asking if you would consider lifting my academic suspension for spring semester 2020.

My poor performance last semester is totally and completely my responsibility.

In retrospect, my chosen chemistry major was ill suited for me. Once that became clear to me, I worked with the appropriate professors and staff to pivot to communications.

In the end, it was a too late to salvage my grades. I understand this is my responsibility. I am incredibly sorry and feel that I let myself, my family and my university down in the process.

This will never happen again.

If allowed to matriculate, I have a plan of study and will be diligent in all areas.

Attending our university is a privilege and I will work tirelessly with that in mind at all times.

I also plan on taking summer classes to make up credits for my poor semester as well.

Thank you for your time and consideration. “

Sincerely

Student x
Student ID number
Class of 24

3

Too long.

Too much personal info.

You haven’t listed how you plan to get your grades up.

You can’t “react” when your grades go down and then show up at the tutors. You have to be “proactive” the whole 4 years. State the days and hours you will go to tutoring.

4

Too much detail and there are points where it appears that you are putting some of the responsibility on others or throwing others under the bus, which will not serve you well. You better believe that this letter will be seen by more than one person so you need to be very careful who you point out. Personal responsibility, goals and action plans are what the letter should focus on.

5

“Also any time someone starts off with “to be completely honest” it seems less honest.”

I totally agree with this. Yes, we often use it in conversation, but this is not the time or place for it. Whether or not you want to reiterate your honesty, your grades didn’t lie.

Overall the letter is too long, with too many run-on sentences.

6

Yep, this is far too conversational!

The person/people reading the appeal can’t afford to waste time reading a line-by-line rendition of your mistakes and actions. All they need to know is (1) that you’re sorry, (2) that you know where you went wrong, (3) that you have already made progress towards changing your performance, and (4) that you have a solid, actionable plan for ensuring this never happens again.

An appeal letter needs to be short, even including the opening and closing formalities.