Hello,
Can anyone please correct my appeal letter. And suggest any points to be added or eliminated.
Hello Madam,
This is XXX. I am doing MS Finance at XXX University XXX. I would like to appeal my dismissal from XXX University for academic performance issues. While I understand the reasons for your decision, I would like reinstatement to your school.
I understand my performance was less than your requirements to remain in school and would like to make a few points about the things I have done to rectify the situation. I joined in spring 2014 and had a tough time keeping up with my grades. I traveled for a semester from XXXX for 3 days to attend classes at XXXX. It was really hard to manage with studies and personal life. Now we have moved to XXXX. Spring semester I scored pretty less grades, which really affected my GPA. And I had few years of gap before joining to school. It was really a new environment for me to study in the US and adjust to new system. But my last two semesters I am doing good and getting better.
I want to repeat XXXX course in the next semester because I got less marks when I took it in the first term. I really want to study XXX class and get good grades. I am also 6 1/2 months pregnant and I have lot of time to concentrate on my studies and no more traveling to far distance because I am taking online classes.I was told to contact the tutor and get some help but i didn’t do that. If the classes are difficult to manage then surely i’ll take tutor’s help. Can you please give me one more chance to prove myself? Last year I wanted to apply for an internship but because of my less GPA I couldn’t apply. So, if I get one more chance, I want to increase my GPA and apply for an internship in Fall term. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult for me to build a career in future. This is my sincere request please reconsider me for this term.
I started to correct the grammar in this letter, but it’s pointless. The grammar is pretty bad (I genuinely can’t understand a lot of the second paragraph) but the reason it’s pointless is more because I don’t think you should send this appeal letter. It is unlikely to work. I am going to be blunt mostly out of a desire to help you, not out of a wish to be mean.
Quite frankly, you provide no compelling reasons why they should let you back in the program; you sound whiny; and you reveal too much personal information. Your reasons are circular: you say that your GPA is low because you got bad grades (of course it is) and that you were unable to get an internship because you had a low GPA (of course). Many other students take gaps between college and graduate school and/or are moving to the U.S. from another country and manage to do well. And some of it is just bizarre - why did you decide to travel during your semester of grad school? Why didn’t you get a tutor when your professor recommended you should?
Graduate programs do not care whether or not you will have a difficult time establishing a career without their program. They also don’t care what you “really want” or whether your request is sincere or not. They care whether you are going to succeed in the program itself, and whether you can build a reputation as a successful alumni and either give money or prestige to the program. If you are appealing a decision, that means you think that they shouldn’t have made the decision in the first place, which means that you think you have some information about extenuating circumstances that made your performance below your normal standard - something serious, like a death in the family, a bout with poor health, a significant disruption in your life (like divorce or losing your job), etc.
If you don’t have a reason like that, then I don’t think you should appeal the decision at all, I think you should take some time off and then maybe apply for readmission. Right now, reading the letter, it sounds like the program made the right decision and you have no good reason to appeal that decision. However, if you decide that you want to appeal anyway, I think that you should instead focus not on what you did during the program (which honestly sounds like a series of very bad decisions that, were I reading the letter, would only reinforce my decision to dismiss you) but on what steps you have taken to rectify the problem. What will you do differently now? What have you learned from the experience? What plan do you have for raising your GPA and taking full advantage of the program?
Also…sharing that you are currently 6.5 months pregnant is NOT a good step to take. For a student who already admits she has problems juggling her personal life and her academics, this would make me want to reject your appeal.
Hello Juillet,
Thanks for your comments. After reading your comments I changed some and eliminated few personal information. Yes i agree with you the second paragraph was very confusing. In second paragraph i have written what changes I’ll do in future to increase my GPA.
I agree with you many people come to US and adjust to the new environment. But i really had difficulty in adjusting. So i used to travel to school for 3 days, and later we moved to nearby city.
I’d leave out the various things about personal life. We all have personal lives, but grad schools expect that we can balance schoolwork and personal lives.
I’d come up with a proposal: “how about if I take classes at another university, and if I get at least Bs in them, please let me back in” or ask to take 1 class at your university and ask to be let back in for good if you make at least a B.
I was on the road to being kicked out of my grad program for bad grades - I had terrible grades my first two semesters, was put on probation after the first, and knew that I was going to be dismissed once all the paperwork went through. In the couple of weeks between the semester ending and receiving the inevitable bad news, I went to the head of the grad program and talked to him about the situation and my options. I apologized for my bad performance, noted that it was tremendously inconsistent with my prior level of performance (undergrad and masters) as shown in my transcripts, and asked for his advice.
He agreed that my sudden academic nosedive was strange, and told me that the only way to stop expulsion was to drop to non-degree, part-time status before the college kicked me out - something that would require his approval, which he was willing to give in my case. He pointed out that this would give me some time to figure out what was going on, fix it, and take some courses without having to adhere to the grad program deadlines and GPA requirements. I took his advice and petitioned for the drop to non-degree status the same day, and it was approved in time to prevent my expulsion.
It took me two years to get back into the program - during that time I was diagnosed with a severe illness, started treatment, simultaneously took more courses, and eventually brought my GPA just above the department minimum. That allowed me to petition (successfully) for reinstatement to degree status.
A couple of things to understand about this path:
There needs to be a “good” reason. My reason was illness, yours will need to be something similarly strong - if you cannot come up with (and explain!) a better reason than you mentioned in your first draft, they won’t go along with it. It cannot just be that you made bad decisions that year, it needs to be outside forces (like illness) for which you were not responsible. “I had a bad year” is the perfect reason for expulsion, not reinstatement, and travel problems and pregnancy don’t really change anything.
You won’t be a full-time student for a while. It seems like English is not your first language, and if you are a foreign national on a student visa this may be an enormous problem. And I don’t see any scenarios where you remain a full-time student. Just to make that clear.
Just be aware that academia can be a very nasty game. Even if they let you in and agree to take your money, they can still make it hard on you in whatever classes you’re taking.
Your explanation needs to be careful, too. Sickness is a legitimate reason, but not every detail of it has to be spelled out. The people you’re communicating with are professors (or related jobs), not medical professionals.
I agree that your appeal letter just seems to say that you know you had low grades (not “less” grades) but you want to keep taking courses there anyway. You suggested no valid reasons for an appeal. I also agree that it is unlikely that the worst student in the program will get a decent internship. But since some students on this forum have had success with an appeals letter, I suggest you take suggestions from above. Perhaps offering to take one class per semester and getting a grade of B+ or better for a couple of semesters will convince them that you have potential. However, you need to start thinking of what else you will do if you are not pursuing a graduate degree in finance.
In my case, they did ask for documentation and I had to sign a waiver indicating that they were allowed to discuss my medical history. I presumed that the waiver was so they could run it past one of the MD’s on campus. I would not attempt a medical explanation unless you really can back it up.
Hmm, ok. A little surprising to me since the most common health issue for grad students is probably depression, and it’s very common for students to face those issues without seeking out a therapist or other professionals. Now if you were looking for reinstatement and not applying to new programs, I suppose it’s a little different. Since you specifically said you started treatment for a certain illness instead of just being vague and saying you were dealing with personal/health issues, I guess it’s fair game for them to pry.
I was told it was standard policy - otherwise every student who gets bad grades is going to play the “I was dealing with a health issue” card. Even if you were applying elsewhere I would be surprised if they just accepted a medical reason for expulsion-worthy poor performance without documentation.
Alright. I’d hope that’d be because you were staying in the same place looking to continue your studies. I faced some issues as a Ph.D. student, mostly depression, and my GPA dropped in year 2 from 3.3 or so to 2.8ish and I was placed on probation for < 3 GPA. I left the program instead of financing a semester myself (with no job) and hoping that none of my professors would give me a hard time and give me an A- instead of an A or a B+ instead of an A- or whatever.
Later this year I’m planning on applying to M.S. programs in a different field, and haven’t really decided how to frame it in my SOP etc., but I never talked to any therapists or doctors about my issues. I did spend a fair amount of time improving my health and later enrolling as a part-time student at a different university, earning a GPA of around 3.9 thus far (including an A in my 1 grad class), so I’d hope that’d be good enough evidence of my abilities without providing medical paperwork which I don’t have (even if I don’t get into elite programs, which I doubt I would anyway).
I don’t think you can assume that the reader is familiar with your background. It might help to include more concrete detail.
And, forgive me, but I got a chuckle when I read that you have lots of time because you’re 6 1/2 months pregnant and are taking courses online. By the time you’re reinstated, you’ll be a mom, and will not have ANY time. (Trust me, or ask any mom!!!) You may want to rethink that particular argument.
I agree with the others; in reading your post, I really have no idea what the issue was or how it’s been resolved. You need to go over the grammar and usage with someone familiar with your background who can help you tell your story; as written, it doesn’t make a compelling case.
I think you want to build your case around the following points:
what went wrong
how those things are no longer an issue
what you will do or have done to ensure that you can maintain the grades you need.
Keep it simple, and admit to the errors you’ve made. And know that, at the end of the day, they’re less concerned with what they can do for you, than with what you can do for them. So don’t tell about how they’ll get you your dreams, talk instead about how you’ll be the kind of student they want.
Hello all,
I rewrote my appeal. I don’t know what else to write. Please take a look and tell me. I don’t know if I can add my pregnancy thing or not. My parents are staying for 6 months for my delivery and after that my in-laws are coming for another 6 months. I know being a new mom is a hard one but I’ll have lot of help. I got C in one course and if I retake that course my GPA will be fine (only if I get B or higher).
Hello Sir/ Madam,
My name is XXX. I am doing MS Finance at XXXX University XXX. I would like to appeal my dismissal from XXX University for academic performance issues. While I understand the reasons for your decision, I would like reinstatement to your school.
I understand my performance was less than your requirements to remain in school, and I know there is no excuse for my poor performance, but I would like to explain the circumstances. I joined in spring 2014, and had a tough time keeping up with my grades. I traveled for a semester from XXX for 3 days to attend classes at XXXX. It was really hard to manage with studies and personal life. Now we have moved to XXX. Spring semester I scored pretty less grades, which really affected my GPA. And I had few years of gap before joining to school. It was really a new environment for me to study in the US and adjust to the new system. But my last two semesters I am doing good and getting better.
If I get a second chance, I’ll retake Corporate finance course in the next semester because I got low marks when I took it in the first term. I was told to contact the tutor and get some help but I failed do so. If the classes are difficult to manage then surely I’ll seek help from the tutors.
Now I am 6 1/2 months pregnant and I have lot of time to concentrate on my studies and no more traveling to far distance because I’ll be taking online classes in future.
This is my sincere request please reconsider me for the term term.
Is there a reason you are not discussing this with your advisor in person? Or with someone else in the department? I still don’t see anything in this that is going to make them forgiving, and I doubt that they are going to keep you as a full-time, degree-seeking student - your best bet is to step down to non-degree status until you can prove you can handle the load.
I have discussed with my advisor. And I don’t have any other reason except the one I mentioned. First semester was hard for me to adjust because of 5 to 6 hrs of traveling and adjusting to the new environment. I don’t want to lie, and this is the truth. That one semester I struggled and got low grades. There is nothing else I can say to justify myself. And want to repeat that low grade course to get my GPA better.
And what did they recommend, knowing your circumstances?
If you have no more compelling reason, and no other direction from your advisor(s), then it appears this is your only shot. I would recommend getting some help with the actual text, since it appears you have some struggles with English. And I would not hold out hopes of success.