My name is , and I was a senior at . I was dismissed from , and the deadline for appeal was December 21th. I contacted Dean on January 29th. I would like to explain what happened which made me miss the deadline. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write a rationale for appealing late.
First, let me note that I did not purposely choose not to act immediately. the only means of notification that I received was through e-mail, and I missed the e-mail. The actual letter has not arrived yet, and Dean tried to call me but could not because of time difference. I had not known about it until when I contacted Dean .
At the end of December, I was suffering from flu/cold, which made me stay in bed all day. According to the medical record in the clinic, I visited the clinic on 20th, 22th and 30th,(local time) and I started to get sick the day before 19th.
Continuing onto January, my remaining anxiety issues hindered me from confronting my matters directly. Even though I knew I should not avoid e-mails, I struggled with checking e-mails because it was too anxious and panicking for me. I was afraid of other people’s response and reaction towards me. I consulted the therapist in my hometown I used to meet for years. Moreover, my parents have been still sick when I returned home after last term, and I had to work physically to help out my family and housework and was mentally preoccupied on the condition of my father, which was an additional mental stress for me.
I acknowledge that checking e-mails and taking actions is my important responsibility. However, I would like to note that my circumstances also have hindered me from acting promptly. I did not expect that I could be subject to dismissal, and contacted the college right away once I knew about the dismissal. I would appreciate it very much if the committee could take my circumstances into account.
hey thanks for the reply.
what the committee asked to me was “why I believe the committee should hear my appeal after the deadline, and why I missed the deadline”. So I focused on why I missed the deadline. Do you think i should add the primary issues as well?
You were dismissed from College X. Are you a freshman?
Generally colleges don’t dismiss freshman after the first semester. They put them on academic probation.
So if they are dismissing you now, things must have been bad.
Is it for academics? Something else?
If you are not a freshman, then it has not been going well for at least two semesters.
You have been in a class, done poorly on a test…not changed what you were doing, and kept doing poorly.
You have done this for multiple classes over multiple semesters.
Then, you avoided looking at emails because you knew this was coming.
So if I am a college and then I saw you didn’t appeal on time and blamed it on being sick, I might think:
THis student is actively avoiding taking responsibility for their failures.
So…what is your goal?
Why were you dismissed?
If for academics…what is your plan?
If you have anxiety, what is your plan to address it?
I would be upfront that the reasons were first, illness and then depression and anxiety. If it is true that you contacted the Dean as soon as you opened the email, say that.
I would say that I was sick when the email dated X arrived, and I did not open it until Y, and at that point I had missed the appeal deadline, but contacted the college immediately.
I liked your last paragraph - in which you accept responsibility, and would add that you are now healthy and will continue to seem professionally counseling to cope with your anxiety and depression.
I would rewrite this paragraph:
At the end of December, I was suffering from flu/cold, which made me stay in bed all day. According to the medical record in the clinic, I visited the clinic on 20th, 22th and 30th,(local time) and I started to get sick the day before 19th.
As:
I came down with a very serious viral illness on December 18th. I was basically in bed all day through the end of the year. I visited my local health clinic on the 20th, 22nd and 30th (the records of the clinic will support this). During that period, I was not checking my email.
I wanted to add:
I acknowledge that checking e-mails on time is an important responsibility, and I was not responsible for the last months. Concerns about my family and my habit of escape have been a great burden to my mental health. However, there is no one else to blame but my lack of self-care. I have been overcoming the bad habit by speaking up what I have done to my therapist, and my advisor’s emails gave me a lot of strength and courage to keep communicating.
i thought this additional passage shows me accepting what I have done and that I am working to improve,
however, one of the people whos gonna read this gave me advice and one of them was to not attempt to persuade. I was wondering whether it might be too persuasive… may I ask what your thought is?
Sounds like you need to do two things (1) appeal the academic dismissal. You did so poorly that they dismissed you, Why should they change their minds? (2) explain why you missed the appeal deadline.
Your letter above does the second thing only. Have you already appealed the academic dismissal and now you are only trying to explain why you missed the deadline?
Appealing the dismissal itself seems like the most important task. I second the question in post #10 - have you done this already?
So, the permission to appeal beyond the deadline has been granted and now I am writing the actual academic dismissal. The reason I was dismissed was I did not fulfill my graduation requirements until my last term. thanks for following up.
So, the permission to appeal beyond the deadline has been granted and now I am writing the actual academic dismissal. The reason I was dismissed was I did not fulfill my graduation requirements until my last term. thanks for following up.