Dismissed from university need help reviewing my appeal letter

College Essays
1

I’m hesitant about posting this but really need help making sure it sounds professional and is grammatically correct and persuasive. Any help is appreciated.thanks y’all☺️

Dear Dean and Board:
I am writing this letter in hopes to appeal my academic dismissal from Bloomsburg University.I was not surprised when I got the letter of dismissal, but extremely upset with myself and realizing it informed me of my dismissal and not being able to return to the university for the fall semester.Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to explain what I will improve along with the circumstances and external factors that have put me in this situation.

These past two semesters have been very difficult and a big adjustment for me causing my academics to decline.Knowing nothing is an excuse and I am the only one to blame for having allowed myself to get into this position,I still believe the following circumstances as external factors have prevented me from doing the best I could do academically.

In August of 2018 I made the decision to transfer to Bloomsburg University from Shippensburg University to be closer to my family. I thought transferring and being closer to family would allow for easy adjustment ,but that eventually proved wrong. Going into college I thought it would be like high school and be an easy A without having to put in any effort what so ever. I also thought that my professors would stay on top of me for assignments and grades as high school teachers have. The first semester I began at Bloomsburg University I began to struggle academically due to being homesick. Due to being homesick I would leave the campus the first opportunity I got, causing me to put my academics off to the side. I believed I could fix the situation on my own, but I now realize that I should have taken this more seriously and taken drastic steps to help to improve my academics. After getting the email about my academic probation I was surprised, not expecting to have done that poorly. I told myself I would improve next semester, but many factors including health problems, family situation, and not getting help caused my academics to further decline.

When the Spring 2019 semester began, I was very optimistic about getting my academic standing up to get off of academic probation. Though that was short lived up to the second week of the semester when I got violently ill and was admitted to the emergency room.The admission to the emergency room caused me to miss multiple classes of which had valuable points and information that I was unable to make up. After the emergency room admittance, my health had continued to decline and was diagnosed with ——————, ——————— and ——————. After being diagnosed, my mind was completely distracted and unable to focus on my classes. These diagnoses’ also caused for many doctors appointments, sometimes multiple a week causing me to miss more classes and leave me behind in the information and progression of the class. I do believe this is the greatest circumstance attributing to my poor academic performance.

Constantly going out during the week due to the stress of my health problems and trying to forget about it and not studying nor getting enough sleep has also attributed to the decline of my academics. I would be out until the early hours in the morning which would cause me to have little sleep. Although I had a fairly late class during the day I still would sleep in rather than go to class. I would skip classes weeks at a time just so I could sleep in. I would also spend my free time I did have playing a video game or watching Netflix instead of studying or going and talking to my professors and advisor. I believe if I stay in and eliminate sleeping in and playing video games I can improve my academic performance. By not going out it will allow me more time to study and focus on my classes along with allowing for a reasonable time to sleep.

Along with many health problems, my family situation has also had drastic effects on my academic performance. My family situation has declined drastically since the start of the spring semester. This has caused my parents to separate and caused me to go home every weekend when I could and didn’t have an appointment to help with housework, running my younger sisters around and doing what needed to be done to help ease the situation. Although I was the one who had chose to go home, I allowed my attention to be focused somewhere other than my school work.

My academics have also declined drastically due to not getting the help I should have after receiving the notice of my academic probation after the fall semester. Although it was suggested that I meet with my advisor regularly and make sure I was making good academic progress, I refused to do so and thought I could remedy the situation on my own. I also would skip classes because attendance in my anthropology course didn’t count for a grade, skipping multiple classes in a row thinking I could skip and it would have no affect on my grade in the class. I now realize this is all the fault of my own and I should have gone about this differently and it could have possibly had a different outcome this semester.

If reinstated, my plan to attain good academic standing would be to first write down a plan with myself on how I can improve and what I absolutely need to do differently. I will use time management tools more wisely such as creating a notebook planner, a set time to sit down and go over my information everyday and a planner on my phone that will keep my time organized. I will make studying and homework my top priority and put all other distractions aside. I will meet and discuss with my advisor the steps I can take to improve my academics along with checking in regularly to make sure I’m where I should be and make sure I’m making good progress. I will attend all of my lectures and get up on time to make it to class. I will get help from tutoring centers, my professors and even studying more often to improve my academics. As I am dealing with my health issues, appointments are not as frequent and I have found a way to juggle it all and still stay focused on my courses. As for family issues, they have since drastically subsided and I believe it will help me to also focus more on my classes and workload. It will allow me more time on campus to study, go to the library, meet with professors, attend classes and not have to go home every weekend to help out. If I begin to slip back into old habits it is a priority that I get help as soon as possible so my academics don’t begin to fall once again.

If reinstated I can complete my degree in a reasonable time frame with a slight extension of the four years. I will make sure to focus on my academics over anything else that can be seen as a distraction or excuse. I will make sure to take summer courses to keep up with my allotted time extension and attain a good academic standing once I obtain it. The extension will allow me to reach good academic standing and continue to my degree in a timely manner.

Since I have transferred schools, I have come to love Bloomsburg University and the friends and connections I have made. It would mean a lot to myself along with my family if I graduated with a degree from this university. If reinstated, I will focus solely on my academics and leave time to complete the work outside of class. I will also attend ALL of my lectures, along with meeting with my advisor, receiving tutoring and managing my time more wisely.

Please understand that my declining academic performance leading to my dismissal does not indicate what I can do academically. I know I myself have caused this situation but believe it can be improved with the right resources and changes. I hope you will consider my appeal and take into consideration all of the circumstances and external factors that have lead to my academic decline.
Thank you,
—————

2

Way too long and not specific enough about HOW you will change. You can’t just say “I’m planning on doing more studying.” I’d leave out all the statements about staying out late and sleeping through your classes.

Have you considered asking for a medical withdrawal for spring semester?

3

Ask yourself why you wish to be away at college- or even in college - right now, then think deeply about your response.

Rewquest a medical leave of absence/ withdrawal as suggested above.

Regroup. Redesign your path forward.

Rewrite your letter, encapsulating the problem areas you acknowledge you were ill-prepared to navigate.

Refine initial goals and strategies you would undertake were you to gain readmission ( again, as twoinanddone has said).

No need for the long rewind in explaining that you were not able to meet your duties and make the grades.

Ask yourself who you, what you want, and why.

4

How did you do in Shippenburg?

Did you do well? If not, why would you think this would not be any different?

After the first semester, how did you do? Why would think doing the same thing would give you different results?

After your time in the hospital, did you contact your professors? The Dean of Students? Disability office? My DD was in the hospital for a week last fall…she contacted her professors, and the dean of students who put her in touch with the Disability office. One of her professors in Organic Chemistry basically told her it would be very hard to catch up so she withdrew from that class. For the others, she was allowed accommodations through the disability office to get extra time on assignments while she was recovering.

Did you try to plan your doctors visits around the classes?

Have you talked to the Dean about a retroactive medical withdrawal? Basically saying since you were diagnosed iwth those illnesses, you need to retroactively withdraw from the whole semester.

  1. Is your medical situation under control?

  2. What should you have done at your school when you went to the emergency room and were out? (look at my example and see how that would work in your school.)

  3. Why did you go out at night during the school week to deal iwth your health problems? That tells me you are in denial. Do you accept your health issues now? How will you deal with them now?

  4. Re: your parents. What would happen if you were studying in Europe? Who would do housework/watch your sister? Your job right now, if you are in college, has to be college. If they want to separate, that is their problem. That doesn’t mean they give up on their responsibilities. You have responsibilities too.

  5. Why do you think skipping classes is no big deal?

  6. Should you be in college right now? Should you take a leave of absence? You have to decide…because for the last year it didn’t seem like you wanted to be there.

  7. In the first semester, how could you be homesick if you were near home?

  8. Why did you think professors would keep on you? DId you not notice they didn’t? Did you ever read the syllabus?

A successful appeal must do several things:

  1. show that you understand what went wrong
  2. show that you take responsibility for the academic failures
  3. show that you have a plan for future academic success
  4. in a broad sense, show that you are being honest with yourself and the committee

Here are some examples:

http://collegeapps.about.com/od/Academic-Dismissals/a/Sample-Appeal-Letter-For-An-Academic-Dismissal.htm

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 specific resources are…e.g. counseling center, talking to professors, talking to your adviser, withdrawing from class, talking to dean, maybe taking incompletes.
    Include specifics from your college. Here are more ideas http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1920853-college-is-a-step-up-from-hs-16-tips-on-doing-well-in-college.html
  6. State how you would use those in the future
  7. How are you addressing what caused the issue?
  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. How is your college funded? Will that continue?

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.

Here is a post that I saw on this topic from someone who is on a committee that review these letters:

My committee would consider you a strong case for reinstatement if you can provide:
a) documentation from your health care provider of a diagnosis
b) confirmation from your health care provider that you have been compliant with treatment and your situation has improved so that you are better equipped to handle the stress of college life if/when you return
c) details of how you plan to continue your treatment plan after you return to school
d) details of other campus resources you will use and adjustments you will make after you return to enhance your success
e) some statement of how you know your treatment has improved your situation (e.g. if you have been working during your time away and found it easier to handle the stress and demands as your treatment progressed)

5

OP: This letter lists all the reasons why you should be dismissed from the school. Paragraph 5 in your letter is worth rereading.

Overall, your letter indicates that you need to live at home & attend community college part time.

6

In the spirit of brevity, I would only repeat the advice of others that it is way too long. Others make great points about what you are saying as well.

7

After reading paragraph 5 of your letter I would say that your dismissal is warranted and justified. You could eliminate that paragraph but that doesn’t change the facts.

Sounds like a good dose of the real world is the perfect cure to your maturity issue. And that is what seems to me to be the problem. Who thinks that sleeping in, skipping classes and just playing video games is the way to approach getting a college education?

Take a year of and see if you then have that motivation and maturity necessary to be successful in college.

8

Seems to be that the sleeping in, skipping classes and just playing video games was an avoidance tactic.
So vjcast has to show how s/he has their problems under control, understands what they should have done, and make a realistic plan for the future