HELP. academic dismissal

Student Lounge College Life
1

This past quarter I failed two of my classes and received a 1.3 term GPA. I’ve been working on my appeal. Please give me some feedback! Thank you so much in advance.

To whom it may concern,

My name is ****** and I am a proposed Information Management major. I’m writing to you to appeal my academic dismissal. I felt extremely devastated and disappointed in myself when I received my academic dismissal. My long-term boyfriend and I broke up and it sent me into a period of depression. I regrettably let my emotions take over my studying and I stopped going to classes.

Heartbreak is no excuse. I made the wrong decisions, I didn’t manage my time at all, and I didn’t try hard enough. But I’ve learned my lesson. Ever since I received my grades, I’ve been reflecting on everything I’ve done wrong and I am constantly thinking of ways that I could improve my study habits or even ways to prevent my mental health from getting in the way of my education.
I plan to utilize CAPS if I find my emotions affecting my grades again. I never wanted to go, but after hearing my friends talk about their experiences, I realized that it would have been extremely beneficial for me to go.

At a certain point, I stopped studying for my vector calculus class because I couldn’t save my grade anymore. I wish I hadn’t. I realized too late that it would have been better to get a C- or a D than an F. Near the end of the quarter, I spent most of my time studying for my computer programming class. But I couldn’t fully grasp the concepts in time. I found the content in both classes quite hard but I didn’t take many steps to remedy my confusion.
This summer, I am enrolled in vector calculus along with another 2-unit class. Since these are the only two classes I am taking over the summer, I’ll be able to put more time into fully understanding the concepts. I hope to retake my computer programming class in the fall so that I can declare my major. I am re-taking these classes as soon as possible so that I can fix my GPA and stay on track with my major.

After receiving my grades, I’ve begun to reflect on my mistakes and reassess my academic goals. I will aim for at least a B in all of my classes so that I can reach above a 3.0. I am beginning to think more seriously about my career and I cannot afford to slack off anymore.

To ensure that I get better grades from now, I will start using a planner book and a planner on my phone to keep me organized. I will list my assignments and I will set reminders on my phone to alert me when to go to class and when to attend section, MSI, or office hours.
I’ve been talking to my future housemate and we’ve already discussed having "library hours.” We both have the same major. We have compared our schedules and we have mapped out times during the week that we would go to the library and study together.

I will schedule periodic appointments with an EOP advisor and my college advisor, *****. By meeting with them periodically, I can discuss my need for a change in study habits and check in with them from time to time. They can also help me maintain the changes I have stated above.

By not getting a job or joining any new clubs or organizations, I will be able to devote a great portion of my time to studying and being with a group of studious friends.

I’m the first in my family to go to a university. I feel embarrassed and I deeply regret not putting more effort and appreciation into my studies. I am sure that I will be able to improve my GPA with a little more time. I understand that I will have to work much harder if I am reinstated and I am ready to put in the work.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

2

Wait, so you were academically dismissed but you’re still taking summer classes? Are those courses at your university or at a community college? Is the dismissal an actual dismissal or just a required leave of absence?

Most universities require at least a 2.0 GPA to remain in good academic standing, but even that can come with certain sanctions. For example, my university will not allow students to enroll in more than 18 credits if they were under a 3.0 the previous semester. I’m sure you already know that a 1.3 semester average is borderline failing – cue red flags and sirens everywhere. How were your grades in past semesters?

I think that your appeal sounds honest and thorough, but if I were sitting on the academic board, I would be hard-pressed to believe that you would be able to make all of these drastic lifestyle changes so suddenly, let alone stick to them once the semester gets tough. That, combined with your semester GPA, would raise serious doubts in my mind about this student’s ability to move on to higher-level coursework, especially since you cite your reluctance to speak to a counselor/mental health professional.

I know students who were put on required leave, went home, worked for a year or two, and returned to excel in the classes that they had struggled terribly with. I’m not sure if this is your case, but have you asked yourself why you are so determined to continue in this field/school? What do you hope to do with your degree? (This might be good to mention in your letter.) If you don’t have a valid, honest reason (and only you know if you do), then it may be better to take some time off like your university seems to be suggesting – go abroad, get a job, gain some perspective – before you think about picking up school again. You don’t have to push and squeeze yourself through college in four years simply for the sake of doing it. As for your family, they are likely very proud of you already; this decision is solely for your future, not theirs.

Best of luck.

3

Overall I think this is okay…I would add more ideas on resources to use at your college if you are having trouble (see below).

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 resources are…e.g. counseling center, talking to professors, talking to your adviser, withdrawing from class, talking to dean, maybe taking incompletes,
  6. State how you would use those in the future
  7. How are you addressing what caused the issue? Have you addressed the depression?
  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 are general tips on resources for doing well in college…maybe add some more in like “I will attend office hours if I am having trouble with a subject” or “I will get a tutor”

  1. GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!

  2. Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”

  3. If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.

  4. Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.

  5. Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.

  6. Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)

  7. If things still are not going well, get a tutor.

  8. Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.

  9. If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.

  10. For tests that you didn’t do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.

  11. How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.

  12. At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)

  13. If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.

  14. At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.

  15. Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).

  16. If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.

  17. If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.

You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories on this and other websites where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.

4

Sorry this is incredibly late but I just wanted to thank both of you for your advice. I made changes according to what you’ve said and I was reinstated! I’ll definitely be more careful with my grades this time.