Help with my appeal!

<p>I just received my denial letter for my school's study abroad program in London, with the reason being my GPA. This is not a program where you need to have a certain GPA to apply. I'm a hard working student and I was given the option to appeal this decision. I'm pasting what I have of my appeal so far. If you were looking over student appeals, would you accept me? </p>

<p>it's not complete but these are the main points:</p>

<p>While I understand that my GPA is the reason for the decision that was made, there are several factors that I believe should be taken into account in reevaluating my application</p>

<p>During my freshman year, I was placed in an advanced 200 level French course first semester, though I had originally requested an intermediate level. Initial testing at the beginning of the course that measured the appropriate level for students kept me in that course, as I scored fairly high. However, the remainder of the course was above my level of comprehension, as the course was taught in fluent French, a level that was beyond my reach, and my grade reflected that. As I saw these issues, I sought the help of a weekly tutor, but still fell short of the class’s initial requirements. When I discussed this problem with the French department prior to the spring semester, I was encouraged to continue on at that advanced level for the second semester. That second advanced French class was also above my comprehension level. Those two French classes had a significant effect on my GPA.</p>

<p>I ask that the difficulty I had in these two advanced French classes and the effect they had on my GPA be taken into account when re-evaluating my GPA for this application.</p>

<p>I would also like to mention that during my freshman year (2010-2011), I found I had difficulty focusing on my work, and specifically concentrating during tests and exams. This was something that had been noticed off and on by me, my family, peers, and teachers. This past summer I was evaluated by a nuro psychologist and found to have attention deficit disorder, for which I started taking medication since this fall's semester. I believe the medication, as well as the counseling I have received, have significantly improved my ability to function at a high level here at school and in my life in general. I believe that my grades last semester reflect this improvement, and that my performance this semester significantly reflects my improvement. I believe that I have already made the correct adjustments in my lifestyle to improve my success at St. Lawrence, and more specifically on the fall London program.</p>

<p>I ask that my recent performance, especially this semester, be evaluated as part of the application process.</p>

<p>I reinstate the fact that as an English writing major, this program is ideal and intrinsic to the application of my future studies at St. Lawrence and graduate school. I feel that the fall semester of my junior year is the most appropriate time to be a part of the London program during my period at St. Lawrence, as I would like to apply my experience in London to as much of the remainder of my college career.</p>

<p>What is your GPA right now in general and in your major?</p>

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<p>I think the majority of the appeal is focused, but this sentence screams “blame deflection” to me. You steer your ship. If a counselor tells you take a course you do not feel confident in then as a young adult, you have to learn to say “no”. I would just leave the second part of the sentence out.</p>

<p>I believe you should also take the plea to a personal level. Tell them you are passionate about the program, passionate about London, passionate about writing. Telling them this program looks good on a grad school application is lip service.</p>

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I think you mean “restate”.</p>

<p>Proofread your letter a few more times - there are other simple mistakes like this in it and it might not help your argument given that you’re an English writing major.</p>

<p>Agree about the personal plea and i would like to say i dont think its wise to start off with “my gpa was the reason the decision was made.” Its not good to make assumptions or even if it was your gpa, i dont think that is a strong opening line</p>

<p>Has your GPA increased since the semester(s) with the unfortunate French classes? If so, you might consider showing evidence of improvement.</p>

<p>reinstate is a word. just putting that out there. this is a ROUGH DRAFT, so comments concerning grammar will just be ignored. i know how to proofread, and every essay and paper that i have had in the past few years have very little grammar mistakes. i’m asking for CONTENT critique.</p>

<p>also, the denial letter states why i was denied, which was my gpa. i’m supposed to directly address that. i’m not going to to just blab about how much i want to go without specifically addressing the reason i was denied and giving reasons for why it was so.</p>

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Its spelled " neuropsychologist"</p>

<p>I think you don’t need to give them as much detail as you have about your personal reasons for improvement in your GPA. You can explain without quite as much detail. JMO. Good luck!</p>

<p>REINSTATE is a word but it’s not the right word in your sentence. People are trying to help you. Don’t ignore grammar and spelling comments.</p>

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<p>That’s rich.</p>

<p>You should be appreciative of any help you receive, whether it addresses spelling/syntax/grammar or content. Yet you’ve argued with the input you have gotten with respect to both mechanics and content. Why did you even post this thread if you are not open to advice?</p>

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LOL, Nrdsb4! </p>

<p>And I agree, the OP should be open to content, grammatical and spelling errors. My younger s begrudgingly let us look over his resume, as a second set of eyes. He was initially quite resistent. Well good thing he let us because he had his graduation year wrong!! DOH!</p>

<p>…few grammar mistakes.</p>

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Well excuse me! A student asking someone to critique what they’ve written should be open to all help but clearly you’re not and given the way you write and the lack of care in doing so, especially as an English major, maybe it’s telling in more ways than you think.</p>

<p>Look up the word ‘reinstate’ since you don’t know what it means, don’t rely on spell checkers since they miss errors like this, and when you ask someone else to give their time in helping you don’t be so rude.</p>

<p>“I think you mean “restate”.”</p>

<p>I think s/he means reiterate.</p>

<p>Why restate or reiterate at all, just say it once. Shorter is better.</p>

<p>Quote:
so comments concerning grammar will just be ignored. i know how to proofread
</p>

<p>And if your appeal is poorly written, it may be ignored.</p>

<p>ok, i apologize and i’m done. i’m just going to figure out how to delete this post instead</p>

<p>eh, turns out i can’t. oh, well.</p>