Letter for Reinstatement

Hello all. Last semester I was put on academic suspension from my university. I have written a letter requesting reinstatement. Any thoughts about how I could improve it or pointing out spelling/grammar errors would be very helpful. Thank you for your time!

Dear Dean,

I am writing to petition for reinstatement to Alpha Bet University beginning in the spring of 2020. On May 20, 2019, I was notified that I had been put on academic suspension. Unfortunately, the news didn’t come as a total surprise, but nonetheless my world was turned upside down. I had never been in a situation similar to that before, and I had no clue where to start to fix the problem. I decided to look inwards and figure out where my life began to take a turn for the worse.
I grew up in a small town of about 15,000 residents in (my home state). School there was very undemanding, and I was able to find success without studying or putting in much effort outside the classroom. I convinced myself that once I got to ABU, I would somehow be able to follow the same path and still be able to find similar success. I haven’t been more wrong about anything in my entire life. Immediately, I got behind in classes and struggled to catch up. Eventually, I had to drop a class my first semester. To me, having to drop a class is a failure, and failure was something that I’d never experienced in academics before. It seemed like the world had been ripped out from under me and I struggled with who I was. After the first semester, I was on a continuous downhill slide all the way through spring semester of 2019. When it finally caught up to me, and I was put on academic suspension, I came unglued. I didn’t have the slightest idea how I ended up where I did, and I began to look inward. I discovered that I was lazy, unmotivated, undisciplined, and I needed to change.
I realized that if I wanted to be successful, then I needed to learn to control the fears of failure that had plagued me since that first semester. I’ve begun to see a therapist to help me sort through the mental and emotional problems that landed me on academic suspension. We’ve made a lot of progress together, and she has helped me realize that I need to take my future into my own hands if I want to meet the expectations I set for myself. Outside of improving my mental health, I’ve done a number of things to ensure prolonged success moving forward:
I continued to read textbooks in order to stay prepared for a return to classes.
I have reached out to my friends in (the honor program) to get their advice on how to
manage my time in a much better manner.
I have committed to taking better care of my myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I am adhering to a strict sleeping schedule, and have limited social events to
weekends. I am eating a healthier diet, and I am working out regularly.
I didn’t know anything about ABU until my senior year of highschool when I was given notice that the fee for applying had been waved. I took advantage of the opportunity and sent in my application. After I was accepted, all it took was 5 minutes on campus to know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that ABU was the place for me. I know I’ve done a bad job representing the university and myself, but the problems that caused my poor performance have been solved. From my fellow students, to the faculty, I love everything about ABU. It would be an honor to get a second chance to prove to not just you and the university, but to myself that I belong and can excel at ABU. Thank you for considering this petition.

Sincerely,
Me

Way too long. Edit down first two paragraphs into a line or two. Focus on what you have done to insure your future success there (ex. seeing therapist) and that part should be way shorter as well. No reason to note that you didn’t hear of the college until you got a fee waiver.

I agree with happy1. They don’t need your backstory or how you got into the school. They want to take responsibility for messing up, tell what steps you have taken to improve while not in school and what you will do when you return to not have the same issues. The last part is what I see is missing. Will you join study groups, go to all office hours, go to tutoring center, get a private tutor, use any departmental resources, etc. Just not partying isn’t enough.

OP, and all future academic reinstatement petitioners: Keep your letters short, and do not give a backstory. A backstory is an excuse. Here’s an outline:
I. What you’re asking the school to do (let you in)
II. Why they should consider honoring your request (steps you’ve taken to improve your self-discipline
III. What you will do to keep your grades up if you are reinstated (tutors, study groups, etc.)

Everything that @Massmomm said, but you also have to show you know exactly where you went wrong (so that you won’t repeat the mistake). This should be done much more briefly with, “I wasn’t as prepared for college as I thought I was, but here is what I have done to improve myself and my readiness…”, leaving out the backstory, the size of the town you came from, what failure felt like, etc.