_______school
Committee on Academic Standing
Address
To the Committee on Academic Standing,
I’d first like to thank you for this opportunity to be heard in regards to my dismissal from ______, I’m grateful to be given a chance to appeal and plead my case. Even with the support from all of my professors as well as my advisors, I was not able to maintain my grades to the standard that both the Institute, and I, would have liked.
I have always held myself to a certain standard of performance and this past semester does not reflect that. I hold myself accountable for this, I understand now that there were many instances along the way in which I should have tried harder or acted differently. For example, I should have addressed my health issues at a much earlier time, perhaps then they would not have had as negative of an effect on my performance as they did. I believe that my academic performance and my sleeping issues were directly related, although I do admit that they were not the sole problem regarding my low grades. However due to these issues, most frequently insomnia, I would often have problems waking up in time for my classes which resulted in tardies and sometimes unexcused absences which affected me in terms of scheduling for assignments as well as keeping up with class material. I found myself in a negative cycle of staying up late, sleeping in late, and having no time or motivation to do my given assignments. I spoke to all of my teachers about this matter, yet despite their advice and guidance, I was not able to finish this semester with passing grades. Mental and physical health problems aside, there were other factors in my low GPA. My time management skills, my organizational skills, and the ways in which I studied and completed my assignments were all reasons why I wasn’t successful.
Due to my insurance, I was not able to receive any form of medication or prescription when I was in New York. However, I visited a doctor’s office as soon as I came back home this winter break and received the proper treatment as well as medication and I believe I am on a steady ground to start again. In terms of time management as well as organizational skills, I am fully committed to keeping a set schedule with class projects as well as homework so that I will no longer be behind in my classes. I understand my current GPA is not under the standards _____ has set. To fix this problem, I am preparing to take summer courses to raise my grades and do anything necessary to become the student you deserve.
Thank you for offering a second chance as well as taking the time to consider my request. I apologize for not being able to come forth in person, however, I hope this letter describes my regret and my intentions to do well in the future if you allow me to do so. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Respectfully,
XXX
ID#000000
Enclosure:
Medical Documentation of mentioned health problems
Also, see if it is possible to do a retroactive medical withdrawal. Contact ASAP the Dean of Students to see if this possible and what documentation they need from your Doctor. If you can do this is wipes your GPA clean (but you don’t get $$ back).
Are you a freshman?
What classes did you take? What grades did you get?
My general advice is:
search this topic on CC and you will see many other posts on academic appeals
Make sure your letter states what the issue was that caused you to have academic difficulties. You mentioned insomnia but other things…what were they?
Did you talk to your professors/dean of students about the issue at the time? What prevented you?
Did you make use of the many resources your school has? if not, why not?
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,
State how you would use those in the future specifically.
How are you addressing what caused the issue
Think about if you should continue at college, or take a break.
Think about if you should continue at a community college, to be close to your family
How is your college funded? Will that continue?
Also:
A successful appeal must do several things:
show that you understand what went wrong
show that you take responsibility for the academic failures
show that you have a plan for future academic success
in a broad sense, show that you are being honest with yourself and the committee
ALso you can include some of the following it what you would do:
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
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?”
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.
Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
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.
Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
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.
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.
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.
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.
At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
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.
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.
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).
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.
If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.