<p>I recently applied to the honors program to a college I was accepted into. Sadly though I was rejected from the program. However, the application for the honors program was extremely limited. It only asked for unweighted and weighted gpa (which my school does not provide), ACT score, and two essays. My gpa is really low, however I faced an extremely difficult family issue during my sophomore year, which brought down my gpa significantly. During my junior year I overcame these problems and experienced an upwards trend in grades. </p>
<p>I wrote an essay on this in my application to the college, but I don't think it was included in the honors application, nor do I think my actual transcript was (I know they had a system were they could see numbers, but not the actual documents). </p>
<p>I really want to get into the honor program, so my question is should I try to send a letter of appeal and explain some of this information? If so, how do I write a letter of appeal?</p>
<p>I think the best grounds for appeal would be if you have additional evidence that you meet their requirements since you applied- like excellent last semester grades or additional test scores/awards, and you meet their other requirements. You should wait until all the grades are in so you can send a transcript. If you didn’t continue an upward trend, they may not consider your appeal. </p>
<p>Also, it would be considerate to contact them first to see if your appeal would be welcomed. Something like an e mail to the honors program that explained that you faced extenuating circumstances in your sophomore year and have had an upward trend since. Ask if they would reconsider your application and offer to send a final trancsript and additional information.</p>
<p>If they do not allow the appeal, or admit you, then you can reapply after you attend, have completed the required number of academic hours and met the minimum GPA.</p>
<p>
What do you mean by that? I was going to send an email asking if my application could be reconsidered, then explaining my situation, and then closing with even if it can’t asking about how I can reapply. </p>
<p>Does that sound okay?</p>
<p>Yes, that sounds fine. I meant doing it as asking rather than just sending it out of the blue. You could ask if they would accept additional materials like your final transcript or any other information that you think could help you- like a teacher letter or an updated list of achievements.</p>
<p>I have one quick question though, I see the contact has their PhD (it is in his signature). Do I address him “Mr. Blah” or “Dr. Blah”?</p>
<p>“Dr. Blah”–use “Dr.” for anyone with an academic doctorate: PhD, Doctor of Divinity, EdD. Dmusic, etc…</p>
<p>Thank you. Would you be kind enough to review my letter please?</p>
<p>Dear Dr. Blah,</p>
<p>Although I was not surprised to see my rejection from the honors college program, I will admit I was disappointed. I knew when I applied my unweighted gpa was well below average for honors college. However, I also knew my gpa did not fully represent my true ability. For this reason I am asking you to please reconsider my application for honors college with some additional details I will provide.</p>
<p>During my sophomore year of high school I faced serve family issues that caused my home environment to become hostile and unstable. During this time my grades dropped significantly, thus bringing down my overall gpa. However, after overcoming these issues in my junior year my grades began to raise again, as I was determined to stick to the same AP intense curriculum my school makes every student follow. I turned what once was my crutch into my motivation. I can send an updated transcript to your office specifically if that would better support my case.</p>
<p>With that said, I still do realize that I still might be considered not as academically qualified as other applicants in comparison, but upon finding my new motivation to strive to do better academically, I also used said motivation to do better in my extracurricular career. I have attached my high school resume to give a brief overview of my accomplishments. The main activity I want to highlight is my debate career where I learned to become a better person overall, while still accomplishing great fleets.</p>
<p>I do not know your policy on appeals, but I hope you will accept this new information and reconsider my application. If my appeal is still not granted I would still love to join the honors college program later in my college career. I know you said that there would be on campus applications during the Fall semester. would these applications being for the Spring 2014 term, or the Fall 2013 term. Any extra information on that process would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Again, I fully understand and respect your decision to deny me admission to honors college, but I do hope you will reopen my file to consider this new information. I was tremendously impressed by the honors college program when I learned about it last fall, and it remains one of my top goals to achieve during my college career.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>ZombieDante
[Contact info]</p>
<p>I just sent you some comments by PM. I hope this works out for you.</p>