The consequences of a terrible semester in college can be very harsh, and dismissal is one of the possible consequences. However, many schools allow students to appeal an academic dismissal because they understand that grades never tell the whole story. An appeal is a chance for a student to tell the college the reasons for his/her academic shortcomings.
Do you want to know how to write Academic Dismissal Appeal Letter?
This sample will help you to write a letter. Appeal letters are written
to rectify certain consequences. They are just like the other side of a coin.
They present an unheard side of the defendant. Writing it can be a tricky task
as the language used and the content matters a lot in reconsideration of the
decision. It can make the school/college/university authorities to take back a
dismissal order if the defendant has put his or her side clearly.
There are various ways to write an appeal letter; some are
highly productive while others are not.
1. Set the Proper Tone
You have to be very personal and remorseful right from the
start of your letter. The college is being very generous by accepting appeals,
and the board members are offering their time to go through your appeal because
they feel that every deserving student should be given a second chance.
Start your letter by recognizing the dean or team dealing
with the appeals. The standard opening for a business letter, which is “To whom
it may concern,” might not be appropriate for this letter since you may
have the exact names of the committee members to whom you can address your appeal.
You must give the letter a personal touch.
Express your gratitude to the committee for offering to take
a look at your appeal.
2. Make Sure the Letter is Yours
Make sure that the appeal you submit is written by you with
your ideas and language. The committee will be suspicious of any student who
has done poorly on essays and has gained low grades in writing courses but
suddenly submits a well-written letter. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take
your time to write a clean appeal, but make sure that you wrote it.
Also, do not allow your parents to be more involved in the
appeal process than you are. The committee members want to see how committed
you are to your success. A student’s chances for success are really low if the
appeal committee feels that the parents
are more committed to appealing their child’s dismissal than the
student is. The board members handling your appeal needs to see you taking
responsibility for your low grades.
Most students fail and are dismissed from college because
they are not mature enough to handle college work and gain a degree. Allowing
another person to write your appeal letter would confirm this.
3. Be Completely Honest
There are hidden reasons for academic dismissal, and these
reasons are usually embarrassing. For some students, it is because they suffer
from depression, while others got mixed up with alcohol and drugs. Some students
prioritized playing video games every night rather than studying, and
some became stressed while pledging a Greek organization.
Whatever your reasons for getting bad grades are, be completely
honest with the appeals committee. For instance, a student can own up to his
battle with alcohol in his appeal letter. Colleges accept appeals because they
believe in second chances. If you do not acknowledge your mistakes, you are
merely showing the committee that you don’t have the integrity, self-awareness,
and maturity required to succeed in college. The board will be unhappy if you
try to suppress or conceal your problems, but they will be glad to see you
attempting to overcome your personal struggles.
Bear in mind that your attitude or behavior on campus will
be made known to the committee. Your professors will inform the committee about
your attitude towards school work, and the committee members can retrieve any
judicial reports. So, if your appeal does not include the information received
from your professors and other sources, then your appeal is likely to be
rejected.
4. Don’t Put the Blame on Others
When you fail some courses, it is almost normal to get
embarrassed and put up a defensive attitude. Yet, irrespective of how tempting
it is to blame others, the appeals committee wants to see you taking
responsibility for your low grades. They don’t want you to blame bad
professors, parents, or a crazy roommate. The grades are still yours, and you
are the only one that can increase them.
Yes, you can explain any other mitigating circumstance that
contributed to your bad academic performance. But ultimately, you failed
the exams by yourself, and you need to assure the committee that you won’t allow
these external factors to hurt you again.
5. Have a Plan
Recognizing and accepting the reasons for your bad academic
performance are the initial stages of a successful appeal. The next stage,
which is equally essential, is presenting your plans for the future. If you
were addicted to alcohol, are you looking for a solution to your problem? If
you were suffering from depression, are you planning on talking to a counselor?
Also, are you planning to make good use of the academic services provided by
your college?
The most credible appeals show that the student has
recognized the problem and is willing to improve his/her grades by creating
strategies to tackle the problems that caused poor academic performance.
Without presenting your future plans, the committee may assume that you will
make the same mistakes again.
6. Be Humble and Polite
When you have been academically dismissed, the feeling of
anger and entitlement is common, especially because you have paid a lot of
money for tuition fees and other charges. However, these feelings should not be
shown in your appeal.
An appeal is another opportunity given to you. It is a
second chance. The committee members are not only volunteering to go through
your appeal; they even spend their vacation time considering appeals. So
instead of seeing them as your enemies, consider them your friends. Therefore,
an appeal should be presented with proper apologies and gratitude.
Send a note of thanks to the committee for going through your appeal, even when it is rejected. You might be reapplying for admission to the same school in the future.
Academic Dismissal Appeal Letter Sample
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To February 13, 2014 Subject: Academic Dismissal Appeal Letter Respected Madam, My name is Samuel Taylor and I am a regular final year
student of your college, pursuing Master of Fine Arts. I am writing this in
reference to the dismissal order issued by you on February 1, 2014. The
reason for issuing this order is my low grades in semester 5. I am aware of the rules of the college and know that I am
eligible for academic dismissal. I wish to state that the low grades were not
due to lack of interest in studies. Neither was it some kind of
procrastination of studying. I have been busy the entire semester in
participating in competitions on state and national level. I understand that
these competitions should not have affected my studying and it is totally my
fault that I could not manage the time well. The hectic schedule prevented me
from attending lectures and completing my assignments on time. I realize that
the responsibility of my performance was solely mine in which I have proved
myself a failure. I apologize for my poor performance in this semester and
request you to grant me one opportunity to prove my worth. I assure you that
I will never let you down. Yours sincerely, Samuel Taylor |
Writing appeal letters is definitely not a pleasurable experience. The situation in which appeal letters are written is often very serious and somber. You should learn the technique of writing short but influential appeal letters.