I am filing an appeal for my scholarship, and I decided to come up with an academic plan of action. I will really appreciate your feedback on it.
For Fall 2016, I plan on enrolling in a minimum of 12 credits. The courses I plan on taking are PSY 1010, BIO 2200, and MAT 1800 which are all worth four credits each. My goal is to earn an A in each of these courses. To achieve this goal, I plan on attending every Supplemental Instruction session that fits into my schedule for BIO 2200 and PSY 1010. I also plan on going to tutoring for MAT 1800 through the academic success center. I know it will help tremendously to regularly attend Supplemental Instruction sessions and I know it would be very helpful to get extra tutoring outside of lecture. In addition to attending Supplemental Instruction and tutoring sessions, I will meet with my all my professors regularly during their office hours to get one on one clarification or a better understanding of the material that is being covered in lecture. I also plan on watching youtube videos and downloading worksheets for my courses for a study aid and extra practice.
Do you need to include any reasons in your appeal regarding your current GPA?
Oh yes. This isn’t my appeal letter. This is just my academic plan of action on how I am going to meet the requirements of my scholarship. I am going to meet with my academic advisor to discuss this and I am going to have her sign off on it and attach it to my appeal letter. I would just like feedback on how good of a plan this sounds.
I’m still working on my appeal letter.
Better to spend the time doing the assigned reading and going to labs (I assume the Bio you mention is a lab course?) than watching youtube videos. Those videos give you the illusion that you understand the material since you’ve seen and heard it presented- but you aren’t actually engaging your brain while you are watching them. How realistic is it to get A’s in each of your classes next semester?
I would put in some mid semester checkpoint meeting with an adviser to make sure you are staying on track. It is so easy to make a great start and then fall off/lose steam.
Yes, the BIO course I mentioned has a lecture as well as a lab. I believe the goals I set for myself for Fall 2016 are very attainable because I only enrolled in 12 credits for the semester, which is the bare minimum to be considered a full-time student. I did not want to stress myself out too much by taking too many credits. I am also a very ambitious person. Whenever I set goals for myself I do whatever it takes to achieve them. I also believe the resources I listed that my school offers would also help me reach my goals. This is why I believe it is realistic that I will earn an A in each of my classes next semester. My scholarship was pulled because of a very stressful situation that occurred during the school year that caused me to not meet the GPA requirement.
I think it would help if we know more about your previous courses and grades and the situation that you are blaming for getting you here. I assume you are a rising sophomore?
Yes I am a rising sophomore. I did okay my first year but not good enough for my scholarship. My scholarship requires that I maintain a 3.3 GPA, but I finished the year with a 3.0. However, during the Fall 2015 semester my grandfather with whom I was very close became sick with pneumonia and unfortunately passed away. He was one of the key figures in my life when it came to my education and always told me how important it is to do well in school so I can build a bright future for myself. He always told me how easier life will be having a college degree instead of a high school diploma. I am the first person out of my family to attend a university. If it wasn’t for my grandfather, I probably wouldn’t have made it to college. This is why his passing was so hard for me. Because of this, it was hard for me to focus on my studies because I was grieving at the same time. It wasn’t until the middle of Winter 2016 when I realized my grandfather would have been very proud of me if I continued to do well in school and not give up. I started thinking more positively. I began meditating and attending yoga sessions to help cope with the stress and I am proud to say I am in a much better place. I decided to take a class in the summer so I can be on track towards raising my GPA to meet my scholarship requirement. I am currently filing an appeal for my scholarship and decided to come up with a plan of action for next semester to meet my scholarship requirement. I finished my plan of action which is why I posted it on here to get your guys opinion on it. I wanted to see does it sound like a good plan?
Give some sense of your current grades in what courses and perhaps we will have some additional suggestions.
My grades for 2015 - 2016 went like this:
Fall 2015:
- Math 0993: A
- Biology 1510: C+
- First Year Seminar: A
- English 1020: C
- Communications 1010: A
Winter 2016:
- Math 1050: C
- Biology 1500: B
- African American Studies 2010: A
One of the best things you can do is spend time daily the remainder of the summer working on problems from the Math 1050 course, so that you are not going into the next math course with a weak background. Do some from each chapter and if you are confused, recover the material. To help motivate yourself, you can even mention that in your plan.