Feedback on suspension appeal letter?

Applying to College
1

Hello, below I have attached my letter I’m using for my suspension appeal. With this letter, I plan on attaching a document/note from my therapist and two other medical documents.
Dear Administrative Committee,

I am writing to formally appeal my academic suspension. I understand that my performance during the past semester did not meet the (school name) standards, and I take full responsibility for my academic performance. I would like to provide context for my recent challenges as well as outline the steps I am taking to address them.

Over the past semester, I faced significant personal and mental health challenges that severely impacted my academic performance. For approximately five-six months, I began to experience persistent insomnia. While at school, I would spend many nights awake paralyzed by how overwhelmed I had become. Due to these sleepless nights, these circumstances contributed to impaired concentration, depressive mood/behaviours, and disordered eating. The combination of experiencing sleep deprivation, depressive symptoms, and a decrease in appetite negatively impacted my overall health. These mismanaged health issues also had a major impact on my academic performance. These difficulties that I had been enduring were exacerbated by the profound emotional toll of losing a close loved one took on me. Recognizing the impact these issues were taking on my well-being and academic performance, I took the initiative to actively seek help. I sought medical professional help through the (health center) and the (crisis Intervention service). During my evaluations, I reported my struggles and expressed my commitment to establishing long-term care.

Since then, I have taken proactive steps to address these challenges that I have been facing. I have established a connection with a therapist and have committed to attending therapy sessions three times a week. Additionally, I have begun therapy and counseling sessions to address my stress and state of mental health, and I am learning objective strategies to cope with my symptoms. I plan to establish care with the mental health providers at the (health service), including engaging in short-term individual psychotherapy and group therapy. These resources will provide me with consistent support and strategies to manage my mental health effectively. With the management of my emotional and physical health, I will be better equipped to successfully improve academically.

Academically, I have reflected on the factors that contributed to my struggles and have devised a plan to ensure improvement moving forward. I intend to adjust my course load by changing two of my classes to create a more manageable schedule. This will allow me to focus more effectively on my studies and reduce feelings of being overwhelmed. I also intend to take summer courses to make up for the credit that I have lost. Furthermore, I have found regular check-ins with my academic advisor to be extremely helpful, as they provided accountability and guidance. To ensure I stay on track, I will continue my weekly meetings with my academic advisor in conjunction with the weekly sessions I have planned with my therapist. I also intend on attending weekly tutoring, having frequent check-ins with my professors, and attending office hours regularly to ensure I fully understand course material and stay proactive in my academic responsibilities. Although I should have reached out for help sooner, after gaining the courage to share my struggles with those that can help me, I feel I am in a better head space and ready to get back on track next semester if I am approved due to the support system I built around me.

I fully acknowledge the challenges I faced last semester and take responsibility for their impact on my academic standing. However, I am confident that the steps I am taking will enable me to overcome these obstacles and demonstrate my ability to succeed at the (school name). I am committed to utilizing the resources available to me and maintaining open communication with both my academic and mental health support systems.

Thank you for considering my appeal. I respectfully request the opportunity to continue my education at the (school name) and to demonstrate my commitment to personal and academic growth. Please let me know if there are additional steps I should take or documentation I can provide to support my appeal.

Sincerely,

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2

I would recommend you obtain letters from your doctors and attach with formal diagnosis codes and if you can also get a letter of support from
your academic advisor. I am unclear if you were suspended from
the school and required to leave or if you were put on academic probation.

I am so sorry this happened and unfortunately it is very common - you are doing so much to improve - take care of yourself.

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Yea I plan on attaching two medical notes from licensed social workers and a note/documentation from my therapist explaining my circumstances and my treatment plan. Do you think that’ll be helpful?

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are you suspended or on academic probation. i am confused as you mention changing your course load ???

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This is for academic suspension. I’m writing an appeal letter against academic suspension. In that paragraph where I talked about course load, I’m just trying to show what I plan on doing differently. Do you think it looks okay?

6

Sorry i am confused by your terms - suspension in my opinion means you have to leave the school now - for academic probation you are still conditionally enrolled and will be attending for this se semester/quarter and have to meet a certain academic standards to get back into good standing and remain enrolled next year.

Make sense ?

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7

Yes I totally understand that, but I am this is a letter for appealing a suspension. I understand that I need to take time away from the school after being suspended, but this is a letter appealing that decision and I am trying to explain my circumstances within this letter.

8

I think the letter is fine, with documentation.

But before you get emotionally invested in appealing- isn’t there some upside for you for taking some time off??? Get your mental health ducks in a row???

Think about it.

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9

I disagree with the advice given thus far in this thread.

Your letter and any supporting medical documents are just the type of evidence (confession & documentation) that the school needs in order to justify the suspension.

If you want to appeal the current suspension, then it would be wise to hire an attorney to handle any communications.

As written, your letter might have a positive effect if it was written after getting effective treatment for a year (or however long it takes for your therapists to be able to submit documentation showing substantial progress toward recovery) after being suspended.

In short, your proposed letter is very likely to have the opposite effect of what you hope to achieve.

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10

One thing many colleges want to know is what you have already done to correct what caused the academic suspension. At this point…you haven’t done anything. Right? It’s all what you are planning to do.

When does your semester start? You want to make sure you have reconciled this before your family is on the hook for tuition, room and board costs for the term if you don’t return.

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@Hcc Thank you for clarifying and I am sorry you are going through this - but very happy you have a plan and are getting support.

Personally, I think your letter is fine, but I also think it is unlikely that a school will reverse a suspension. The school will
also want to make sure you are healthy before rejoining the community. It is not a punishment.

I think it is important for you to have a clear understanding of next steps from the school about re-enrollment, if your appeal is not accepted and then you can move forward on that goal.

Take care of yourself first - school will be there for you in the near future.

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THIS!!

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So you’re saying it maybe not work in my favor to explain my circumstances and back up my circumstances with documentation? All I’m really trying to do here is explain my extenuating circumstances and what I’ve done to fix these issues which has been going to therapy, which I’ve already begun doing. So me showing documentation for my mental health issues and my plan (which I have already begun) for treatment won’t be helpful?

14

So sorry! I’m just a little confused because I keep hearing advice from both sides saying it’s effective to include medical documentation backing up my extenuating circumstances, but now I’m hearing that using medical documentation can actually back fire and not be effective? I’m just not sure what to do here to make my appeal effective because I have already started therapy and also communicated in the letter I planned to continue the therapy.

15

Within my letter I have stated I already started treatment, and I also mentioned that I plan on staying committed to receiving treatment as well. I made sure to bring up that I already started treatment by being connected to a therapist and meeting with them. In my documentation I also showed that I began therapy sessions before the semester started too to ensure that I already took action. But do you think that would be helpful?

16

How long have you been in therapy? You don’t have to answer here…but consider that if it’s only been a few weeks, that might be a consideration when your appeal is reviewed.

My opinion…and it’s my opinion! I don’t see any down side to taking a semester off of college, continuing therapy, and (if allowed by your college) taking ONE cc course this coming semester to show your college that you are on the right track. And maybe working a part time job.

You need to take care of yourself first and foremost. College will always be there. It will.

I hope this all works out in a way that benefits you in the long term.

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Yeah everything you said is completely valid!! And there’s absolutely no downside to taking a semester off. However, i genuinely feel very comfortable to go back and feel even more prepared especially with the therapy I’ve committed myself to doing. I’m worried that because I submitted medical documents that confirms the depression and feelings of insomnia, disordered eating, and impaired concentration that this will give the school more of a reason not to accept the appeal. However I always thought it was a good idea to always back up my extenuating circumstances with a medical note/evaluation because I saw it as something that’s evidence of my circumstances. And my medical notes also mention that I’m actively seeking therapy and treatment as well. I can see how attaching the medical notes may serve as the justification for the college to use as a reason to suspend, however, the main point of the appeal letter is to discuss/shed light on new and compelling information that caused me to not be able to preform the best academically. And I saw it as an opportunity to back up my claims with medical evidence. So I just don’t know what’s effective anymore

18

You are being honest with the appeals committee…and, in my opinion, that matters.

Please let us know how this turns out for you.

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Thank you for letting me know. Because I didint share the information about insomnia, disordered eating, depression, and impaired concentration, along with the medical notes, do you think this is considered “new and compelling information”? Since none of this stuff was shared before in this depth

20

Where I am confused is that you were suspended after 1 semester of poor grades. Were you already on academic probation from the previous semester and then did not meet the requirements and probation turned into suspension? I did not think it was common to suspend after 1 poor semester.

While it is fine to appeal, I think it is important that you care for yourself (and sounds like you are on a good track) and understand what must happen in order for the suspension to be lifted for you to reenter the school in the Fall - if that is your goal.

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