Dear Appeal Committee,
I recently received your email regarding academic dismissal. Please reconsider dismissing me from Cal Poly Pomona. I admit to have had a difficult time this Fall Quarter and my grades suffered as a result. There were absolutely no excuses for my poor academic performance, but I would like to explain the circumstances.
Due to the past two academic probation statuses I have received Fall Quarter 2014 and Winter Quarter 2015, I decided to register for only 13 units this Fall Quarter 2015, 5 of the units being a repeat course of CHEM 216. With only this amount of units registered, I was determined to get my GPA up as well as adjust to a new job. I took on the workload with an internship at a dental office, thinking I could handle the hours that came along with it. In the beginning of the quarter, I started off with a schedule to work 22 hours per week. After the first week of classes, I could no longer see myself working this many hours, alongside juggling the schoolwork throughout the whole quarter. I felt exhausted after a day of classes and work, so I cut it down to 14 hours/week. This was my schedule for the quarter and still believed I could handle the workload since I cut hours in work. I did not consider quitting the internship completely because I knew it was valuable experience that could add to my future goals and aspirations of going to dental school. With the 14 hours per week of internship at dental office as well as Organic Chemistry Monday/Wednesday mornings, Physics Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday mornings and Nutrition Tuesday/Thursday evenings, I was off to a good start of the quarter. I was still able to go to the library after work (Tuesday/Thursday 12-5, Wednesday 1-5) to review morning lectures and get ahead on readings, with nothing else on my mind.
However, on the morning of October 12th, 2015, I received news that my grandmother passed away due to lung cancer in San Francisco. In that same week, I had a Calculus 142 Exam 1 on October 16th, 2015. I missed this first exam because I had to drive down to San Francisco on Thursday, October 15th, 2015 for the viewing and the following day, October 16th, was my grandmother’s funeral. I returned on October 19th, 2015. I can provide corroboration, if needed. Though I was determined to make up this exam, I understood that I was not able to get the chance to retake this exam because it was discussed in the beginning of the quarter that my professor did not offer makeups, no matter the circumstance. This resulted as a drop score (0%) for my midterm 1, making my final count for twice as much.
I admit that I let this circumstance discourage me from working harder to catch up on the work, in addition to losing someone so close to me. I thought I could handle all these challenges, and I tried my best to stay on track with the workload needed to catch up for Physics, by going to his office hours when I could and spending time review his lectures. However, I felt an emotional drain from losing a loved one, as well as physical drain from trying to balance work and school. I started off the quarter strong, thinking I could handle work and school but I could not help but get distracted with personal matters, thus hindering my ability in succeeding in balancing both work and school. I acknowledge that I am the only one at fault for letting myself slip. As the quarter went on, I was still trying to figure out ways to gain enough energy transitioning from work to school and experiencing the loss of a loved one for the first time. Looking back at it, it was hard for me to catch up once I was starting to get a feel of what has happened, which all in all drained me emotionally and physically. I also recognize that my study habits need improvement. I felt that since I have been in college for almost 3 years now, I had to deal with these problems on my own. I now realize that is not always the right approach. This is something I am determined to change in the next quarter, to be able to reach out to higher authority for help because now I know that with every struggle I will face in the future, there will always be help and that was something I did not address and make the effort to reach out to the people and resources around me. In the next quarter, I will actively use the resources Cal Poly has to offer to improve my study habits to meet the academic demands, as well as the resources to help with personal matters.
I understand that my academic performance no longer meets the university standards, with a cumulative overall GPA below a 2.0. However, I am more than willing to get back on track with the university. There will always be unexpected roadblocks in the future and I will not always be prepared for them, but I know I can make improvements on how I can handle any situation that I am thrown in. If given the chance to continue my education at Cal Poly, my academic improvement will consist of:
• Working with my advisor to create a plan to get back on track
• Communicating more with my parents and letting them know what they can do to help
• Managing responsibilities and classes, only to the amount I can handle
• Creating short term goals for the week, while keeping long term goals in mind
• Going to office hours to improve my understanding of the material
• Visiting career services more often for practical career tips and advice
• Adding more study sessions and workshops to schedule
• Using the weekend wisely by reviewing past lectures and getting ahead on upcoming lectures
• Dedicating 25-35 hours/week to reviewing lectures and readings, in addition to outside of homework and assignments
• Cutting out activities that will not contribute to further my academic success
Though my academic performance in the past does not reflect it so, my education is still very important to me and I want to value every minute of it given to me. I do not want to lose hope and will take every opportunity given to fight for another chance at Cal Poly. I am asking for a second chance to prove that I can succeed at Cal Poly Pomona. I am confident that I can succeed by taking the actions I have listed.
Thank you very much for taking the time to consider my request.
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