Required to withdraw students

hi,

I figured if we had a thread detailing experiences of students that are/were asked to withdraw from their program in uni/college and how the coped about it would be great as i see a lot of queries related to this very topic.

It would also be great if, people who were successful in changing the decision of the appeals committee write down what they did exactly did and how they did it. If people can post their letters of appeal that would amazing.

Even people that didnt make it on their first try can post what went wrong and how they got back into school.

This thread is for helping those who are currently on an RTW status like yours truly.

Please keep it clean and informative.

Good luck and keep pushing hard towards victory,
airupthere

Can you tell us why you are RTW? We don't have that in the United States. We might get bad grades and thus "flunk out" or be asked to leave for other reasons but there's usually no appeal or anything for us. Maybe this site can help you?

Office of the Ombudsperson

What happens if you do withdraw as requested? I'd do that and fix whatever the problem was in the time they give you (a year?).

I would also like to read your story OP

Well mine isn't exactly required to withdraw, but I was on probation meaning I would get booted next semester if I did not get my GPA above 2.0. I did withdraw with thousands of dollars in debt, it was paid off tho

I dormed away and at the same time there was a crisis at home I went into depression. I went to college because my parents pushed me to. I wasn't prepared to be off alone I needed support. For a few years we had to see a T, I also worked many jobs I didn't like.

I returned to school when I applied for a program I didn't think I would make it. Only a few people out of hundreds get accepted. I receive a letter and that's when my career began. I never studied as hard as I did. I also worked part time for while related to the field, and got in a supportive relationship with my now fiancé.

During these years I got asked to speak with the chairperson, I was failing and she told me to drop out and take it next year. In 2 tests I managed to go passing, and received A's averaging to a B. I got to stay but next year same thing. I had to really want this degree, because after all these years of struggle and hope I have just graduated.

It's okay to leave for a while and come back when you're ready. I came back full force and was.ready to fight for what I wanted

Well last September 2012 when school started i injured my lower back severely. I couldn't sit for more than 15 mins,couldn't sleep properly due to the pain and hence started going to a chiropractor at school. Since im overweight, this injury took time to heal( about 6 months). This discomfort didnt allow me to study and focus properly on school and i ended up failing 2 courses out of 5. I didnt perform well on the other 2 either( got like a D- in both of em). My injury wasnt severe enough to get me hospitalized and hence the only solution prescribed was rehab exercises given to me by the chiropractor and time.

Come Winter semester( this january) i took 3 courses and got a C,D+ and a D.
During that particular semester i started getting dreams( nightmares personally), that i flunked out of school and my dad passed away. This nightmare kept repeating itself to such an extent that i was afraid to sleep. I was so scared that my dad would pass away and i couldn't give him the happiness of him seeing his son graduate.

During skype talks with my parents, my mother noticed me talking to myself. She kept noticing this odd behavior of mine and hence told me to stop and think as to what i was doing. To my horror, I realized that without knowing I used to imagine( in my head) that some known friend was in front of me and I was having a clear conversation with him/her. I realized that this became a habit of mine without me noticing and hence this occured daily. This odd behavior of mine manifested itself in all my activities including my study time.

But by the time i realized what i was going through it was too late. The academic appeals committee had a look over my transcript and realized i wasnt on good standing or in other words i was in academic probation. They placed me on RTW and have now given me a chance to appeal their decision.

So as of right now, I'm taking 5 courses ( out of which one is an intersession course). Intersession means that the final exam is in the end of june and the grade will come out by 31st of june. This is an economics course. The rest 4 are all engineering courses which are 12 week courses( from may 1st week to august 4th week). Hence before the appeals meeting i would have my grade from economics and the midterms from the 4 engineering courses.

Ive actually booked an appointment with school doctor to convey what im going through( psychologically) and then he/she will determine if i need to be referred to a psychiatrist or not....

I was required to withdraw, but was not well enough to appeal. I might have been able to appeal anyway, due to the illness, but was not informed of that by the ombudsman. I was informed that if I took 12 credits and was able to maintain a 2.0, I could re-apply to the university. I applied to open studies at a community college but was denied due to my RTW.

Next I went the fraudulent route. I applied to another university with only my high school grades, denying that I had taken any university courses. I managed to maintain a 3.3 at that university, admittedly with a number of voluntary withdrawals. I ultimately chose to walk away.

After managing to achieve stability, I decided to go back. I am a nursing student. I applied with both sets of transcripts as many universities will accept one RTW assuming you can prove that you are now able to meet the requirements. It is a difficult thing to work through, and I would recommend doing extension courses rather than going the fraudulent route, but it can be worked through.

I would appeal it though. At worst, you will be unsuccessful.

hmmm...what do u think will happen in my case?

Cause I was given an RTW once before this...appealed it and was unsuccessful. The main reason that i was asked to withdraw the first time was because i took an intersession course and failed it. So when i went in for the meeting they saw the F and obviously that must have hurt my chances. Moreover i really had no reason back then to perform so bad. It was all my fault.

So i transferred to general arts for a year and came back to engineering.
Then if youve read my case above youll notice that i got the severe back injury and the psychological problems. Moreover my grades this sem are pretty good( 85%).

What do u think will happen in my case? You think the two above health issues coupled with good grades will help me this time?

By the way i do have a letter from the chiropractor and will get one once i meet the doctor regarding my psychological health. I guess that was the other reason that i got kicked out the first time..I didnt have supporting documentation.

Medical reasons are a reasonable explanation. Get the documentation and hopefully you will succeed. Having the grades you do shows you are committed to your education. I would say to appeal until you are successful, because it sounds like you have a case. The school may have pre-judged you because you have the one RTW; you can show them that is irrelevant in this case.

thanks a lot for your support. Hopefully they let me stay. Im thinking they will but theyll place some restrictions as to how many courses i can take this fall.

Ill let you know how it goes....

PS. There are 41 kids in engineering who have been asked to withdraw this year from my school.

Engineering is a hard faculty, but hopefully those student were failing, or failing to meet the minimum grades. I would hate to think the university was unfairly dismissing students.

The first years of engineering programs are designed to filter out the students who won't make it as an engineer.

I don't think that's your case though. Definitely provide supporting documentation in addition to your plan for a successful future (such as taking fewer classes, continuing with your chiropractor, and your evaluation by your school doctor possibly leading to psych help).

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

Yeah..well recently ive been advised to start speech therapy with the school psychiatrist and apparently ive been going through depression. Im scheduled for a bunch of sessions with the psychiatrist and im going to ask her to give me a letter stating my issues etc, which i can give to the appeals committee.

And oh yes..my appeal is scheduled for the 4th of july....What a date eh?

Wish me luck
AIRUPTHERE