I recently finished my first year of university in the Business 1 program in a horrible fashion. I failed 4 courses, 2 of which were required to continue to second year, and did not meet the cumulative average of 3 in order to remain enrolled in McMaster. My re-in statement letter has recently been denied and am not 100% sure of what to do at this point in order to get back into BUSINESS 1.

I will be attending mohawk college the following year and will get really high marks in hopes of coming back to McMaster next year.

My main question is am I allowed to re-apply for BUSINESS 1 at McMaster after I complete my first year of mohawk? I know I can re-apply to McMaster but since I failed my first year and got kicked out and was enrolled in BUSINESS 1, will they let me re-apply?

Yes, you are allowed to re-apply. Typically (though not always) they require you to do something for a year before they'll grant re-instatement, rather than just allowing you to return the following year. Some people apply more than twice.
Note that just because you're allowed to re-apply, that doesn't mean your application will be successful. It's always a good idea to have a contingency plan.

starfish, thank you for your reply.

I am going to work harder then I have ever worked in my entire life this year at mohawk to attain high high marks (minimum 95%+ in EVERY CLASS, no matter what it takes).

However, I wasn't sure what you meant when you said that I can"re-apply" exactly.

Did you mean I can re-apply to McMaster University after a year? Or did you mean I can re-apply to McMaster University AS WELL as the BUSINESS I program even though I failed it and got kicked out?

Sorry if I come off as rude lol I really appreciate you replying, I'm just at an extremely sad state right now :(

Starfish means that you can reapply to reinstate yourself more than once.

You can reapply to the business program - though you should take a close look at whether your poor grades were related to the subject matter.

I don't think you can just apply to the school in general - I think it has to be a specific program (not 100% sure about that though).

This was my letter that was denied by the reinstatement committee

If anybody would like to read it and provide feedback on how it could have been further improved, I would really appreciate.





Dear reinstatement committee:

I am writing to appeal my academic dismissal based on some extenuating circumstances, which led to my poor academic performance. I am requesting reinstatement at this time because I just received these results in mid July after receiving my last deferred exam marks. I also believed that my improved summer school marks would have been included in my cumulative average, and I would not be in this situation.

I admit, I had a very difficult time last semester, and my grades suffered as a result. I have important reasons for my academic performance and would like to explain my special circumstances surrounding this. During exam time first semester leading onto second semester I faced unpredictable physical and psychological barriers. I became very ill throughout this winter and missed weeks of classes. Upon visiting my family doctor and many walk-in clinics, I was always advised to stay home. During this time I was also felt depressed which put me into a state of low mood and aversion to any activities, which affected my behavior, thoughts, and overall sense of well being. As a consequence of my illness and mood disturbance, I had a loss of energy, fatigue and insomnia. I believe my body was at an all time low at this point, which put me very behind in school, and unable to catch up.

During the end of second semester, I did seek help. I notified the Dean’s office with doctor’s notes various times during the school year. I also visited the McMaster wellness center once, a group support drop in session and my Doctor. My doctor addressed this issue and prescribed me medication for my illness. After receiving all this help and from my doctor, I was back to my normal self at the beginning of this summer. Now I am active, healthy and my mood is very stable. I never experienced this feeling before and knew nothing about depression. This is why it took me sometime to adjust and learn to deal with issues. Please understand my situation has been resolved and I have it under full control. And I am very excited and eager to continue my studies. I was doing great during my enrollment of my second term summer school; however, I had to withdraw based on previous circumstances. Also, please understand my deferral marks also suffered as a result of second semester circumstances. There was minimal I could do later on to change that considering the weigh of the exams.

As you can see I am a dedicated and hard working individual and want nothing but to continue my education to better myself. I have worked hard the last few months, which have been shown in my progress during summer school courses I have been taking. I am very confident since I have my situation under control along with planning and working hard can help me execute the plan for my bright future in accounting.

I love McMaster University, and it would mean so much to me to graduate with a degree from this school, which would make me the fourth person in my family to graduate from McMaster. I know that a university education is very important to better myself in this competitive society we live in. I will work my hardest upon reinstatement and prove that this experience helped me grow stronger and will make McMaster proud to have me as a student.

You see I think it is not a problem of your writing style, it gets the point through and is well worded. I think what is really bad is the situation that you were in that made the committee give the no. This is how you went:

first year: did bad, due to illness
1st term summer: did good, no problem
2nd term summer: did bad, due to illness

do you see what I am saying? Whenever you did bad, you blamed the illness but when you did good you said it was alright. There is no real solution that you put up t oyour problem. Furthermore, your story doesn't show that in the future your illness will never affect you again.

And I have no right to ask but I wonder how bad is this illness? Is it fatal, disabling or is it a long "flu" that many students use as an excuse.

I have never ever written a reinstatement letter so this is just what I think after reading it. I have written extenuating circumstances to to immediate family deaths but i got the middle finger from UofT, so your illness better be as serious as it seems.

I am just going to insert comments directly into your letter, so please see below:

Originally Posted by razorsharp55

This was my letter that was denied by the reinstatement committee

If anybody would like to read it and provide feedback on how it could have been further improved, I would really appreciate.





Dear reinstatement committee:

I am writing to appeal my academic dismissal based on some extenuating circumstances, which led to my poor academic performance. I am requesting reinstatement at this time because I just received these results in mid July after receiving my last deferred exam marks. I also believed that my improved summer school marks would have been included in my cumulative average, and I would not be in this situation. You not understanding the way grading works isn't an excuse; if anything, it shows that you didn't care enough to take the time to look into this. Also, if your summer school grades really are improved, indicate what courses you took and what the grades are.

I admit, I had a very difficult time last semester (just one semester, or the whole year?), and my grades suffered as a result. I have important reasons for my academic performance and would like to explain my special circumstances surrounding this. During exam time first semester leading onto second semester I faced unpredictable physical and psychological barriers (The only important part of this sentence is "during exam time in first semester" - I would cut the rest out). I became very ill throughout this winter and missed weeks of classes (what illness? How many weeks? Did you submit supporting documentation? What steps did you take to deal with your prolonged absence?). Upon visiting my family doctor and many walk-in clinics, I was always advised to stay home. During this time I was also felt depressed (watch your grammar here - "I was also felt depressed" doesn't make sense) which put me into a state of low mood and aversion to any activities, which affected my behavior, thoughts, and overall sense of well being. As a consequence of my illness and mood disturbance, I had a loss of energy, fatigue and insomnia. I believe my body was at an all time low at this point, which put me very behind in school, and unable to catch up. (Starting your sentence with "I believe" seems to weaken your argument, which is vague to begin with). Also, was your depression a consequence of the "illness" or were they unrelated? I'm a bit confused about that.

During the end of second semester, I did seek help. I notified the Dean’s office with doctor’s notes various times during the school year. I wouldn't consider this "seeking help". I also visited the McMaster wellness center once, a group support drop in session and my Doctor. (again with the grammar. Also, why only once? And when was this?) My doctor addressed this issue and prescribed me medication for my illness. After receiving all this help and from my doctor, I was back to my normal self at the beginning of this summer. If you were suffering from depression, this seems like an unrealistic and unbelievable recovery - from the end of second semester to the beginning of summer is really only a couple of weeks, and no treatment for depression works that quickly and that completely. It really just makes it seem like an excuse rather than you having an actual mental health problem. Also, supporting documentation should be included. Now I am active, healthy and my mood is very stable. How are you active? Give concrete examples of these things. I never experienced this feeling before (specify what feeling you're talking about, since in the previous sentence you were talking about having a stable mood) and knew nothing about depression. This is why it took me sometime to adjust and learn to deal with issues. Please understand my situation has been resolved and I have it under full control. Again, depression doesn't work this way - it's a continuing issue that people must learn to continually cope with. Obviously some times are better than others, but you're not totally "better" after a couple of weeks with no chance of relapse. This part either supports the previous idea that you weren't really suffering from depression, or indicates that you still don't understand how to fully deal with it and thus are at risk for academic failure again. And I am very excited and eager to continue my studies. I was doing great during my enrollment of my second term summer school; however, I had to withdraw based on previous circumstances. What are these circumstances? This is important. Also, please understand my deferral marks also suffered as a result of second semester circumstances. There was minimal ("little" - using "minimal" in this context is not correct) I could do later on to change that considering the weight of the exams.

As you can see I am a dedicated and hard working individual and want nothing but to continue my education to better myself. Your letter hasn't shown that at all - if you're going to state it, back it up with concrete examples. I have worked hard the last few months, which have been shown in my progress during summer school courses I have been taking. Be very specific about this progress. I am very confident since I have my situation under control along with planning and working hard can help me execute the plan for my bright future in accounting. This sentence doesn't really make grammatical sense.

I love McMaster University, and it would mean so much to me to graduate with a degree from this school, which would make me the fourth person in my family to graduate from McMaster. Don't include this - it doesn't add anything to the letter except make it seem like you only want to go here due to family pressures, as opposed to the merits of the school itself. I know that a university education is very important to better myself in this competitive society we live in. Again, this makes it sound like you want your education because of outside pressures, because you "need" it rather than because you deserve a second chance. I will work my hardest upon reinstatement and prove that this experience helped me grow stronger and will make McMaster proud to have me as a student.

Other than the comments included above, I think you should really have someone edit it beforehand, and don't try too hard for flowery language or big words - often it comes off as awkward (if not totally incorrect, grammar-wise). For example, using "minimal" when "little" is so much more appropriate.

I got reinstated this year and from my research what I heard is generally they want to see you recognized the problem and you have gone out of your way to fix the issue and found a solution to he problem as well as have a plan in place to prevent future reoccurrences. Also depending on the The extent of your failures, they would like to see a year of studies to show you are academically capable. If you would like I can definitely send you my letter if I still have it, seeing as how I had a problem similar in nature.