How to Appeal a Dismissal From College

No one has ever entered college with the goal of being suspended or dismissed. Unfortunately, life happens.  Perhaps you simply werent quite ready for the challenges of college or the freedom of living on your own. Or maybe you encountered factors outside of your control — illness, injury, a family crisis, depression, death of a friend, or some other distraction that made college a lower priority than it needed to be. Whatever the situation, the good news is that an academic dismissal is rarely the last word on the matter. Nearly all colleges allow students to appeal a dismissal. Schools realize that your GPA doesnt tell the whole story and that there are always factors that contributed to your poor academic performance. An appeal gives you the opportunity to put your grades into context, explain what went wrong, and convince the appeals committee that you have a plan for future success. If Possible, Appeal in Person Some colleges allow written appeals only, but if you have the option of appealing in person, you should take advantage of the opportunity.  The members of the appeals committee will think you are more committed to being readmitted if you take the trouble to travel back to college to make your case. Even if the thought of appearing in front of the committee terrifies you, it is still usually a good idea. In fact, genuine nervousness and tears can sometimes make the committee more sympathetic to you. You will want to be well prepared for your meeting and follow strategies for a successful in-person appeal. Show up on time, well dressed, and by yourself (you dont want it to look as tho your parents are dragging you to your appeal). Also, be sure to think about the types of questions youre likely to be asked during an appeal. The committee will certainly want to know what went wrong, and theyll want to know what your plan is for future success. Be painfully honest when youre speaking with the committee members. They will have received information from your professors and advisors as well as student life personnel, so theyre going to know if youre holding back information. Make the Most of a Written Appeal Often in-person appeals require a written statement, and in other situations, an appeal letter is your only option for pleading your case. In either situation, your appeal letter needs to be crafted effectively.   To write a successful appeal letter, you need to be polite, humble, and honest. Make your letter personal, and address it to the Dean or the members of the committee who will be considering your appeal. Be respectful, and always keep in mind that you are asking for a favor. The appeal letter is no place to express anger or entitlement. For an example of a good letter by a student who was overwhelmed by problems at home, be sure to read Emmas appeal letter. Emma owns up to mistakes she made, summarizes the situation that led to the bad grades, and explains how she will avoid similar problems in the future. Her letter focuses on a single and serious distraction from school, and she remembers to thank the committee in her closing. Many appeals are based on situations that are more embarrassing and less sympathetic than a family crisis. When you read Jasons appeal letter, youll learn that his failing grades were the result of problems with alcohol. Jason approaches this situation the only way that is likely to be successful in an appeal: he owns up to it. His letter is honest about what went wrong and just as important, it is clear in the steps that Jason has taken that he has plans to get his problems with alcohol under control. His polite and honest approach to his situation is likely to win the sympathy of the appeals committee. Avoid Common Mistakes When Writing Your Appeal If the best appeal letters own up to the students failures in a polite and honest way, it shouldnt be a surprise that unsuccessful appeals do just the opposite. Bretts appeal letter  makes some serious mistakes beginning in the very first paragraph. Brett is quick to blame others for his problems, and rather than look in the mirror, he points to his professors as the source of his low grades. We clearly arent getting the full story in Bretts letter, and he doesnt convince anyone that he is putting in the hard work that he claims he is. What exactly has Brett been doing with his time that has led to his academic failure? The committee doesnt know, and the appeal is likely to fail for that reason. A Final Word on Appealing a Dismissal If youre reading this, youre most likely in the unenviable position of being dismissed from college. Dont lose hope of returning to school just yet. Colleges are learning environments, and the faculty and staff members on the appeals committee are fully aware that students make mistakes and have bad semesters. Your job is to show that you have the maturity to own up to your mistakes and that you have the ability to learn from your missteps and devise a plan for future success. If you can do both of these things, you have a good chance of appealing successfully. Finally, even if your appeal is not successful, realize that dismissal doesnt need to be the end of your college aspirations. Many dismissed students enroll in a community college, prove that they are capable of succeeding in college coursework, and then reapply to either their original institution or another four-year college.

Personal Statement Self Management - 1773 Words

Self-Management Strength: Self-management requires one to be able to accomplish one’s goals and is responsible for one’s own behavior and well-being. Self-management skill is not only important for oneself, but it can affect one’s surroundings: organization and people. A manager should possess an understanding of ethical issues, have strong work ethic, have high tolerance for ambiguity, and express responsibility toward commitments. I find that self-management is closely tied with self-empowerment because to be able to manage one’s behavior, one has to be motivated to do so. Because for the most parts, I am a motivated individual, I will use my motivation to enhance the ability to manage my behavior. The characteristics that are important to self-management are integrity and honesty because these characteristics deal with ethical issues. Integrity and honesty are two of my values that I try to carry into every task and projects I have done. It is significant for me to dem onstrate these values because trust is the most important in building an interpersonal relationship. Once the trust is broken, the relationship becomes difficult to repair. In the â€Å"Personal Values† assessment, I scored relatively high in all the categories, except spiritual. I find it very interesting that spiritual value is not one of my top values because I am a committed Buddhist who has committed a lot of time for my Buddhist Youth Association. After reflecting on the topic, I have come to aShow MoreRelatedPersonal Statement On Self Management930 Words   |  4 Pages1/ First score Second Score 48 53 1. Accepting personal responsibility 64 70 2. Discovering self-motivation 40 52 3. Mastering self-management 50 58 4. Employing self-management 52 52 5. Gaining self-awareness 61 63 6. Adopting lifelong learning 60 60 7. Developing emotional intelligence 68 68 8. Believing in myself 2/ After doing the self-assessment chart again, I have realized that I have had a significantRead MorePersonal Statement On Self Management Essay979 Words   |  4 Pagesthat are active community members and life-long learners. Self-management is taking responsibility for one’s behavior and being able to discipline one’s action in the classroom. I believe the instructor should teach and model self-management at the same time that they teach and model the procedures and practices in a classroom. This teaching and modeling include the reasons behind the practices and continues until the student self-management and class procedures become routine. Attaining students’Read MorePersonal Statement On Self Management1573 Words   |  7 Pagescarried out by making the patients and families feel comfortable warm welcoming when it comes to making decisions in the healthcare setting. 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For a period of two weeks, I applied those strategies to my daily life hoping thatRead MoreLsi Paper1065 Words   |  5 PagesAssignment Guidelines Developing a willingness and ability to engage in self-reflection is a critical leadership skill that is not easily learned yet which reaps many rewards. The LSI enables you to examine your own unique way of thinking and how it influences your behavior. 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First, one will never develop an attitude of responsibility if they always look for others to complete their task. It is a necessity that one has personal discipline or their efforts to be responsible will prove to be fruitless. Second, being responsible yields great rewards and acting responsible is a clear sign of maturity. A responsible individual looksRead MoreList The Three Prescriptions That Serve As The Foundation For Development Of Relationship Strategy1183 Words   |  5 Pagesselling process? List the four groups of people with whom sales personal must be able to work effectively. In a consultative sale, building a relationship is important to create identification with one on one communication with the customer to keep the customer feeling confident and safe with the salesperson. A satisfied customer always comes back. 1) Customers 2) Secondary decision makers 3) Company support staff 4) Management personnel 3. 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To What Extent Were Hitler and Stalin Similar Free Essays

To what extent were Hitler and Stalin similar? Hitler and Stalin were both cruel dictators around the time of WW2, but to what extent were these two men similar? Firstly they were both dictators throughout WW2; however they were both of different beliefs. Hitler was a fascist and Stalin was a communist, however they were both such extreme versions of these beliefs that they were, in many ways alike. Starting with childhood, Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in a small Austrian town called Braunau, near to the German border. We will write a custom essay sample on To What Extent Were Hitler and Stalin Similar? or any similar topic only for you Order Now His father, Alois Hitler was an abusive drunk similar to Stalin’s father, Besarion Vanovis Jughashvili. This evidence suggests that perhaps the bad relationships these men had with their fathers, who made very poor role models, may have had some contribution to the turnout of these dictators. Stalin did not graduate, unlike Hitler; instead he devoted his time to the revolutionary crusade against the Russian monarchy. He spent 15 years as an activist, who was arrested on a number of occasions and exiled six times in total. In 1913 Stalin was captured for the sixth time, and was exiled to a region in Siberia near to the Arctic Circle called Turukhansk. He was then released for a final time in March, 1917, by Alexander Kerensky’s revolution. When you compare Hitler’s life before dictatorship it is obvious that this portion of the men’s life was extensively different. Stalin rose to power as general secretary covertly, into one of the most dominant communist parties at the time. And when revolution leader Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, control was thought by the Russian public, to belong to Leon Trotsky who was the head of the red army. However Stalin rose to power instead and, although he incorporated fear into his tactics of leadership, like Hitler did, his actual claim of control over Russia was visibly dissimilar. Hitler’s early adulthood was difficult, after leaving his school in Vienna he was devastated by the loss of his mother to cancer. Shortly after which he was struck by another heavy blow, as he was rejected from art school and forced to give up his dream of becoming an artist. He was now very poor and living in a doss house with the homeless, it was at this time many historians believe he developed his hatred of Jews as they were generally well-off people thriving in a time when he had nothing, this hatred would later play a major part in the mass genocide he lead during his dictatorship. When Hitler rose to power in 1933 Germany was facing a crisis, the great depression had struck, and America had stopped funding them or buying their goods, causing 6 million people to lose their jobs, on top of that the restrictions Germany had already suffered due to the treaty of Versailles were catastrophic. So, the public began to question their current democratic leadership. For Hitler turning the public against democracy and communism was easy, they already doubted the democratic leadership and since the communist uprisings between 1919 and 1920 that had caused a major panic and the horror stories from Russia and Stalin, people already disliked the communists greatly. He used the similar beliefs between himself and the people to strengthen their relationship and allow them to worship him. Similarly, when Stalin came into power he influenced the people to turn them against his opposition by pointing out their similarities. Stalin was a man of the people, a peasant who had fought in the revolution, and was in the public eye having attended and given the main speech at Vladimir Lenin’s funeral. However, his opposition Leon Trotsky was a Jewish Army leader who did not attend Lenin’s funeral (however sources tell that Stalin tricked Trotsky into not going). This was similar to Hitler because they both focused on what they had in common with the public , and ensured they kept themselves in the public eye as the hero when in actual fact they turned out to be the villains. Another likeness between the two leaders was their use of terror to control their country. Both of the dictators enforced the secret police, who were one of the biggest fears of both countries public, in Russia the secret police were called ‘Cheka’ and in Germany they were known as Gestapo. The secret police were the secret force put together by the government to spy on and capture those who spoke out against them, in Hitler’s case for example the Jews. Once captured by the secret police the prisoners would either be executed or taken away to concentration camps, gulags or ghettos to be tortured and forced to work manual labour. Both men additionally, believed in using children to spy on their parents, in many schools across Germany and Russia the dictator’s beliefs were broadcasted to young children, they were taught to snitch on their parents if they spoke out against the government. When using propaganda Hitler was linked to Stalin through their use of twisting the public’s mind. Many historical sources depict images of Hitler or images of Stalin hugging women and children and leading the army, in addition to this almost all of their osters depicted their political parties symbol, which with Nazis symbol (swastika)ironically meant good fortune and peace. A major difference was that Stalin’s posters were much more general, much more of Stalin loving the public whereas Hitler’s posters clearly defined his policies. For instance Nazi propaganda was widely images of the Hitler youth army, the Aryan race (the race Hitler believed to be superior to all others- blonde hair/blue eyes) and many images of ugly Jewish people perhaps eating German babies. Often when observing Hitler and Stalin people overlook the changes they made for the good. In Hitler’s case he promised policies such as Lebensraum (the need for living space) -the reclaiming of land lost in the treaty of Versailles and, he promised to increase the army size from 100,000 to 1,400,000. He also came up with the Hitler youth army providing leisure events such as holidays, trips and sports events, moreover he gave the Germans cheaper cinema and theatre tickets and provided them with better meals. He greatly improved the quality of German working facilities, as well as providing loans to married couples, and encouraging the birth of children by saying that the more children you had the less you had to pay back form the loans. Overall the main thing he provided to the poor Germans who had lost so much since WW1. Stalin gave the public hope for triumph for over the cruel grip of fascism taking the current revolution a step further. He made his country a world power alongside the USA, not like Hitler who made Germany suffer a colossal loss after WW2. He greatly improved Russian industries and economy, the farming in Russia increased by 200 %. Additionally Stalin increased by decades the life expectancy of many Russians, he also enriched the lives of many Russians who lost faith especially throughout WW2. Furthermore, during Stalin’s rule he significantly enhanced the standard of women’s rights by allowing them to receive education and employment and permitting them to give birth in hospitals with prenatal care. Opposing Hitler immensely, who sacked hundreds of women believing their purpose was to stay at home with the children, and cook and clean. On June 22nd, 1941 Hitler, feeling himself losing the war and growing paranoid of Stalin’s communist power invaded Russia calling it Operation Barbarossa. It was a foolish decision which lost him a large portion of his army, and the war essentially. Stalin triumphed and by mid-April of 1945, Soviet forces had pushed their way into Berlin, and Hitler and his wife Eva killed themselves in order to escape the terrible punishments of losing the war. Stalin died later on in 1953 on March 5th, 1953 a stroke. In conclusion although they were both at the furthest ends of right wing communism (Stalin) and fascism (Hitler), they were indeed so extreme, that in a way, they were a like. There methods of control, torture and advertisement were so remarkably alike and, their mass genocides will go down as two of the most dreadful, but painfully similar events in history. So to a certain extent I do agree that these dictators were very similar from a particularly young age, though at many significant points in their lives they did show great dissimilarities. How to cite To What Extent Were Hitler and Stalin Similar?, Papers

Monitoring and Evaluation free essay sample

Question: Write an essay on monitoring and evaluation (ME) in which you: describe the difference between monitoring and evaluation distinguish between participatory ME and conventional ME describe how participatory monitoring and evaluation (PME) is used in practice with specific reference to case studies from China Title: Monitoring and Evaluation (ME) TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 1 Introduction3 2 The difference between monitoring and evaluation3 3 Distinguishing Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation from conventional Monitoring and Evaluation4 4 Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) in practice4-6 5 Conclusion7 6 Bibliography8 7 List of Sources8 MONITORING AND EVALUATION (ME) 1 Introduction How do we know if a project has achieved efficiency, been appropriate to its stakeholders and provided adequate benefit to as many stakeholders as possible? Has the project produced unwanted or beneficial side effects? Has new knowledge been generated and what learnings can we take from the project? Is the project or elements thereof replicable? This essay explores Monitoring and Evaluation (ME) as part of the project cycle. In order to provide context, it defines monitoring and evaluation and distinguishes between them. It then provides a critical discussion on the difference between Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) and conventional Monitoring and Evaluation (ME). Finally, it focuses on Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation and how it is used in practice with specific reference to a case study from China by Jianchu Qui Vernooy. 2 The difference between monitoring and evaluation Let us first define monitoring and evaluation in order to establish the context. Cloete and Rabie (2009:2) choose the following definition of evaluation by Mark, Greene Shaw: â€Å"Evaluation literally means ‘to work out the value (of something)’ in its Latin root ‘valere’. † Applied to the project cycle, Evaluation â€Å"looks at the bigger picture to make judgments about the worth of the entire project, within context. † (Cornwell, Modiga, Mokgupi, Plaatjie, Rakolojane, Stewart Treurnicht 2009:83) Evaluation answers the question: â€Å"Was our plan a good one? † (Cornwell et al 2006:83) Monitoring on the other hand is concerned more with the ongoing assessment of the project during implementation. According to Cornwell et al (2006:83) â€Å"Monitoring focuses on whether things are happening on time, within budget, and to standard. In essence, monitoring asks the question, â€Å"Did we follow our project design? †Ã¢â‚¬  Extrapolating from the text and from this writer’s Project Management experience, applied to the Results Based logic model, Monitoring is concerned with the assessment of inputs, activities and outputs, whilst Evaluation assesses outcomes and impacts. A key difference between Monitoring and Evaluation is thus the focus. Monitoring is typically focussed on the project implementation activities, which take place in the short to medium term, whilst Evaluation is typically focussed on the ‘big picture’ level of the medium to long term. Another difference is also who is typically concerned with the data produced by Monitoring and Evaluation. From this writer’s experience, the Project Manager, Project Team and Implementing Organisation are typically interested in the data produced by Monitoring. In terms of the data produced by Evaluation, this is the level of data that donors are particularly interested in. This information would also be of interest to project stakeholders. Whilst it is of interest to the Project Manager, Project Team and Implementing Organisation as a whole, Evaluations have traditionally been written for the donor as target audience. 3 Distinguishing Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation from conventional Monitoring and Evaluation Unlike the â€Å"conventional monitoring and evaluation system that works the best as a reporting system in the public sector† (Khan 2006:1), Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation is geared towards involving the project stakeholders in the Monitoring and Evaluation of the project. It would be an oversimplification to simply say that Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation is preferable and superior to conventional Monitoring and Evaluation. Cloete and Rabie (2009:7) propose a classification system for monitoring and evaluation approaches which uses three main classification categories, namely scope, philosophy and design. Such a classification system allows the Monitoring and Evaluation practitioner to select an appropriate type of ME depending on the project situation. That said, Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation does have definite merits when compared to conventional Monitoring and Evaluation. Cornwell et al (2009:86) summarize these merits as follows: â€Å"Basically, when done properly, participatory evaluation promotes empowerment, confidence, self-esteem and independence. † Let us draw out the key hallmarks of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation outlined in the literature reviewed. Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation is planned together with the stakeholder group involved in the evaluation. They assist to set questions that are appropriate. The Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation is also conducted with stakeholder involvement. The involvement of project stakeholders in this participatory manner results in the development of the participants’ skills in terms of evaluation (capacity building) and also results in utility beyond just a final report, because the participants through their exposure to the project, become informed stakeholders who through the interactions established are empowered to better engage with the project team. A better understanding of the local context is also developed through Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation than through conventional Monitoring and Evaluation. There is a move from the conventional ME focus of accountability to the donor to shared accountability in Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. To summarize, the key difference between Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation and conventional Monitoring and Evaluation is the participatory approach of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation, whereby the evaluation team draws project stakeholders into the mix and the evaluator plays the role of facilitator or team leader. 4 Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) in practice Let us now focus on how Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation is used in practice with specific reference to a case study from China by Jianchu, Qui Vernooy. Jianchu, Qui Vernooy’s article (2009:388) â€Å"examines the capacity-building experiences of two research teams in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces in south-west China who used participatory monitoring and evaluation to strengthen their development research, particularly in the area of natural resource management. † Two groups of research teams of the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) had identified that they wanted to build their capacity in terms of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. The teams underwent training which was conducted simultaneously. This enabled them to utilize the Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation approach through fieldwork. The fieldwork took place during the course of the training. The discussion that follows will focus on the aspects of the Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation approach that are replicable in other projects and not on the specifics of the research into Natural Resource Management. The following techniques paraphrased from the case study of Jianchu et al (2009:390-2) were applied and are listed chronologically: Capacity building training in Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation was offered through three workshops. Research already done was the starting point from which the capacity building process proceeded. The intention was to add PME to ongoing research efforts. The workshops were offered at the same time as field work was undertaken. Participants from both teams attended the workshops together. This allowed for cross-pollination and knowledge sharing. The workshops covered some of the following content: â€Å"Key concepts, approach and basic questions related to PME. † (Jianchu et al 2009:391) â€Å"Exercises that involved identifying and discussing research gaps linked to the six PME questions (why? for whom? what? who? when? how? )† (Jianchu et al 2009:392) â€Å"In small groups, the most important of the identified gaps were debated, and suggestions were made for additional research work. † (Jianchu et al 2009:392) Providing feedback through a ‘market’ exercise whereby participants shared what they â€Å"would ‘buy’ (i. e. adopt) from each other, and what they would do differently. † (Jianchu et al 2009:392) True to the ethos of Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation, the way in which the workshops were conducted was participatory and geared towards creating shared understanding amongst participants. The knowledge gained through the workshops assisted the participants in terms of their Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation approach to the fieldwork. At the first workshop, a draft PME plan was generated by each team. The action plan answered the six PME questions (why? for whom? what? who? when? how? ) The fieldwork between workshop one and two involved an initial one-day workshop with project stakeholders (in this case farmers from two villages and township officials). By consulting the stakeholders, the research team was able to update their action plan to include indicators that were more appropriate to the stakeholders. At the second workshop, the results of the fieldwork and updated action plans were presented. During the second workshop, further information was generated by the participants through a process of asking questions. An improved plan was drawn up. For the fieldwork, the following methods and tools were used: â€Å"Focus group discussions, key-informant interviews and meetings were held to take feedback and discuss findings. † (Jianchu et al 2009:393) â€Å"The two PME teams used PRA tools such as resource mapping, focused group discussion, key informant interviewing, and ranking. † (Jianchu et al 2009:393) Gender sensitivity was observed during data analysis and women played an important role in providing information. Feedback about the fieldwork results was given to the stakeholders who participated in the fieldwork. The team introduced self-monitoring instruments in four villages. These were progressively improved with the support of the stakeholders from the villages. Self-monitoring booklets were distributed to the households involved in the self-monitoring. The booklets were designed to be simple and visual. Village meetings were instituted. These were held every three months with the purpose of assessing the situation at the time, collecting comments from the self-monitoring process and troubleshooting problems if they arose. At the third (final) workshop, the participants assessed the overall experience and looked at the way forward on the project and organisational levels. Results: The following results were attributed to the participatory evaluation exercise outlined above: â€Å"the training and fieldwork in particular contributed greatly to a better understanding by researchers and local government officials of farmers’ interests and needs. † (Jianchu et al 2009:398) â€Å"The experiences also suggest that strengthening the processes for peer networking, review, and support are powerful means to build capacities. † (Jianchu et al 2009:398) Project stakeholders took more active and empowered involvement in the project after their experience of being involved in the participatory evaluation. 5 Conclusion This essay has explored Monitoring and Evaluation (ME) as a means for assessment. It distinguished between Monitoring and Evaluation to provide context. Thereafter, it provided a critical discussion on the difference between Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) and conventional Monitoring and Evaluation (ME). Finally it focused on Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation and how it is used in practice with specific reference to a case study from China by Jianchu, Qui Vernooy.