Why did my appeal get denied?
There are many reasons why an appeal is denied.  Some of the common reasons are:

• Your written appeal did not show a clear understanding of what led to your academic difficulties.
• Your written appeal did not show a clear plan of what you will do differently to help you academically.
• The committee believed that due to personal issues you indicated in your letter you would benefit from a period of time away from MSOE to resolve those issues.
• The committee gave you various stipulations in the past that you did not follow (meetings with Counseling Services, advisor, Raider Center for Academic Success, etc).  This causes the committee to question your commitment to your education.
• There has been a pattern of academic difficulty that has not been remedied.
• The committee believes that if you continue with your current academic pattern, you will be mathematically unable to meet the minimum GPAs required for graduation.

What happens at the personal appeal?
We all sit around a conference room table.  We give you a few minutes to present your case to remain enrolled.  Often students review what was in their letter or any information they chose not to share but now wish to discuss.  Most of the time is spent with the committee members asking you questions about things such as your study habits, work commitments, motivation, or academic difficulties in certain classes or quarters.

Do I need to bring anything with me?
You do not.  However, if you get nervous when speaking in front of people, feel free to bring a few notes for your opening comments.  Some students also bring graded work that they have received from their faculty that term.

Can I do anything to prepare for the personal appeal?
If time and schedules allow, we encourage you to meet the chairperson of your academic department or school prior to the meeting with the committee.  This gives your department chairperson a chance to get to know you, and it also gives you a chance to discuss any issues you wish to talk about before the meeting with the larger group.

If you are unsure about what more you can do to improve academically or whether you should do a personal appeal, you may wish to meet with someone in Counseling Services prior to the appeal.

Should I do a personal appeal?
That is a decision only you can make.  You only get one personal appeal in your MSOE academic career.

Some students benefit from taking time off-whether it is to resolve financial issues, health issues or personal issues.  Some students need to brush up on basic math, science or English skills prior to finding success at MSOE.  Those students often benefit from attending a technical college or community college and taking some of those prerequisite courses and then appealing to return.  If you are unsure of your major, sometimes it is good to spend some time away from MSOE to determine what career path is right for you.

For other students, the personal appeal is a good chance to bring to light issues or to give us more information that will help us decide whether we should change our initial decision.

This whole thing sounds scary, is it?
We try not to make it scary; we really want it to be a conversation.  However, it does sometimes get a little intense.  The real purpose of the appeal is that we want to help you graduate from college.  Sometimes that means that we will overturn our decision and allow you to continue. Sometimes that means we will send you away to resolve some issues and then return to MSOE.  Sometimes, it means you will need to earn your degree from another college.  We know that MSOE is not for everyone and we want you to be successful-if not here then at another college.

If I decide not to do a personal appeal, can I ever return?
Yes, but you must sit out for two terms. Then you must re-appeal through the committee to return.  If there is currently a term in session, that counts as one of the terms you must be away.  So if your appeal was denied after the winter term to continue in spring, you would sit out spring and summer and be eligible to re-appeal in the fall.

The committee finds it helpful if you attend another college during your time away.  With strong grades at another college, you show that you have resolved the issues that prohibited your academic success.

If I decide not to appeal, do I still get charged tuition for this term?
If you decide not to do the personal appeal, we administratively cancel your schedule.  The tuition charges for the term that is in progress are reversed and any financial aid you have received is also reversed.  Any housing, food or laptop charges that you may have are pro-rated based on how far into the term we are at that point.