rillea: Contact Rita Campbell at the Office of the Associate Dean. You can contact her by email, but it may be better to drop in and see her in person (perhaps you can be more convincing that way too).

See http://www.science.mcmaster. ca/~associatedean/ for information such as contact information, office hours, and drop in counselling session info.

Rita Campbell is very nice, whenever I had to take anything up with her, it was quick and painless. She tries her best to be accomodating and it makes you feel like a person, not just a number (cliche line, I know...but it's true).



What you want to do is explain your situation and ask her about getting a Letter of Reinstatement. She may ask you to fill out a form, asking what your ambitions are, why you were unsuccessful and how you can do better given a 2nd chance.

Also if possible, consider picking up a course or two in the 2nd term of the summer. Registration is still open, and feel free to ask for any information about how to do so.

Don't get discouraged, as I mentioned above, many students who ask are given a 2nd chance! Just make sure that you do what you can to get what you want.

@ Mowicz:

when you say beg i dont understand? i was thinking if they dont let me in this sept (after getting a 8 in programming and 11 in macroecon), that i'll go to their office and beg on the floor.

but who do i talk to? my eng guidance counsellor doesnt seem to have the power...woudl i directly talk to whoever is in charge of deciding who gets reinstated? the dean?

they keep saying there is limited space. but how is htere limited space when in 08-09 they excepted 900 students n for 09-10 they only accepted 700 students?

It was figurative...I didn't literally mean beg, as in down on your knees.

I meant go in, present your case and make things happen. You should go in as soon as possible though, to show your initiative. Don't wait, tell them your grades in summer school have improved and you've worked out whatever issues you've had that hindered your success in your first year. If they make you come back in a week or two after summer grades are released, so be it...it's all part of the process.

Hmmm .... nice informative post mowicz.

I went and talked to the Engineering Advisor and the Social Sciences advisor. At first I tried to make my case in front of them both but it seemed as if they did not have the power and wanted my to write them a letter.

I just wish I could talk to someone who is actually responsible for stuff like this. When I go and talk to my engineering advisor, she says that I should talk to a social sciences advisor. When I talk to a social science advisor, she says that she can't really help me much since I'm in Engineering and I should go talk to someone there. All this inter-faculty red-tape is spinning my head in a spiral.

Originally Posted by myInteger

@ Mowicz:

when you say beg i dont understand? i was thinking if they dont let me in this sept (after getting a 8 in programming and 11 in macroecon), that i'll go to their office and beg on the floor.

but who do i talk to? my eng guidance counsellor doesnt seem to have the power...woudl i directly talk to whoever is in charge of deciding who gets reinstated? the dean?

they keep saying there is limited space. but how is htere limited space when in 08-09 they excepted 900 students n for 09-10 they only accepted 700 students?

I completely agree with this ... although I did not know that they accepted less students than what they expected. What faculty are you referring to by the way? Eng or Social Sciences?

You'll both want to see your academic advisors, not guidance counsellors.

Go to the Associate Dean's office of the faculty you are registered in (this is ultimately what matters), and make an appointment. Someone there should be able to help you.



Also, I was unaware of that also...but if they're accepting fewer students, then it's because over the past few years they increased enrollment....I think they've jumped back down to the standard.

That's why I feel like a sardine whenever I'm sitting in the student center, haha.

Originally Posted by Mowicz

That's why I feel like a sardine whenever I'm sitting in the student center, haha.

Only worse feeling than that is when you're standing impatiently in the line in the student center to pay for food, and the person in front of you pulls out a billion pennies.

Originally Posted by drig

All this inter-faculty red-tape is spinning my head in a spiral.

Welcome to real life. It's up to you to do the leg work and keep track of what you need to do in order to reach your goal.

It's tough but that's the way the world works.

^
That is certainly true. It just gets frustrating at times. I am willing to do all the dirty work in order to acheive my goal but sometimes things get exponentially complicated at all the wrong occasions.

@drig.

thats weird. i thought sally was quite helpful.

im going to write the letter... and then if i dont get in i'll go in and talk to them. i believe Dr.Smith (his office is also in JHE 214A) is the one that read all the letters and decides who gets back in. i just wish i knew who exactly does it for social science. btw, did you actually get to talk to the soc sci guidance counsellor? like sit down one to one and talk to her? cus when i went, the secretary kind of just told me an outline but didn't really let me talk to a counsellor.

when we got in to eng for 08-09 the cut off mark was like 78% and there were like 900 students, this year they borught the avg up to 85% and i heard that there are only 700 students. if they can hold 900 students, they should be able to take at least another, what 100 (ppl like us, and ones that sat a year out) that are applying to reinstate... argh

Originally Posted by myInteger

when we got in to eng for 08-09 the cut off mark was like 78% and there were like 900 students, this year they borught the avg up to 85% and i heard that there are only 700 students. if they can hold 900 students, they should be able to take at least another, what 100 (ppl like us, and ones that sat a year out) that are applying to reinstate... argh

But this is what I'm saying:

If Mac can typically accept about 800, then they raise their acceptance to 900 due to expansions and whatnot, they may have more upper year students than they anticipated. (I don't know if these numbers are accurate, but I do know they upped enrollment over the past 3 or 4 years)

So since their facilities are occupied by lots of upper level students, they must take in fewer lower level students, than even their regular acceptance rates...think of it as the baby boomers of McMaster.



(Again this is speculative, but I'd assume it's what happened)

Originally Posted by myInteger

@drig.

thats weird. i thought sally was quite helpful.

im going to write the letter... and then if i dont get in i'll go in and talk to them. i believe Dr.Smith (his office is also in JHE 214A) is the one that read all the letters and decides who gets back in. i just wish i knew who exactly does it for social science. btw, did you actually get to talk to the soc sci guidance counsellor? like sit down one to one and talk to her? cus when i went, the secretary kind of just told me an outline but didn't really let me talk to a counsellor.

when we got in to eng for 08-09 the cut off mark was like 78% and there were like 900 students, this year they borught the avg up to 85% and i heard that there are only 700 students. if they can hold 900 students, they should be able to take at least another, what 100 (ppl like us, and ones that sat a year out) that are applying to reinstate... argh

Hmmm....interesting. I remember reading in one of your previous posts that you wanted to switch to Economics (like myself). Because if that is the case, from what I understand, my letter needs to be addressed to a person in the department of Social Science ... not Engineering. At least that is what Sally Williams told me once I informed her that I do not wish to continue in Engineering.

And yeah, I did go and talk to a student advisor in the department of social science. She was pretty helpful ... but again there were some things that she said she could not do since I was an Engineering student.

wow i actually thought i was the only one. i ended up with an average below 3 and on my report i got the (may not continue at McMaster university) message. I talked to an academic advisor and i was told that it's best for me to take couple of online courses at either ryerson or athabasca university, and then apply for reinstatement for sep 2010. I actually applied to ryerson first year physical sciences and chemistry (hopfully i'd get an acceptance) and am going to apply for the online courses aswell just incase i don't get an acceptance. Been partying and slacking wayyyyyy to much in my first year :S. defenetly not gonna happen again :(

I am in the same situation in engineering. Just applied for reinstatement with a 11 and 12 in Math 1Z04 and Env Sci 1A03 in summer term. Anyone know how hard it is to get reinstated? Do they let people with medical problems in even though spots are all full right now?(i checked they are all out of spots for engineering and comp sci)

Originally Posted by kagenin

I am in the same situation in engineering. Just applied for reinstatement with a 11 and 12 in Math 1Z04 and Env Sci 1A03 in summer term. Anyone know how hard it is to get reinstated? Do they let people with medical problems in even though spots are all full right now?(i checked they are all out of spots for engineering and comp sci)

You probably do have a better chance of being reinstated if you have a good reason (i.e. medical problems, like you said). I'm not so sure how likely it's going to be that it will happen this year though. I think it really depends on how close you were to staying in the program (i.e. they'd take precedence in reinstating someone who passed everything in summer school and made it out with a high enough average to stay in the program over someone who applied for reinstatement, but never made up failed courses in the summer).

Good luck!