Hey everyone
i'll be applying for reinstatement to eng this june and i've some doubts . My gpa when i was kicked out was about 0.2 (i know) and i was wondering if i should mention getting reinstated to btech program if eng was full or do they automatically consider you for that?
Thanks for your answers =)

a 0.2??? did you even write any tests? wowww

It doens't hurt to try. But you should write down why you messed up and your plan to fix it ectc.

Originally Posted by Chris23

a 0.2??? did you even write any tests? wowww

not really ... just midterms (only 1) and all the capa's.

On a side note , is it even possible that eng gets so many applicants that there is no space for students applying for reinstatement? Also , can you guys give an approximate number of number of students getting reinstated each year ? Please .. any kind of advice is appreciated . Thanks again .

did you go to college and get grades that would show you are capable of changing your ways from your first attempt at engineering? if not, you wont have a hope in hell of being reinstated

What do you want? I know people usually just apply to both programs just to have a back-up in case one of them do not go through.

And NO ONE on macinsiders can tell you the # of engineering students that apply to first year engineering, talk to Sally Williams.

As long as you write a heartful letter, with documentation of some sort (Either medical/recommendations from work/school), you should be good.

A good letter should consist of

Paragraph 1 - Why you messed up (Medical problems/family problems here)?
Paragraph 2 - What you have done in the time away from McMaster?
Paragraph 3 - What are you going to do different this year (Throw in recommendations in here)

Do not waste McMaster's time with 5 letter pages.

Good Luck!

They usually consider special circumstances, but with a 0.2GPA... I mean, special circumstances means health or family issues; it doesn't mean especially low grade and excessively hard partying :S Not to say that's what you did, but that's the way the system will evaluate the situation.

Unless you have valid reasons for doing poorly, you will need to take a year off if you haven't already and prove you're capable of doing better.

A friend of mine was reinstated with a 0.6, so don't fret too much. Grow as a person, show them you've grown as a person, and you'll be okay

Originally Posted by Chris23

did you go to college and get grades that would show you are capable of changing your ways from your first attempt at engineering? if not, you wont have a hope in hell of being reinstated

I did , yeah. Did a couple of online courses from athabasca and got all A's and not to mention i already took the year off. couldn't do any community work though but only cause i had to work full time to pay-off my entire tuition fee and save some in case i get reinstated. i had some serious family issues that made me mentally incapable of concentrating in my school year (i'll post the letter some days from now) .. for the 2-3 months that i have(before mid-july) , is there anything i may do to make my chances better ?

Originally Posted by mike_302

They usually consider special circumstances, but with a 0.2GPA... I mean, special circumstances means health or family issues; it doesn't mean especially low grade and excessively hard partying :S Not to say that's what you did, but that's the way the system will evaluate the situation.

not partying (i'm real shy ) :Nah: actually there was a death in my immediate family and my dad had some troubles with his job(he's the only one working) so i was home for about 3-4 months and i didn't care about school at all . honestly, at that time, school didn't seem to matter much. but now i realize my mistake and i want to get my life together. I'm just really worried cause on all the threads about reinstatement here , everyone had atleast a 2-3 GPA and i have a 0.2. What do you make of my chances?

Then you probably have a much better chance. You do have to come up with a well written letter regardless, to show where you've been trying to start back up again.

Originally Posted by Kudos

Unless you have valid reasons for doing poorly, you will need to take a year off if you haven't already and prove you're capable of doing better.

A friend of mine was reinstated with a 0.6, so don't fret too much. Grow as a person, show them you've grown as a person, and you'll be okay

I did take the year off and got good marks in couple of online courses . I also do feel like a much more responsible and motivated person than before and i hope i could write a decent letter . your friend , besides doing well academically and having valid reason , did he/she did any other things as well like volunteering/community work/ field job ?

I'm really sorry everyone for asking so many questions. It's just that i'm really tense these days and i really really want to start eng this year. I also had a free choice and a president's scholarship in my first year and i do have the documents for them. do you guys think that including them with my letter would be better or would like as if i'm bragging?

Originally Posted by mc_kumar

What do you want? I know people usually just apply to both programs just to have a back-up in case one of them do not go through.

And NO ONE on macinsiders can tell you the # of engineering students that apply to first year engineering, talk to Sally Williams.

As long as you write a heartful letter, with documentation of some sort (Either medical/recommendations from work/school), you should be good.

A good letter should consist of

Paragraph 1 - Why you messed up (Medical problems/family problems here)?
Paragraph 2 - What you have done in the time away from McMaster?
Paragraph 3 - What are you going to do different this year (Throw in recommendations in here)

Do not waste McMaster's time with 5 letter pages.

Good Luck!

Eng , definitely. but at this time i'm so desperate to start school that even b.tech would do. I talked to her some time back and she said it's different each year . I understand it's hard to predict things like this but hey i couldn't stop myself from asking =) Thanks for the format . and yeah 5 pages would probably be just too much =D