Hi Folks,

I have began writing my supporting letter for reinstatement. I have lot of ideas going in my head and I had one question in my mind: I know so well that I am so focused and motivated individual who can get things done. And I can explain why. However, I do not have ‘supporting documentation’ that will support the claim and the explanation will lose some credibility. What do I do about that? (I had terrific mark first year at college and it came from strong responsibility and strong desire to 'better myself'. should i tell them transcript speaks for me?) please give me some advices and suggestions. Thank you very much

Ya, I think just showing your much better grades and explaining why you're now 2legit2quit should be good enough.

Rejected to Toronto, Guelph and Waterloo today. And I don't feel result will be any different for b.tech at mac. What do u think?

Toronto and Waterloo are waaay up there and reject even really good students a lot of the time. Guelph sucks, so it's good you didn't get in there .

I think that if B-Tech is willing to accept all the engineering kids who screwed up, they're probably willing to take anyone who has clearly gotten back on track.

Don't lose hope yet! lol

Thanks very much for the support

so here is thing...

I had talk with Dr.Sauer (chairman of biotechnology at McMaster). I told her about my academic circumstance. (I had 85gpa at Mohawk 1st year biotechnology technician, volunteer hour and that I am more mature and responsible student who attends all the classes and actively engages in lecture and stuff) and then she asked me about online courses I took. And then I kind of overexaggerated about my performance there. I kind of lied. (although I am going to hand in real and sealed transcript) Reason I lied was that I was afraid. I had talk with academic advisor in the summers and summers ago and I felt conversation died with little chat about my online university transcript. I was afraid. I wanted to do something to continue what was seemingly optimistic conversation. I was thinking about something to do and 'overexaggerating' was only thing I could come up with in such a short period of time... I am sorry. I want to go apologize. I want to really make things right.. without making her feel offended. I want to go and explain to her so she knows where I am coming from.. I want someone to please tell me the strategies.... Thank you

Originally Posted by gongshow

so here is thing...

I had talk with Dr.Sauer (chairman of biotechnology at McMaster). I told her about my academic circumstance. (I had 85gpa at Mohawk 1st year biotechnology technician, volunteer hour and that I am more mature and responsible student who attends all the classes and actively engages in lecture and stuff) and then she asked me about online courses I took. And then I kind of overexaggerated about my performance there. I kind of lied. (although I am going to hand in real and sealed transcript) Reason I lied was that I was afraid. I had talk with academic advisor in the summers and summers ago and I felt conversation died with little chat about my online university transcript. I was afraid. I wanted to do something to continue what was seemingly optimistic conversation. I was thinking about something to do and 'overexaggerating' was only thing I could come up with in such a short period of time... I am sorry. I want to go apologize. I want to really make things right.. without making her feel offended. I want to go and explain to her so she knows where I am coming from.. I want someone to please tell me the strategies.... Thank you

Well, I think it would be good to go and talk to her again. If you don't then once she sees the transcript she'll be like WTF. Next time you don't have to lie. Did you take online courses before going to Mohawk? You could have just said you got low marks but you've manage to sort everything out, manage your time, take school more seriously and the following year at Mohawk you did ridiculously better.

Hi,

If anyone reading this had a difficult times at engineering 1st year for academic session 2008-2009 and was reinstated to B.tech for 2009-2010 please send me a private message please. I want to ask you all some questions. Thank you.

You NEED to go back to talk to that person.... whether its in person or via phone.

When they see you exaggerated a great deal it might give them a negative view on the type of person you are.

Originally Posted by gongshow

And then I kind of overexaggerated about my performance there. I kind of lied. (although I am going to hand in real and sealed transcript) Reason I lied was that I was afraid.

Aw, you shouldn't have lied. I think it would have sounded better personally if you had said "Well, I did poorly in my online courses because I wasn't applying myself back then, but as you can see from my most recent grades, I've fixed things".

I think it would be a really good idea to go back, tell the truth and apologize 1,000,000 times :p.

Also, there's nothing to be afraid of. You have to realize that there are drop out engineering kids coming in there all the time saying "uhh, ya I'm only here cause I partied my way through first year", and still get in.

this is part 'realization' of my reinstatement application letter. Any comments will be appreciated.

I did not want to screw up again and reflecting on few years out of school made me become determined person. I decided not to ask myself too much of things to do at short period of time. Taking few things at a time. Instead I told myself to attend all the classes, review 30 minutes for every lecture hour and actively be involved in lecture (ask questions to professors in and out of the class, focusing and forming study group as needed) and it paid off. I had 85.5 GPA in the first term. I reflected on the first semester.
- I thought about what I did that worked. (printing lecture slide professors have posted online before lecture and writing additional concepts myself during lecture or off the textbook at home as needed)
- I thought about what was least effective and should be discarded/improved. (reading textbook word for word was not effective and I realized that using textbook only for a reference was ideal. Although I think that studying in university will require more readings than just for a reference but to also deeply grasp the concepts. Still not reading word-to-word.)
- How can I quickly and effectively read lab manual to get ready for the laboratory exercise? (highlighting key words on each step, looking up online source to see similar laboratory exercise that may be more accessible for college/university students to better understand the context and concepts)
- How can I take better advantage of time? (vocabulary exercise on the bus ride to school/home)
-

Okay. I wanted this to be secret because I didn't want to look like quitter and may look bad on myself. I was taking 4 courses until I was gonna apply for reinstatement for 2009/2010. But I found out that spring when i called them and they told me they had terrific response to the offer and they weren't reinstating anyone for life science. (i wasnt aware of biotech back then and even if i knew about it they weren't reinstating anyone because it was brand new program) I was so enraged and destroyed. I just couldnt get myself to get motivated. and I didnt take final exam and failed all. I declared end to pursuit of reinstatement and was stranded. but then I decided to never let life get best of me and put myself together to go back. So I chose Mohawk. I felt wronged. During year at Mohawk I always reminded myself of this hard time to get me motivated and I succeeded. I will tell chairman and advisor despite the risk of them thinkin i have given up one point. Suggestion?

Watch your wording. I stopped reading because in the first line it said "I did not want to screw up again..." Whoever reads this, reading such informal language, may throw it out. No offence or anything, I just think that at University, more sophisticated language is required.

Well I think everybody gives up at one point. I don't have that much experience with B. tech or this situation but here's an example to explain how I see it:

Would you hire the engineer who went to the best high school and only got 85s throughout his university career?
Or would you hire the engineer who got 70's in high school and 95's in university?

To put it in a more "mathy/physics" sense: Displacement (or delta x) is more significant than position or x. You've shown your transition from difficult circumstances and proved yourself.

The most important thing is to be honest. I understand it's difficult with so much on the line because you're worried about making the best impression but being honest and straightforward is always one of the best ways to start making one.

Originally Posted by goodnews.inc

Well I think everybody gives up at one point. I don't have that much experience with B. tech or this situation but here's an example to explain how I see it:

Would you hire the engineer who went to the best high school and only got 85s throughout his university career?
Or would you hire the engineer who got 70's in high school and 95's in university?

To put it in a more "mathy/physics" sense: Displacement (or delta x) is more significant than position or x. You've shown your transition from difficult circumstances and proved yourself.

The most important thing is to be honest. I understand it's difficult with so much on the line because you're worried about making the best impression but being honest and straightforward is always one of the best ways to start making one.

Grades do not equal ability. HUGE mistake. And don't give some general correlation b/w grades and intelligence BS. I would hire the engineer who could do something. Screw grades. What the employer wants is someone who can show they have the skills necessary to profit from. Actually, scratch that, I would hire the college kid who can do the same thing, but much cheaper.