Dismissal Appeal Letter
Hey Y'all,
I was recently dismissed from my program after first semester failing my anatomy course by 2 percent. I have to appeal based entirely on policy and nothing personal according to my dean. She said the only thing she can do is investigate if policy was followed unfortunately. I am pasting a copy of my appeal letter below, if anyone is able to help with this I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you
I am writing to formally appeal my dismissal from the >>> Physician Assistant Program following my performance in Human Anatomy. I take full responsibility for my academic performance and recognize that I did not meet program standards.
This appeal is based on whether the remediation process was implemented in accordance with the course policy and whether that impacted my ability to correct deficiencies prior to subsequent assessments. The student grievance policy permits appeals involving “failure to abide by requirements described in the course syllabus,” and this appeal is based on concern regarding implementation of the remediation procedures outlined in the course policy.
The remediation policy states that students will be provided “a remediation assignment and a scheduled time to meet… within one week of the initial assessment.” After Exam 1, I initiated contact within 24 hours of grade release. However, the first communication and remediation meeting did not occur until >>>, 13 days after the exam and outside of the stated timeframe.
The purpose of this timeline is to allow students to identify deficiencies and adjust their approach prior to subsequent assessments. Because this did not occur within the defined period, I did not receive timely feedback identifying my primary issue—cadaver-based structure identification—before Exam 2. As a result, I entered the second examination without having corrected the specific issue affecting my performance.
The TA-led session that ultimately provided this guidance occurred on >>>>, more than one month after Exam 1 and only a few days before the next exam. There was no additional lab time after this session to reinforce or demonstrate sustained improvement. As a result, I was not given a meaningful opportunity within the course structure to apply corrected strategies prior to subsequent assessments. This limited the intended educational purpose of remediation, which is to allow students to identify and correct deficiencies prior to subsequent evaluations.
After receiving this targeted instruction, I adjusted my approach to cadaver-based lab work and demonstrated improvement, including a score of 33 out of 40 on the final examination. This reflects that once the correct method was in place, I was able to make progress. However, this occurred late in the course, limiting my ability to apply and reinforce these strategies before earlier assessments.
The policy further states that “students will be remediated until the outcome… is deemed to be successful.” After receiving targeted instruction, I demonstrated improvement in my lab performance. However, because this intervention occurred late in the course sequence and without additional lab opportunity afterward, I was not provided sufficient opportunity to continue the remediation process to sustained competency prior to dismissal.
My difficulty was not a lack of ability to learn anatomy, but a specific gap in cadaver-based application. Once I was shown how to approach this correctly, I was able to improve.
Given this, I respectfully ask the Committee to consider whether the outcome reflects a fair opportunity to correct a remediable deficiency. I also respectfully ask the Committee to consider whether alternative academic actions, such as deceleration, may be appropriate given the correctable nature of the deficiency and the improvement demonstrated once targeted guidance was provided.
If given the opportunity, I am willing to demonstrate my current level of anatomical knowledge and lab-based identification skills through any assessment the Committee deems appropriate.
Thank you for your time and consideration.