Notice Of Rejection

Finally received the University of Helsinki’s decision in regard to my letter of appeal. I guess you can tell from the title what the decision was… I’ve copied a few key parts of the most recent rejection letter (third one from the Faculty of Social Sciences, second this summer…) below, make what you will of it:

The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences has processed your application to rectify the points given to you in the entrance examination of International Students… The Dean decided, on the grounds of the re-evaluation, that the grading is correct and will not be altered. Thus the appeal is groundless…

Groundless? That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?

…The appellant does not give any specified comments on particular answers, but expresses his discontent with the way the process of rectification appeals for non-Finnish speaking students were organized, with the information available for such students and with the grounds of evaluation…

Yeah, I realize now where I went wrong. Then again, as I mentioned in the appeal letter, the grounds of evaluation were somewhat useless in comparing to my answers.

…In addition to the request of re-evaluating of the examination answers, the appellant claims that the foreign students were treated unequally concerning the availability of information on admissions and rectification procedures. Detailed information on admissions is available on the website of the Faculty, whereas information on rectification procedures was available in the notice of rejection, and the grounds of evaluation were available in print. Therefore, sufficient information has been available to all applicants during admission and rectification procedures.

Yeah, still can’t find squat on the Faculty website… The first notice of rejection I received only stated that I can come view my answers and compare them to the grounds of evaluation, which, incidently, were NOT available in print. I was told to print them from the website, where they are not present. A big thank you to the office staff for providing me with a printed copy, even after I was repeatedly told by them that it can be found online.

Having scrutinized the appeal and the answers, the Dean concludes that the original grading is in line with the overall grading of the examination and other examinees. Therefore the original grading is not altered.

If you’ve read my letter of appeal already, you’ll notice where I went wrong in the appealing process. If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here. Be sure to read the comments for that post as well, especially Sofia’s.

What was interesting about this notice of rejection was that I can still appeal further, as you can read below:

An applicant who is not satisfied with the decision taken can take the matter further to the Helsinki Administrative Court…

Yeah, don’t think I’ll pursue this any longer. Not looking to show up in court, pay 82euros in appeals court fees, and drag this out any longer. I can swallow defeat.

Now it’s time to start looking forward to next year and begin to look at ALL the alternatives out there in the fields of International Relations and Political Science. Alternatively, I’m starting to get more and more interested in pursuing an educational career in Journalism… Perhaps all of the above, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves… =)

As a final thought I’ll mention this little tidbit of assistance: if you are looking online for any assistance on how to write a letter appeal to a university in regard to appealing about your entrance examination, there isn’t much available. Truth be told, everything I found told me NOT to appeal, because it won’t work. Don’t listen to that kind of recommendations.
It’s evident that my appeal letter was too unorthodox and didn’t focus on unfair grading, as it should have. That’s why it was rejected and my grading remained the same. Atleast I appealed about my exam. It might have worked. You never know unless you try.

So, if you have found this post or my letter of appeal when looking for any hints or tips on how to write an effective letter of appeal for university, don’t copy what I wrote. It’ll get you nowhere. Instead, read both posts through carefully, learn from my mistakes, focus on finding your own mistakes and any inconsistencies in grading. Good luck!

Letter Of Appeal To The University of Helsinki

Letter of Appeal

To Whom It May Concern:

I took part in the entrance examination this year for Political History (Group 3), receiving a mere 2 points below the required amount. Naturally, I had no choice but to appeal for rectification, having devoted a substantial amount of time on my behalf preparing for the entrance examination in question.

Having spent a week comparing the written entrance examination, the study materials and the leaflet containing the grounds of evaluation, I was, in lack of a better term, shocked at the arduous task I had in front of me.

Furthermore, it quickly became evident that I was in an unequal situation having opted to tackle the examination in english, as opposed to finnish.

Understandably, taking the examination in finnish was not an option, in regard to having spent the majority of my educational life studying in english, in Finland and abroad. Nevertheless, upon further examination, it came to my attention that literally any form of assistance in the rectification process for the examination I took was simply not there.

The faculty website, in finnish, was very informative and a good resource, for the Finnish students. The english version of the pages shone in its complete lack of information of any sort. To complicate matters in regard to this appeal, when I came to the faculty building to look at my examination and the grounds of evaluation, I was told that the said grounds of evaluation were available online for me to print. Had it not been for the helpful personnel present, who after a slight misunderstanding on everyone’s behalf, were kind enough to give me a printed copy of the grounds of evaluation, I would have been very lost on the matter. Nowhere on the website could I find the file I would have needed to print. I did find the grounds of evaluation for the finnish entrance examination, which really would not have been of any help, it being a completely different examination.

Am I to assume, from this unequal treatment of english-speaking applicants, that we are not welcome to appeal? As I mentioned earlier, seemingly painstaking steps have been taken to make this process as difficult as possible for us. It truly troubles me to think that had I not being residing in Finland, appealing for rectification would have been impossible.

Which brings us to the actual rectification appeal itself. The leaflet containing the grounds of evaluation was not a very helpful guide in terms of demonstrating exactly how I had been graded in the entrance examination. As the entrance examination I had written, answering the six essay questions asked, only had a single number written on it to indicate my received number of points for that particular question, it was an arduous, nay, an overwhelming task to decipher precisely where I received my points and where I lost the rest.

My only option, were I to use the grounds of evaluation in assessing my own examination, was to compare each and every sentence in the two. Regardless of doing this, several times, I was still left hopelessly lost on the grading and assessment procedure. I do admit that I understandably may have lost points on a certain lack of detail, mainly referring to identifying key people and the exact use of terms as outlined in the study material. In my defence, this merely demonstrates the difference betwee studying independently as opposed to learning under the supervision of a well-educated teacher in class or in lectures. I believe I answered all the essay questions to the best of my understanding and I believe I may have been graded inappropriately. I beg you to take another look at my answers, and grant me another possibility in assessment, as doing so myself was an overwhelmingly difficult task.

As a closing thought, I urge you not only to grant my entrance examination a second, closer look, but also to realize the unequal treatment of foreign students in applying and appealing. As the University of Helsinki claims to be, and I’m quoting the university website here, “A Leading European University”, I am quite frankly appalled at how difficult it has been made for foreign students to be accepted into the university. Whereas the internet is one of the primary tools people use in today’s world, it is sheer negligence and unfair treatment how the english version of the university pages are grossly outdated and lacking any real information. This problem does not appear on the finnish pages.

I beg and urge you to take into consideration everything I have outlined here, in regard to my personal application and entrance examination, as well as in regard to every single current and prospective non-finnish speaking student.

Thank you,

Jani Helle

03 August 2007

[Edit 30.08.2007: To find out what happened, click here.]

$500 Fine To Miss Parent-Teacher Meeting

Texas State Legislature has introduced a bill that will fine parents $500 if they miss of choose not to attend a meeting with their child's teacher. I could leave it at that, but it's just so ridiculous that it needs clarification…

The bill was introduced by Republican Wayne Smith, stating that the law would help in creating better bonds between teachers and parents, which in turn would be beneficial for the kids. But threatening parents with a 500 dollar fine AND a criminal record? First California introduces a bill to ban the spanking of kids, now Texas wants to continue the Goverment trend of telling parents how to bring up their kids… I'd love to see what's next in line… A bill making parents accountable for their children's bad grades? Or forcing parents to attend their child's Little League game and cheer with genuine enthusiasm, or face time in jail?

Naturally, there are people contesting this bill, including teachers who see it as telling parents that the schools are out to get them, putting extra, unnecessary pressure on the parents. The law would also be difficult to enforce, suggesting that the bill would not pass. But, you never know anymore. We'll see what happens…

Source: http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/02/03/skip-a-parent-teacher-meeting-get-a-fine/