I am being asked for a letter of good standing from a school I was academically dismissed in order for an application decision to be made. Help?

[greenminded]

Reapplying to law school after a two year period of work.  I have saved money to return, worked extensively in agricultural law, serving the interests of small farmers against large corporations enacting unethical business practices.  I want to become a bar-licensed attorney and have the ability to take on cases for farmers without having to shuffle back and forth between attorneys, particularly when I know how they operate and know that I can do a better job.  I am completely career focused and I have made defending small farmer's rights my life after becoming aware of unethical wrongs being pursued against them and a blatant amount of apathy within the legal system towards their rights.

 

I was in law school in 2011 - 2012 in a part-time program.  I wasn't happy.  I didn't know what I was doing there.  I fell into depression.  My grades suffered as a result of the depression and not knowing why I was in law school.  The hypotheticals and information being lectured meant nothing to me without context.  I did not feel like I was standing on my own two feet.  I'm not exactly the type to follow rules or patterns mindlessly without knowing why.  I need to think critically or view information intellectually.  I am looking back now and know that I failed because depression obscured my focus.  The knowledge was easy to grasp and I had a 4.0 in my first semester, however I lost all clarity and focus in the second semester with my confidence wavering because I lost my emotional connection to the material.  I came into the testing rooms confident that I had the knowledge to do well on the exams, however I got distracted, started looking at other people in the room, and forgot the reason I was taking the exams.  This left me in a nervous wreck during the exams.  I was the same way during classes.  I started looking at hornbooks which are like cheat sheets and the information that past students wrote down for classes, rather than my own knowledge.  This left me over-caffeinated, sometimes hitting the bar after class to take the "edge off," overweight, and lacking sleep.  I was told the first week into the second semester by academic advising that it would be a smart choice to withdraw, not have any academic penalty, and then apply again to law school next year and start over, but I pushed on despite my unhealthy and depressed state.  I saw several psychiatrists after academic dismissal from law school.  I was placed on medication briefly, but found that it just made me tired and I was found that the root of the problem was motivation and having a deeper meaning to life and what I was doing in the bigger picture.  I am no longer depressed and I know what I need to be doing.  I can provide documentation during the period after law school to show that I was depressed and did the right thing by seeing several psychiatrists.  Depression isn't a permanent condition and it was only temporary.  

 

I am completely on track right now.  I work 55 hours per week, not because I have to, but because I love my job and I love what I do.  My boss knows that I want to go to law school and is happy for me and excited.  I would help my boss find a good replacement.  I went back to school to get a paralegal certificate to do my job better and also obtained continuing education credit hours in specialized area of law.  I learned Spanish from scratch so I could communicate better with clients.  I volunteer all around the community and I've spent time reading the great works of classics.  I'm intellectually curious and every ounce of my soul yearns to go to law school and become a GREAT environmental attorney.

 

However, I was confronted with the following email from the law school to which I applied:

 

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Thank you for your application to Vermont Law School. As you may have seen, we have begun our preliminary review of your materials and just wanted to follow up on some things.

 

We appreciate that you included an addendum discussing your time at [Other Law School] and your reasons for withdrawing from this program. However, because you were a matriculated student, we require a letter of good standing from [Other Law School]. In addition, if you completed any credits there, we need them to send an official transcript as well. Collection of these materials is part of our admissions policy, even when extenuating circumstances have caused a student to withdraw from another law school.

 

Once we have these materials, I will make sure your application is prioritized so that we can get you a decision as soon as possible. In the meantime, we appreciate your cooperation on this small matter. Please feel free to contact me if you have additional questions.

 

Best,

 

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[Name of other law school has been altered.]

 

I am completely baffled about how to respond to this email.  I understand that schools are competitive, bar passage rates are important, and reducing failure rates are important for law schools.  I had to admit in my application that I lost motivation in law school and entered a depressed state, the reason for why I did not perform well, and addressed the academic failure in an addendum.  I explained how those factors are now non-existent.

 

I understand that the school is looking at me strictly from a documentation perspective.  The other law school defines academic dismissal as not being in good standing and therefore, I cannot provide the school with a letter of good standing.  I applied as a new student, rather than a transfer student, which was stated on my application.

 

I need to contact the law school early in the week.  Orientation is on August 18th.  My file is on hold.

[TakeruK]

My advice would be to first contact the first law school and see if you can still get a letter of good standing. If not, contact your new school and explain why you cannot get a letter of good standing and ask for an exception. 

 

It makes sense that the new school wants a letter of good standing from students who have started other law programs. So it's understandable that most schools are hesitant to get someone who was "academically dismissed" so hopefully you can get this letter or make an appeal to the new school. I would say that in most cases, for post-graduate programs, you normally only get one chance unless you make appeal for an exception! I think the appeal might work since you said you explained the details already in your application. But perhaps the people who evaluated your application and the people who are checking for documentation are different!