I got suspended

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I am (was?) an international student at University of Minnesota. Fall 2009 was the semester I was put under academic probation, as I stupidly, purposely failed a physics course the previous Spring semester though I knew I could pass it. Spring 2009 was also my first semester in the U, first semester living away from home: balmy Malaysia, first freezing Minnesotan winter.

I had an awesome Fall 2009; lost my laptop when my house was broken into and caught H1N1 flu a few weeks later. Everything was going great before these stuff happened. In the end, I shut down completely and failed two courses, btw whose textbooks was in digital form and what I needed the laptop for. The last few weeks was a nightmare. I was really hard on myself trying to catch up, and felt dead inside when I begin to realize there is no way I could. I should have contacted my instructors and advisers on what to do, but I panicked and kept all my problems to myself. Note that at this time, I have not even heard of Asperger's syndrome

Told the school about the stolen laptop and flu in my appeal, got rejected. So in a desperate bid, here's what happened:

I've read the whole thing, and I'm sorry, but I really don't know what you can do. So this reply might seem pretty useless, but I just thought I'd let you know someone's read it and really feels for you. I hope something works out and your luck improves in the future.

Sadly, you are in a classic Catch-22.

To prove you have AS and get reconsidered, you need to be reconsidered for admission...which requires that you prove you have AS.

Poop happens.

I've had setbacks and failures in life never knowing about AS, but I now see how AS had a heavy role in why I failed to reach my goals.

You can try appealing to someone higher than the person who's making the call, but again, since anyone could claim to have a disability to get another chance, the school is within its right to want proof to believe your claim. Your academic adviser is not the top of the food chain. The dean of students and/or the dean of academics is the top of the food chain. Appeal directly to them.

Yes, that your laptop was stolen and you were out sick should be factors to consider, but my experience with schools is that they don't really care about things they guarantee in their own in-house policies if the student doesn't meticulously pursue their rights under the policy.

Get your diagnosis in your home country (which almost certainly has better health insurance than here) and then come back in a year. The break will also be good to help you get away from this situation and re-assess things.

Why would you purposely fail a class?...

Hi Eokboy. Greetings from me, across the Causeway and the Pacific Ocean.

When I read the posts above initially, I was in a state of shock. My mother is also a Malaysian and when she sees that a fellow Malaysian is studying in cold Minnesota, all she said was, 'how on Earth did you manage to go overseas to study'? Gasp! Then I asked Mom, 'how come'?

Mom later explained, 'I thought his autism is apparent? Surely his parents would have noticed him distancing himself with others.'

As I was also planning to study in a Midwest university (because I thought it has a program that is interesting for me to pursue in the next four years), initially this post was discouraging to me because:

(1) I heard from some people that colleges like Minnesota have resources to cater to the needs of students with special needs, particularly autism/Asperger's Syndrome. It baffles me why Minnesota would diagnose you as having ASD and yet has no 'follow-up' actions after this. Shouldn't there be more emotional help or something like that that really backs up the claim some people make on 'schools with resources for ASDs'?

(2) Just wondering, do you think you can do better in universities nearer to home, like Singapore or Australia? I think you didn't do quite badly, you should have a high SAT score to get into Minnesota... Did you ever think of going to other good universities with good academic programs, like the University of Western Australia, Nanyang Technological University or the University of Queensland?

(3) I see that you are still hopeful of having an American education, despite what had happened. So any advice for Aspie Asian students who will want to study in America?

Thank you.

A Canadian Education is just as good, and in some cases, better. There is also countries like Australia, the UK, New Zealand, etc.