Emily Said:

I love my husband, but feel like I will have a better more positive life for me and my son without him.?

We Answered:

Make the decision to stay with him or leave him based solely on how you feel about your relationship with him.
But the decision of whether or not your kid has him in their life shouldn't come from the fact that you two argue, but from the relationship he has with the child.
If he is a good father but a bad husband, then leave him but try not to take away from his relationship with your kid.
If he is a bad father, you need to take care of your kid's needs first.

I know many people whose parents stayed together for the sake of the children and they all had much more negative childhood's than mine, where my parents split but both featured in my upbringing.
Growing up in a house full of tension is bad for a child and does not teach them anything good about how to form their own relationships or develop as a person.
If you live in a tense household and constantly see mum and dad snapping at each other or treating each other badly, chances are you will feel like that is aimed at you, and will find it harder to develop as you should.
But that's not HIS fault as a father, that is the fault of both of you for 1. not working things out, 2. not judging when it can't be worked out and splitting for the good of everyone.

You're not going to get a medal for putting up with the guy- especially not from your kid when he gets older. He won't want to hear bad things about dad, even if dad is a piece of work.
It's your relationship with his father that is the problem- try to keep the father- son relationship alone if you can.

And- your depression is something you would do well to sort out on your own, by seeing a specialist. Fixing your problems will not stop your depression, and being a single parent will just bring out more problems to be depressed about.
Fix each problem separately. Try to work on your depression and talk to your husband. Your depression is something you need help with- but your husband is someone you chose, so if he is causing you pain and you can't cope, you can do something about that and break up with him.

Linda Said:

How does my Appeal letter stack up?

We Answered:

Your letter seems to be blaming them for not admitting you, and I do not think that's the best approach to the situation. Lines like this one: "Rejection whilst not having all of the information to make a fully informed a decision would be seemingly premature." What you've just said, there, is that they've made a short sighted decision. More than that, you're coming across as a bit cocky, implying that of course you should have been admitted.

They rejected you based on the information they had at the time. And unless you are 100% sure that they rejected you only because of the missing pre-reqs (i.e., they told you that was so), I'd leave out the line about, "There is no question that I have reached the GPA and credit requirements." Rather, say something like, "I have reached the GPA and credit requirements, with a (fill in the blanks, here) GPA of 3.XX and over 60 completed credits." Taking out the "There is no question that I have reached..." brings the tone down a notch. Less adversarial.

I'd like you to consider revising this letter - keep the core of it, but restyle it entirely. Take out some of the extremely formal language you've used, which makes you come across as a bit forceful. Write using natural, if somewhat formal English, keep it simple and to the point, include evidence to support your appeal, and focus on the purpose of the letter. Frame it based on the following:

The purpose of your letter - focus on this idea: to introduce new, updated information, which you hope will be influential in having them reconsider their decision. When you'd applied, you hadn't yet completed certain pre-reqs: Orgo and Freshman English. Now you have completed Orgo, with an A (attached transcript, and reference from the prof) and the English is in progress - with expected good grades, as evidenced by the *attached additional letter of reference from your English teacher*. In addition, based on your Orgo grade, your overall GPA has gone up, from a 3.XX to a 3.58.

U Maryland is your first choice school. It's a perfect fit for you, because X, Y, and Z. You hope they'll be willing to reconsider their decision, based on the additional information you've provided. You look forward to hearing from them.


In this way, you aren't blaming them - you're giving them additional information that they didn't have when they made their admission decision, hoping that they'll reconsider. It's a different approach. Same basic info, different approach.

Marcus Said:

Character Development?

We Answered:

I'm reading Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" right now; love the dialog.
For great dialog read "Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn" - by Mark Twain. At the beginning of the book there is a piece about dialect; don't miss that. One of the reasons a lot of kids hate reading this book is because of the dialog; Jim's dialog is what kids most object to, but for depth of character almost nothing in literature beats Jim's dialog.

Frank Said:

Regarding choice of career : Civil engineer in love with gaming and fitness?

We Answered:

woah that is a lot of text, i really cant be bothered, any other day i would be helpful