Dear Professor Fendrich:
I’m sorry to write this at such short notice, but I won’t be able to be in class for my presentation on Friday. A whole lot has come up that’s really, really important that has to do with my whole college academic record. I can’t go into details here, since it would take a really long e-mail, but I just got a call from my adviser that I have to spend most of the next two days sorting out my academic record or I may not be able to graduate at all, let alone finish this semester.
I know this looks sort of bad because my performance in your course has been sort of up and down since I first started with you. Actually, I thought I was doing really well until the past few days, when I started to not do so well — all because I was distressed by the notice that my record was all in a jumble. That caused me to really slip badly in my performance in class.
Now I know that you’re probably thinking that I’m asking for more time before giving the presentation because I just don’t want to give my presentation, or whatever. But that’s not the case at all. As you well know, from how honorable a student I’ve been since you’ve known me, I would never ever ask to postpone my presentation for any reason other than very, very pressing matters.
I know missing the presentation is a big deal to you, since you said at the beginning of the course that it would be a chance for you to really see if we had internalized the material. But please take into consideration that overall I am a really good student and not the type to just blow off giving my presentation because I’m not prepared.
See you next class!
John
