Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

My name is Ella Wang (student ID: 20133388), and I am writing to petition to drop my French course, FREN 118, for the Winter 2023 semester.

I am requesting this petition due to my mental health condition, which has significantly affected my ability to keep up with the course's academic demands. Recently, I emailed my professor and asked if I could pass the course if I started studying now. Unfortunately, I received a response that I would fail the course with 100% certainty. I do not wish to let this situation affect my GPA, and if it does, it will worsen my emotional state, potentially leading me to do something that I can hardly imagine.

My depression directly affects my academic performance. I feel stuck at home, and every day, I feel frustrated and hopeless, with no motivation or ability to study. I have been searching for something that can make me happy and not feel so anxious and sad all the time. I want to do something that will make me feel less guilty and stop harming myself. I have been trying to do relatively simple tasks to give myself a sense of accomplishment and stop belittling myself. At the beginning of the semester, I fell behind in this course, and when I opened OnQ later to catch up, I saw a mountain of learning tasks and missed out on many things. It made me feel extremely hopeless and sad, feeling like I had no chance to become normal again. My sleep schedule is chaotic, and I sleep in the early hours of the morning and wake up in the afternoon, eating very little food, and feeling like my brain is slow. My reading and typing speeds are slow, and I have little energy every day, making me feel tired easily. Perhaps after reading three lines of text, my mind is already too tired for me to do anything. These emotions are like a mountain weighing on me, making it impossible for me to function properly. I am always sleepy and have many dreams. While others can function after eight hours of sleep, I need to sleep for 14 hours to feel refreshed.

This mental health condition has been prevalent for a long time, dating back to 2019/2020 when I failed many computer science courses, which made me doubt my abilities deeply. At that time, COVID-19 was raging, and I was unable to attend remote classes due to a lack of conditions, causing me to gap a year. I thought I could adjust my mental state during this time, but it did not happen. My trauma originates from childhood, and it has always been lurking inside me. Childhood's severe mental problems were unresolved, and it rebounded even more severely when I grew up, continuing until now.

I have taken some measures to cope with this condition. I first saw a psychiatrist in August 2022 in China, and the doctor diagnosed me with severe depression and severe anxiety, suggesting that I take a bipolar disorder test. Unfortunately, I had to return to school, and I didn't have time to do those tests. I sought counseling from a counselor at the Student Wellness Center last semester (Fall 2022), but the counseling effect was not ideal, and my emotional state did not improve. In fact, it worsened to some extent, so I did not seek counseling this semester. I sought help from a counselor who speaks my native language in China. With the counselor's assistance, I was able to adjust my emotions enough to write this petition letter. I hope that by doing so, I can minimize any serious consequences for my future.

The reason why I am petitioning to drop this course is that my professor informed me that no matter how hard I try, I will inevitably fail this course. However, I have consulted with other professors from my other courses, and they have assured me that I still have a chance to pass their courses.

I did not drop this course earlier because my emotional state was so severe that I was unable to handle any information related to dropping the course.

I would like to ask for your understanding and support in granting my petition to drop the French course for the Winter 2023 semester. I hope to recover from my mental health condition and eventually continue my studies without hindrance.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Ella Wang.