Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: I am writing to request a late drop for my POLS 262 course. Due to a number of personal circumstances beyond my control, I have found myself in a difficult position with my academic progress.

Over the past year, I have been struggling with depression and anxiety, and this term was made even more challenging by the unexpected death of a family member and physical illness. These issues have significantly impacted my health and made it almost impossible for me to keep up with my studies.

As a result, I am now facing the possibility of failing POLS 262, which would have a significant negative impact on my GPA. This could put me in jeopardy of not graduating, as I need a minimum GPA of 1.6 to qualify for graduation. To prevent this outcome, I have decided that the best course of action is to drop this course.

My professor supports this decision and agrees that it would be wise for me to drop the course given the circumstances. However, the Associate Dean has denied my petition citing that my reported circumstances and care began before the drop deadline and there are no circumstances presented or
documented, which prevented me from dropping that course by the drop deadline. My reported circumstances began around the time of the drop deadline and worsened beyond that date. Under my circumstances I was not mentally or physically healthy enough to function and access my computer to manage my courses let alone keep my academic success in mind and drop my course before the deadline. It is why I am appealing for a late drop and currently working hard to pass the courses I still can. I believe this petition process exists precisely for this reason; to provide students who were not able to drop a course before the deadline, an avenue to still drop a course that they would have and perhaps should have dropped before the deadline had they been physically and mentally capable of doing so. My circumstances prevented me from completing basic human functions such as eating so to assume that I was in a position to effectively manage my academics and drop my course before the deadline is ridiculous. I do not appreciate my situation being underestimated. Perhaps I should have provided more detail, but my circumstances very much did affect my ability to drop my course.

I hope you will understand my situation and provide me with the support I need to successfully complete my degree at Queen's University. Thank you for considering my request.

Sincerely,

Thomas Santos