Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

I would like to appeal for a credit standing grade in CHEM 112 and a late drop in MATH 121 from the fall 2014 - winter 2015 academic year. The extenuating circumstances that caused my low grades in these subjects was a Major Seasonal Affective Disorder that severely hampered my academic performance from the beginning of December up until the end of April.

After struggling each winter for several years, I was diagnosed last year with the disorder, and in my appeal last year I described several steps I would take this year to mitigate the depression's effect on my academic performance in the winter. These steps included going to see a psychiatrist and using chromatherapy to fight the depression. I went to see a psychiatrist in early October and began using chromatherapy as directed by my psychiatrist at that time. However, as winter came on it became less and less effective in staving off my seasonal depression. By February, it was already completely ineffective, so my psychiatrist (a second one, the original psychiatrist was no longer working at that location) and I decided it would be more productive to use a prescription drug (Celexa, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor). I started to use Celexa, but due to the drug's delayed onset effectiveness (usually taking around 4 weeks to reach full effectiveness), it was only in March that the drug reached its full effect. As is fairly common with SSRIs, it is not effective on everyone. I was one of the people that did not respond well to this drug. By the point when it was clear that the drug was not working for me, however, it was already past the deadline to drop courses without academic penalty, and too late to effectively switch drugs for the remainder of the semester. The steps I had planned and taken were not effective in mitigating the effects of my seasonal depression on my studies this year.

The progression of my marks throughout the year demonstrate this deterioration on my mental health as winter arrived. In MATH 121, my in-class test average for the fall term was 73.0, while my in-class test average for the winter term was only 8.3. In CHEM 112, my overall grade in the course after the fall term was B-; after the winter term it had dropped to D-.

For the next academic year, I plan to try a new combination of drugs suggested by my psychiatrist, and to begin drug treatment in late October rather than once the winter has already begun and I am already affected. I am hopeful that this approach will allow me to deal with my seasonal depression and prevent it from affecting my performance in the next academic year.

Sincerely,
Alex Kecskemeti