Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies),

My name is Yin Chu Chen, from Vancouver B.C, and I am appealing to drop the following course late: ECON 223 (Winter 2015)

In the beginning of 2013 my family informed me that our family business is not succeeding and I may have to withdraw from Queen's University due to financial trouble. It is hard for my family and I to afford my studies at Queen's University because as the first generation in Canada, and also being from Vancouver, not only do I have to pay for tuition, I also have to pay for flights, living expenses and rent. However, Queen's University has been the dream University I've always wanted to attend and graduate from, therefore I decided to pick up jobs during the school year, as well as working 45-60 hours a week during the summer to pay for my tuition. I thought to myself, the only way I could still get my diploma at Queen's University while minimizing the financial stress on my family would be to take 6 courses during the semester so I can graduate early and pick up a job to take the financial stress off my family. As an honours student throughout high school, the financial stress that has been put on me has highly affect my academics. I struggled to focus on my studies due to my personal financial stress while struggling to seek help due to my embarrassment of how poorly I am doing both academically and financially compare to many students at Queen's University. I considered seeing a counsellor at the end of second year, however, I was not comfortable with how poorly I was performing or discussing my family's financial troubles.

The summer of 2014 I worked 54-60 hours a week and was able to save enough money along with financial aid to come back to Queen's University for only one more year. I decided to take 6 courses during the year that way I would be able to take the remaining 3 courses in Vancouver through distance studies thus minimizing the cost of my studies. I started working during the year in order to pay for my living expenses and rent by working up to 30 hours a week. I understand as a student, is it my responsibility to balance out academic and extra curricular activity. However, without the hours I have worked, I would not have been able to afford my studies at Queen's University. I understand that 6 courses was a heavy workload to take throughout the year, however, it was the only way I could financially afford my studies at Queen's University.

The winter semester of 2015, the financial stress and academic stress caught up to me and I struggled to keep up with all the courses I had. However, because of the financial burden, I thought if I was to push hard I would be able to prevent failures with my courses. My academic performance decreased as the year proceeded as my financial stress increased because my savings was decreasing. I picked up extra midnight shifts working 12am-8am two times a week while trying my best to keep up with my courses. I performed fairly well in the rest of my courses and I even performed fairly in this course as well during the year. During examination time I was not only stressed with studying, but I was stressed from moving out my house to move back to Vancouver. Throughout winter semester 2015 the financial stress has had a big impact on me mentally. I was having a difficult time concentrating on academics without stressing over the amount of savings I have remaining to continue my studies. Econ 223 being the last exam I had prior to my flight back to Vancouver, while only having less than 150 dollars in my savings for living expenses for 2 weeks I thought I was capable for studying for the final while picking up extra hours in order to be able to afford my last two weeks at Queen's University. I studied extremely hard for my exam, and went into the exam with more than a passing grade. I promise my poor examination does not reflect my ability as a student, however I need a chance to redeem myself and graduate from my dream school.

I am now back in Vancouver and without the financial stress on living expenses and rent I am going to concentrate the whole summer semester purely on academics. I am doing much better mentally by having my parents as my support system and I will also be seeking professional help regarding my finances and how it mentally impacted me to insure it will not affect my studies in this upcoming summer semester. I regret not taking advantage of all the support and resources at Queen's University and I will now make sure to take certain repercussions such as dropping a course if I feel that the academic workload is too heavy in the summer semester. I love Queen's University so much, and it would mean so much to me if I were able to graduate with a Queen's degree. I can assure you, my low GPA does not indicate that I am a bad student; I simply had a rough year. And I urge you to please give me a chance and accept my appeal so I can finish my studies at Queen's University this summer. Thank you for considering this appeal, and I would greatly appreciate the honour and opportunity to continue to reach for my dreams and graduate at Queen's University this summer.

Sincerely,
Yin Chu Chen