Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: June 2, 2023

Dear Dr. Stephenson,

I am petitioning to drop without academic penalty courses: CISC 102 (Winter 2023), CISC 121 (Winter 2023), MATH 111 (Fall 2022-Winter 2023), and MATH 121 (Fall 2022-Winter 2023).

I have learning disabilities formally diagnosed in high school and suffer from mental health issues. Despite these challenges I was able to do well in high school with the right supports and was accepted into Queens Computing. This program was my first choice and I take pride in being able to be accepted. Despite the distance from home, I thought I could achieve similar success at Queens with the right support. We were able to arrange for academic accommodations and I was able to find a residence with Living Learning Community. With these supports in place I was hopeful that I could do well.

During the first two weeks of university, I attended lectures but realized that I had difficulties comprehending the material. At that point, I decided to try independent learning, which worked for me in high school. For three of my first semester courses, I had 60s to high 70s. I had difficulty with MATH 121, and MATH 111. When the deadline for dropping the course without academic penalty came around, I thought I could still do well in these courses. However, by the Christmas break, my marks in both courses were in the 50s. I discussed this with my parents, and they asked if I wanted to try to drop these courses. I was still hopeful that I could pull my mark up. During this time, I also began experiencing lower back pain related to my scoliosis. This made sitting for long periods unbearable.
However, once the winter semester started, I continued to struggle and did not find myself achieving high enough grades to pull my grades up to a passing grade. I was doing decently in my other 2 courses during the winter semester, CISC 121 and CISC 102, however, in February, the stress of failing my 2 math courses was overwhelming and worsened my anxiety. I had severely depressed mood and could not find a way to fix this. My anxiety and depression made it difficult for me to focus and complete my schoolwork in all my classes including, MATH 121, MATH 111, CISC 121, and CISC 102. I became overwhelmed as my anxiety levels became very high. I began to have severe palpitations which appears to be due to my anxiety. In late February, early March 2023 all of this culminated in me not leaving my room and not attending my final exams during the winter semester. This led to failing grades in all my classes.
During this time, I had not told my parents about how I was feeling and that I was not attending my classes. They had already tried to set up anxiety classes, therapist, as well as tutors to help me. We had a difficult time arranging a meeting with our academic advisor in the Faculty of Arts and Science. We were not aware of a dedicated academic advisor for Computing, and we reached out to them and were going to get some long awaited answers. I tried to utilize a tutor for the math courses, and I tried a therapist for a period, but unfortunately, I was just not in the right mind frame. When I told my parents my marks, they were upset but more concerned that I was going through this without telling them.
I realize now that my approach to university was inadequate, and I regret making the decisions that I made. I hope I can continue my education without the heavy burden of having 4 failing grades on my transcript. I plan to retake these courses, but with a different strategy. I am seeing a therapist now and will be set up with an academic coach. I plan to reduce my course load so I do not get overwhelmed. I realized that online learning works well for me so I will choose this format if possible. I plan to retake these courses in fall 2023 and winter 2023 semester and achieve a better grade to pull up my GPA. I know what I need to do to make a successful return to my studies. I will try to maximize the accommodations available to me which will help me in my courses. I will learn from the mistakes of this past year and I strive to continue the Queens Computing program without any more problems in the future. My goal is to be a successful and proud Queens University graduate.

Sincerely,
Evan Mao