Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: May 12, 2015

Dear Associate Dean (Studies), Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I would like to request to drop the course, PHGY214, past the academic deadline as there were extenuating circumstances that prevented me from dropping the class by the published deadline. There were extenuating circumstances preventing me from achieving the mark I believe I'm capable of getting and I wish to retake the course during this school year to achieve the success in this course I know I can accomplish without being punished for circumstances that were beyond my control.

I just finished my second year here at Queen's University, and I'm currently working on my Bachelor of Science Honours degree. At the end of my first year I was diagnosed with clinical depression. I deferred my examinations for the Winter 2014 semester to complete them later, once my mental state had improved. It was a very difficult summer for me trying to come to terms with my mental illness. Despite being on medication, seeing a counselor, exercising and doing every other thing possible to help myself recover I found it extremely hard to study and focus on preparing for my exams. I managed to write one of my exams before Fall 2014 semester had started and I was supposed to complete the remaining two exams that September as well, however, I did not feel prepared to do so. I became overwhelmed with the amount of information I had to review and it became hard to concentrate on my readings and practicing for the examinations. I had new courses to focus on that made me feel like I didn't have the ability to do well on the exams I still had left to write. I thought that once I had my mind off the courses from first year I would be able to succeed in my second year courses. However, my depression affected the way I handled new semester coursework and responsibilities causing me to become stressed and frequently feeling like I had no chance in succeeding academically. My depression prevented me from giving my full potential and once again I lost my ability to concentrate no matter how hard I tried to study. By the time I realized how severe this major depressive episode was the deadline to drop the course had passed. The course I'm requesting to drop, PHGY214, is a full year course, however, regular stress and constant fear of not doing well prevented me from receiving good academic standing in the first Fall semester half of this course. I didn't drop the course after first semester in hopes to improve my grade during the Winter semester and although I did my absolute best, and significantly improved in the second half of the course, the damage to my grade had already been done. I'm feeling much better with regards to my mental health this semester and planning on reducing my workload for next year. I believe it'll help me succeed academically and personally reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed with the coursework. I wish to retake this course during this school year as I feel the mark Iget will be a more accurate representation of the grades I can actually achieve.

I believe that granting my request to hear the appeal will improve my academic standing and reduce the stress associated with it, thus helping my recovery from clinical depression. I ask of you to consider my appeal as there were extenuating circumstances beyond my control in form of a mental illness that debilitated my academic performance and have prevented me from taking any action from the time of the published deadline to the time at which the appeal was eventually initiated. I am humbled by all of the accommodations you have made for me in the past and I appreciate everything that has been done for me. Thank you for considering my appeal and it would be greatly appreciated if I could be granted my request.

Thank you,

Yekaterina Kaplya