Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello, I am looking to petition to waive the requirement to withdraw for a year due to a low GPA.

I have been struggling with mental health issues for many years now and this has greatly affected my productivity. Due to the effects of depression and anxiety I found it difficult to keep a proper schedule, and often felt overwhelmed by deadlines, which would cause me to internally shut down and lead my mental health to worsen.

I feel that the transition to online school during the pandemic caused me to have some issues as well, as the formatting avoided in-person interaction and made learning a lot harder for me, especially trying to balance my personal life and my job while also having to learn all of the readings for my classes on my own.

During this time I also found that the major I was hoping to study was clearly not a good fit for me, and I feel that I was focusing on the wrong types of classes that were a lot harder for me to learn well and succeed in. This lead to some extra problems for me as I was not as interested in the courses I was taking and found the learning curve to be difficult.

While I have shown terrible academic performance in the past, I can promise that I have grown as a person since then, and would like to continue my studies this year if I am allowed. While I still struggle with many mental health issues, I have been talking to a therapist provided by the school who has suggested I take medication to help with my depression, and he has provided me with many strategies to perform better in school and increase my productivity. In addition to this, I have rethought my academic plans and have chosen some courses that I believe I truly will succeed in and be dedicated to, while also not having as hard of a time learning the material.

I would really appreciate it if I could have the chance to try in-person courses again and work on improving my grades and getting a degree, as I feel I will do well this year if given the opportunity. I promise I will work my hardest to combat my mental health issues and avoid distractions such as working part-time to give my full focus to the school year. I will continue to talk to the counselors at each opportunity I get to ensure I am staying on-track and I will do a better job of communicating to my professors if I am struggling. Please give me your consideration, as I truly am a dedicated student that wants to improve.