Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Upon completing my bachelor’s degree at Queens University, I am writing this petition to prepare for the next chapter of my academic endeavours. Attending Queens University has been a crowning achievement as an immigrant and first-generation university student. I did not come from a familial background in academia, so getting accepted to this school meant a lot to me and my family. This also meant that I struggled to adjust to the demands of higher education and navigated much of my degree without any outside knowledge or support. Especially when facing the impacts of COVID-19 during my degree, I learned to improve my skills and grow as a student by learning as much as possible within the classes offered at Queens. As a new graduate, I can reflect on my time at Queens as instrumental in shaping who I am today, particularly the professors who aided my development. As a further step into my academic journey, I have decided to apply to law school in the coming year. I am reaching out regarding two courses I took at Queens to request CR status to prevent an impact on my GPA. I am asking for consideration after my degree due to my lack of knowledge and guidance I had regarding the appeal process despite asking academic advisors on campus. Throughout my degree, I struggled immensely to understand the academic standings, and resources online offered little clarity. I worked tirelessly in my last two years at Queens to bring up my GPA from my first year, and now that I am applying to law school, I would not want these two courses to impede my future.

During the Winter term of 2022, I took a course in Charter Politics to expand my knowledge and explore my interest in governance and law. I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Hulme’s use of case studies to engage with the impact legislation had on the government. However, one area I struggled tremendously with was the paper within the course on medical-assisted deaths. I experienced great difficulty writing the paper and grappling with the content of the assignment. Additionally, I feared that my lack of understanding was a blaring indication that I did not belong to a school of students more educated than me. This feeling of imposter syndrome left me powerless and unable to advocate for myself and seek help. That essay was one of the worst I had ever written in my academic career and drastically affected my grade within the course. During the time, I felt that there was nothing I could do during the peak of exams and decided to accept the grade and focus on completing my other courses. Looking back, I wish I had advocated for myself more and reached out for help when I was struggling with the course material.

During the Winter term of 2023, I was on the precipice of completing my degree and had the flexibility to take an elective course. I decided to take Greek Mythology with Professor Griffith as a personal interest course. I knew I could explore a class and department at Queens while ensuring my GPA was not affected. I entered that class with excitement and engaged with the material well, writing some of the most entertaining papers of my four years at Queens. However, I struggled quite a bit with the tests in the course, as the material and questioning style were unlike anything I had experienced in the Political Studies department. Thus, I decided to inquire about a Personal Interest credit during the course to avoid the potential of poor test performance impacting my GPA. However, when I reached out, I was told that the deadline for CR courses had closed. Thus, I went into that course exam with an imminent fear that I would not be able to graduate because of my elective course. Luckily my performance in the rest of the course prevented me from failing, but I was left with my lowest grade of the year on my transcript.

I am reaching out now to ask for both these courses to be appealed as CR rather than having the grade decrease my GPA. I know that this request may be late, but I did not know the steps that I could take to advocate for myself within academic institutions. As I prepare to enter law school and hopefully do meaningful work standing up for clients, I decided that not representing myself would be a grave mistake. That’s why I implore you to consider my appeal and prevent one essay and elective from affecting my future.