Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello, 
My name is Isabella Meffe and I am a first year Queen’s University student living on residence.

Today, I am reaching out to request a petition to drop my first year biology course from this semester. I am diagnosed with anxiety and depression and have suffered with panic attacks for many years. With the help of my doctor, everything was manageable and I was able to excel in high school but I have found that in the last three months of attending Queen’s University, that my mental health has taken a severe downturn and has gotten progressively worse. The adjustment to university life has taken a heavy toll on me and I am completely overwhelmed with my courses. The stress of moving away from home, having to adjust to a new environment of complete independence, making new friendships and trying to keep up with a rigorous academic course load has been extremely mentally taxing and has taken a massive toll on my mental health. I have been working with my doctor to try and improve my mental health and work through the issues I’ve been having. For next year, I am planning to major in Sociology and since Biology isn’t required or needed for this major, it has been more of a burden than a help. For this semester, Biology has been my most heaviest and intense subject and with everything else going on, it’s been extremely difficult to keep up with the course and has added greatly to my stress. For the rest of the semester I would like to focus all my energy and efforts into the subjects I know I can excel in right now, and that will benefit me in the future, as I work towards getting myself better.

Thank you very much for considering this request.