Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Living away from home can be a challenge for first year students. For myself, this was a huge factor in my lack of success. My roommates would stay up till approximately 4am on any given school night either listening to rap music out loud or smoking marijuana in the room. Due to their late nights, sleeping in until 5 in the afternoon would be common as well. This was something that made it really hard on me, especially trying to get up for early morning classes. After a confrontation about this, things became quite hostile in the room. Fistfights would occasionally break out and I would sometimes come home to find all my electronics thrown off my desk onto the floor. These issues were things I had discussed extensively with my don and RLC. I had built a good relationship with some other people on the floor so we ultimately decided I would try and work it out. I was extremely unsuccessful at that. I began feeling uncomfortable in my own room, spending most of my time in the halls or in others rooms.

Computer Science was a program I was very excited about as it was something I knew nothing about, yet was always told ¿¿you¿¿ll have a job out of school for sure¿. The school year went on and it increasingly became more difficult. When it came time to study with peers I realized I didn¿¿t know a single person in my faculty. This may partially be due to living in Harkness Hall, a small residence slightly isolated from campus or just having a different personality than many of the students in computer science. This isolation within my faculty on top of having a bad living situation left me feeling very alone.

High school was always something that I found very easy. Due to this, it wasn¿¿t until University that I really noticed I had trouble focusing, listening and also suffering from a lack of motivation which I had never felt before. This isolation, combined with newfound difficulties led me to become extremely stressed and anxious, often breaking out in panic attacks. I began to shell up, slowly communicating less and less with my peers. Later on in the year, I went to PASS seeing if they could provide me with some assistance. PASS was unsuccessful in helping me, causing me to become more stressed and anxious. It wasn¿¿t until the school year had ended that I went and saw my doctor. I was diagnosed with ADHD and an anxiety disorder. The medication provided to me since has helped me tremendously with being distracted, and my lack of motivation. The reduction of those has also helped reduce the anxiety. I am also beginning to see a therapist in order to help me cope with anxiety should it ever return.