Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean, I am writing this petition to late drop four courses I took over the fall/winter terms of 2022 to 2023. Due to extenuating circumstances out of my control which impacted my academic performance, I believe I was unable to achieve the grades I would have been able to otherwise. I am petitioning to late drop ENGL 100, PHIL 111, SPAN 111, and PCYCH 100.
A major factor contributing to my poor academic performance where family problems. Between 2022 and 2023 my fifteen-year-old brother was arrested multiple times, and received the following charges; escaped lawful custody, sexual assault, possession of stolen property, possession of controlled substances/possession with the purpose of trafficking etc. These are some of the main charges my brother faced, and had to attend multiple court dates all of which were only recently resolved in early 2024. The majority of these charges occurred between September 2022 to February of 2023 when I first began attending Queen’s University and impacted me greatly. I will attach the relevant documents. Additionally, he was routinely running away from home for multiple days at a time and no one knew where he was. My parents had to contact the police in many cases to ask them to find him. He has also struggled with substance abuse which began to escalate in the summer of 2022, which contributed to his criminal actions. During the period my brother received these charges, he was incredibly uncooperative and resistant to any help offered to him by police, lawyers, psychologists, The Youth Justice Society, and even family members, including myself. All of my brother’s actions put an intense amount of worry and stress on me and my entire family. He was facing up to potentially two years in a youth detention facility, and we were unsure if he would continue to offend. Although my family was unwaveringly supportive he showed no appreciation and actively pushed us all away. He did not seem to show any remorse or acknowledge his wrongdoings. Everything I explained regarding my brother took an incredible toll on me. Throughout my time at Queens I was constantly worried about my brother and expecting the worst. I do not have to space to detail everything or how horrible this time was for me and my family, but my mental health severely suffered and it became difficult to focus on any of my classes as they seemed unimportant in comparison to the family issues I was dealing with. These things majorly affected me and contributed to my poor academic performance.
The second major factor contributing to my petition is my inability to adjust to Queens. In hindsight, I do not believe I was ready to attend University. I had great difficulty adjusting to the new and unfamiliar academic structure I was faced with. Additionally, I found it hard to make friends. My mental health quickly decreased. I had feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, and apathy. I began to struggle with completing basic daily tasks, attending class and completing my coursework. While I was physically attending Queens the options of withdrawing or dropping classes did not seem viable because I felt pressure to be successful, and could not face my failure to achieve academically or socially. I did not want to further disappoint my parents or add stress because of my younger brother’s issues, and I felt I needed to overcompensate for him. Especially because he has refused to attend school since 9th grade, and has since not returned. The pressure I dealt with only made my academic performance and depressed state worse, and it seemed I had no way out of the situation I was in. My failure to immediately thrive at Queens disproportionately affected me because of my brother. I was entirely overwhelmed by the pressure. Consequently, I felt I could not reach out to my parents for support, or be honest with them about how I was struggling. I have been dealing with this pressure for most of my life as my younger brother has consistently acted out and put stress on my parents since he was a young child. I always felt responsible for my brother and his issues, and I have tried to overcompensate by being the “good” child. I felt frozen and attempting to face my schoolwork felt like an impossible task because of the emotions it brought up. I felt I could no longer make up for his increasingly bad behaviour. Due to this I am only now petitioning to late drop my classes. At this stage, I have been able to improve my mental health to the point where I can face my failure and process how my difficult relationship with my brother has affected me.
Since leaving Queen’s after the winter 2023 semester I have been working to improve my mental health. I began to meet weekly with a therapist, whose letter I will attach. Seeing a therapist has been incredibly beneficial and has helped me work through my issues with my brother, and process how difficult my year at Queen’s was. I moved home and have been living with my parents and younger brother since. Being able to reconnect with my family, specifically my brother has greatly helped me. As of recently my brother’s legal problems have all been resolved and he has made great progress in improving his life. I believe at this point I am ready to return to University studies and being able to drop the above classes would be incredibly beneficial to my future academic success. I do not believe my past grades are a reflection of my academic ability under normal circumstances.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Alexandra Wilson