Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 1184
Submitted: June 12, 2015 at 12:11:14 AM
First Name: Nisha
Last Name: Ulun
Student Number: 10109835
Email: 13nu1@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: undeclared
Level of Study: 1
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: My name is Nisha Ulun, and I have recently been notified that I am required to withdraw from my studies for not meeting probationary conditions. However, in this letter I wish to appeal against this decision, explain the reasons why my school year proceeded the way it did, and request permission to return for the 2015-2016 term on academic probation. I am aware my transcript indicates poor academic performance this year, as well as my voluntary withdrawal the prior year from the Bader International Study Centre. My appeal is based on extenuating circumstances regarding my emotional and mental state that I felt ended up beyond my control.
As a background to why I voluntarily left BISC, I was in an overall state of depression, eventually leading to concerns for my general health and well-being when I felt unable to eat or leave bed to attend class. I left BISC prematurely with the consultation of an academic advisor after realizing that my academic year had fallen too far to recover. Upon returning home attempts were made to seek help, but an actual medical diagnosis was never determined, leaving me feeling frustrated over it.
Once this school year started, I felt prepared to start fresh and excel, but over the course of the fall term, I began to falter. Battling with doubts and feelings of inadequacy led to previous reoccurring problems that had not been resolved yet to resurface. Before attending Queen¿¿s, I struggled with depression for two years as a social shut in before I was able to pull my life together enough to rejoin society. My sense of time was skewed during that period and upon returning I became hyper aware of the time lost and thus everyone my own age would be already graduating while I was just starting out. This also impacted my ability to relate to my peers whether they were my age or younger, because their experience differed from my own. I started having difficulty sleeping and would often involuntarily stay up late into the night. Lack of proper rest left me struggling to focus in class, and a reverse sleep schedule eventually led to missing classes outright. Self-loathing about my absence at lectures combined with the exhaustion brought extra stress upon myself. My academics suffered as a result. Despite this, I often felt that I still understood the material in class when I managed to attend. However, the marks never matched my high expectations. Even though I made an attempt to visit two of my professors during office hours to understand and catch up, I often felt hopelessness over my abilities to perform, impacting my confidence and motivation to keep up. As the year progressed, it felt as though the experience at BISC was repeating itself and I greatly feared that I would not complete the year again. All the emotions I felt became overwhelming.
At the start of the winter term, I finally reached out for help. I discovered the services provided by Queen¿¿s thanks to my Don and the community. I found the Writing Centre, Outreach Counsellor, and Career Advisors to be exceptionally beneficial. By the end of Reading Week, I was able to regain control of my well-being a bit. I began to socialize with others in my class and dorm floor and develop relationships. Just realizing I had these resources on hand greatly improved my overall state of health and well-being, especially after feeling so alone. I regretted that these efforts came too late to recover my grades, but I made a goal to complete my school year regardless and managed to achieve it. Even though I technically failed courses, I am proud of my improvement, and it has led me to writing this appeal so that I may continue to further myself to become a truly successful student at Queen¿¿s.
I am now aware of the resources available to me and plan to use them thoroughly before becoming overly stressed. Queen¿¿s finally feels like a home to me, and I feel all the effort and struggle up to this point would be for naught if I were required to take a year off. I appreciate you taking the time to consider my situation, and hope you will understand my intentions. I look forward to your correspondence.
As a background to why I voluntarily left BISC, I was in an overall state of depression, eventually leading to concerns for my general health and well-being when I felt unable to eat or leave bed to attend class. I left BISC prematurely with the consultation of an academic advisor after realizing that my academic year had fallen too far to recover. Upon returning home attempts were made to seek help, but an actual medical diagnosis was never determined, leaving me feeling frustrated over it.
Once this school year started, I felt prepared to start fresh and excel, but over the course of the fall term, I began to falter. Battling with doubts and feelings of inadequacy led to previous reoccurring problems that had not been resolved yet to resurface. Before attending Queen¿¿s, I struggled with depression for two years as a social shut in before I was able to pull my life together enough to rejoin society. My sense of time was skewed during that period and upon returning I became hyper aware of the time lost and thus everyone my own age would be already graduating while I was just starting out. This also impacted my ability to relate to my peers whether they were my age or younger, because their experience differed from my own. I started having difficulty sleeping and would often involuntarily stay up late into the night. Lack of proper rest left me struggling to focus in class, and a reverse sleep schedule eventually led to missing classes outright. Self-loathing about my absence at lectures combined with the exhaustion brought extra stress upon myself. My academics suffered as a result. Despite this, I often felt that I still understood the material in class when I managed to attend. However, the marks never matched my high expectations. Even though I made an attempt to visit two of my professors during office hours to understand and catch up, I often felt hopelessness over my abilities to perform, impacting my confidence and motivation to keep up. As the year progressed, it felt as though the experience at BISC was repeating itself and I greatly feared that I would not complete the year again. All the emotions I felt became overwhelming.
At the start of the winter term, I finally reached out for help. I discovered the services provided by Queen¿¿s thanks to my Don and the community. I found the Writing Centre, Outreach Counsellor, and Career Advisors to be exceptionally beneficial. By the end of Reading Week, I was able to regain control of my well-being a bit. I began to socialize with others in my class and dorm floor and develop relationships. Just realizing I had these resources on hand greatly improved my overall state of health and well-being, especially after feeling so alone. I regretted that these efforts came too late to recover my grades, but I made a goal to complete my school year regardless and managed to achieve it. Even though I technically failed courses, I am proud of my improvement, and it has led me to writing this appeal so that I may continue to further myself to become a truly successful student at Queen¿¿s.
I am now aware of the resources available to me and plan to use them thoroughly before becoming overly stressed. Queen¿¿s finally feels like a home to me, and I feel all the effort and struggle up to this point would be for naught if I were required to take a year off. I appreciate you taking the time to consider my situation, and hope you will understand my intentions. I look forward to your correspondence.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: I wish to return to Queen¿¿s even after my recent unsuccessful academic year because I am now in a better position to achieve desirable results due to acknowledging and understanding the barriers that I have previously faced. I am more equipped to combat and avoid these problems this time around, having developed a plan to ensure that my next year is successful and productive. Outlined in this plan are my academic goals and aspirations, my approach in respect to workload for both curriculum and extracurricular, and strategies for managing mental and emotional obstacles of the past.
If granted permission to return to Queen¿¿s, I will continue with an undeclared major within the Bachelor of Arts Honours Program, however I intend to work towards majoring in Health Studies. Currently the courses I plan to take are three of the prerequisite core courses: HLTH 100, HLTH 102, and ANAT 101. PSYC 100 is another core course, but I have already taken the class previously and intend to boost my grade for this course during the summer term instead. Other courses I would like to enroll in are PHYS P15 and PHYS P16 as electives; since I am aiming to major in a Health Studies program, my cumulative GPA needs to be 2.8 for a guaranteed automatic acceptance. If I aim for 2.8 and happen to fall short a little bit, then I can secure a placement for consideration on the pending list as long as I am still above a 2.3 cumulative GPA. In order to achieve the results I desire my expectations for workload is to enroll as a part time student to ensure that I can successfully stay on top of my studies, general well-being, and participate in extracurricular activities beyond academics. As a part time student, I will attend less than 20 hours of classes per week, making time management more flexible so that one subject or general concern is not neglected or prioritized over the other. I can schedule time for health coordinators, professors, and resources on campus without feeling bombarded by other obligations.
A number of factors impeded my ability to succeed last year, however I now feel equipped to combat these deterrents of success by addressing them before they become too substantial. Starting off by addressing the biggest issue was mental and emotional instabilities, I intend to visit a counselor or health professional on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, and in dire situations when necessary. Previously a psychiatrist suggested dance as a way of reducing stress and improving self-esteem, and Beth, a health coordinator I saw regarding my sleep issues advised that regular strenuous activity would correct it, so I intend to join Queen¿¿s Dance Club to alleviate some anxiety, improve sleep quality and regulate its patterns. Last year I never joined or participated in any extracurricular activities either and never had a sense of home or community at Queen¿¿s prior to Reading Week, which made me feel very alone, so joining this club would be a gateway to becoming more involved. Caught up in my academics and focusing too much energy drained me, causing stress and an overall loss of motivation. Thus, a healthy distraction is needed, which joining the dance club will also mitigate since it follows a set regulated schedule that can easily be incorporated for time management. A physician or psychiatrist will be consulted to evaluate any mental health related issues if dance does not improve my general state. Although the imposter syndrome is not a mental disorder by any means, the traits outlined resonate with myself. My overall inadequate feelings and inability to acknowledge my own success led to pushing for perfectionism and refusal to seek help from others; frustration occurred when I could not achieve what I considered acceptable. This may be an indicator for something more underlying.
My guide to success follows, at minimum to lift my academic probation, and ultimately aim for a GPA of 2.8 or higher for automatic acceptance. However I will keep in mind that a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or higher will put me on the pending list for my potential major to avoid overly stressing myself out. I will use this as one of my indicators of success towards meeting my academic goals. The tools that will guide and aid me will include working with a Learning Strategist to gain better insight into my skills, abilities and strengths academically so that I can apply them to my studies. I am already aware that doing well on exams have always been an issue for me due to pressure, but I found on-campus workshops, such as the seminar on PSYC 100 exam study tips in Stauffer Library to be a helpful resource, so I will continue to seek these out. If I start to feel like I am falling behind, or have problems with the course content, I will seek consultation with my professors or TAs during their office hours, as well as locating peers that are currently enrolled or have previously taken the course for assistance. If none of these help, then I will discuss with my academic advisors on whether or not continuing with a course is in my best interests when I start having doubts, rather than forcefully persisting when all indications point towards potentially dropping it. I believe that if I follow through with everything stated above than I can successfully avoid the same barriers to academic success that I have faced previously.
If granted permission to return to Queen¿¿s, I will continue with an undeclared major within the Bachelor of Arts Honours Program, however I intend to work towards majoring in Health Studies. Currently the courses I plan to take are three of the prerequisite core courses: HLTH 100, HLTH 102, and ANAT 101. PSYC 100 is another core course, but I have already taken the class previously and intend to boost my grade for this course during the summer term instead. Other courses I would like to enroll in are PHYS P15 and PHYS P16 as electives; since I am aiming to major in a Health Studies program, my cumulative GPA needs to be 2.8 for a guaranteed automatic acceptance. If I aim for 2.8 and happen to fall short a little bit, then I can secure a placement for consideration on the pending list as long as I am still above a 2.3 cumulative GPA. In order to achieve the results I desire my expectations for workload is to enroll as a part time student to ensure that I can successfully stay on top of my studies, general well-being, and participate in extracurricular activities beyond academics. As a part time student, I will attend less than 20 hours of classes per week, making time management more flexible so that one subject or general concern is not neglected or prioritized over the other. I can schedule time for health coordinators, professors, and resources on campus without feeling bombarded by other obligations.
A number of factors impeded my ability to succeed last year, however I now feel equipped to combat these deterrents of success by addressing them before they become too substantial. Starting off by addressing the biggest issue was mental and emotional instabilities, I intend to visit a counselor or health professional on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, and in dire situations when necessary. Previously a psychiatrist suggested dance as a way of reducing stress and improving self-esteem, and Beth, a health coordinator I saw regarding my sleep issues advised that regular strenuous activity would correct it, so I intend to join Queen¿¿s Dance Club to alleviate some anxiety, improve sleep quality and regulate its patterns. Last year I never joined or participated in any extracurricular activities either and never had a sense of home or community at Queen¿¿s prior to Reading Week, which made me feel very alone, so joining this club would be a gateway to becoming more involved. Caught up in my academics and focusing too much energy drained me, causing stress and an overall loss of motivation. Thus, a healthy distraction is needed, which joining the dance club will also mitigate since it follows a set regulated schedule that can easily be incorporated for time management. A physician or psychiatrist will be consulted to evaluate any mental health related issues if dance does not improve my general state. Although the imposter syndrome is not a mental disorder by any means, the traits outlined resonate with myself. My overall inadequate feelings and inability to acknowledge my own success led to pushing for perfectionism and refusal to seek help from others; frustration occurred when I could not achieve what I considered acceptable. This may be an indicator for something more underlying.
My guide to success follows, at minimum to lift my academic probation, and ultimately aim for a GPA of 2.8 or higher for automatic acceptance. However I will keep in mind that a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or higher will put me on the pending list for my potential major to avoid overly stressing myself out. I will use this as one of my indicators of success towards meeting my academic goals. The tools that will guide and aid me will include working with a Learning Strategist to gain better insight into my skills, abilities and strengths academically so that I can apply them to my studies. I am already aware that doing well on exams have always been an issue for me due to pressure, but I found on-campus workshops, such as the seminar on PSYC 100 exam study tips in Stauffer Library to be a helpful resource, so I will continue to seek these out. If I start to feel like I am falling behind, or have problems with the course content, I will seek consultation with my professors or TAs during their office hours, as well as locating peers that are currently enrolled or have previously taken the course for assistance. If none of these help, then I will discuss with my academic advisors on whether or not continuing with a course is in my best interests when I start having doubts, rather than forcefully persisting when all indications point towards potentially dropping it. I believe that if I follow through with everything stated above than I can successfully avoid the same barriers to academic success that I have faced previously.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NO DOC
Decision Letters
History
Originally submitted June 12, 2015 at 12:11:14 AM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | Prepared for Review | Niki Kaloudas | 2015-06-12 1:41:50 PM | |
| status | N/A | Prepared for Review | Denied | Haley Everson | 2015-07-06 9:18:13 AM | |
| associate_dean | N/A | Sue Blake | Haley Everson | 2015-07-06 9:18:13 AM | ||
| decision_letter | N/A | N/A | Decision letter sent | Haley Everson | 2015-07-06 9:19:51 AM |