Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean, I am petitioning for the drop of FILM 111 (Fall 2023) due to extenuating circumstances. In the fall of 2022, I began experiencing symptoms of depression. Some of the theorized causes are my Generalized Anxiety Disorder and genetics, with both my father and grandfather having an MDD diagnosis. During the spring of 2023, I began medicinal treatment for depression with Pristiq. During the following months, I went through many ups and downs that come with depression and anxiety such as more depressive episodes. By the beginning of my time at Queen’s, I had stabilized. The medication was working and I felt better. Looking back now, I understand that the sunny weather that was constant in September most likely had a positive impact on my mental health. But as the fall progressed and the days began getting shorter with less and less sun, I started getting depressed again. I had low motivation which impacted all of my classes. I did not realize that it would be a problem until the time change flipped a switch in my brain that made me realize my mental health had worsened again. The reason that this is the only class I am petitioning to have dropped is it is the only class I failed. The majority of my classes in the fall term were two-term classes. While I had no motivation to put effort into those classes too, I assumed I would be able to make it up in the second term. As I expected, my mental health improved during the second term due to the use of my sun lamp, my consumption of vitamin D3 tablets, and the longer days. That resulted in my mediocre grade achievements in those courses. My single-term courses were impacted the most with a D- in SPAN 111 and my failure in FILM 111. The only reason I was able to pass SPAN 111 is the professor contacted me prior to the grade deadline and told me to redo certain assignments for a higher grade. I did not drop this course when I realized it might be a problem because I had taken international baccalaureate higher level film the previous year, I had 12 units of 100-level film when I started at Queens, in my depressed state I rationalized that since I already have film credits, I did not need to do well in the course. I thought I would just barely pass with a D- which at the time I thought would be acceptable, but since coming out of the episode I have deeply regretted it. Furthermore, I was unaware that my transfer credits would not count towards my GPA. As this was within my first year with a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder, I did not know what to expect or how to deal with it at the time. I did not purchase my sun lamp until the beginning of December, and I did not begin taking the vitamin D3 tablets until winter break as I was unaware that it would help.