Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing for aegrotat standing for SOC 122 as well as DEVS 100 and will also proceed to appeal for PHIL 153 in the near future due to illness including my mental health. I have struggled with my mental health for a few years now. With that, I have also been able to experience points of relief and faith that I have gotten better, and when applying to university and choosing Queens, that moment of faith that I was healthy occurred. I was able to get through second semester with only a few bumps here and there, but of course, that is normal for someone experiencing university for the first time. When second semester came, my sleep and anxiety worsened a fair bit, which unfortunately became extenuating circumstances that I was unable to control. I was no longer able to get up for early morning classes and my focus to study for long periods of time (i.e. complete tests, write essays, and write exams) was out of the question. I found help from my family doctor in Kingston as well as my Psychiatrist at Hotel Dieu. I got advisement from them that I should not write my final exams/essays and was put on a few different medications to help me cope with things. Unfortunately, many of the medications I was prescribed worsened my sleep and therefore made it even harder for me to continue on at the end of the year. Due to my poor sleep patterns, high anxiety, and testing of a few different medications, my academic performance was not nearly as good as I hoped it would be. In order to deal with all of these changes, I decided, along with my doctor, that it would be best to not write my first exam (PSYCH 100) and go home for a few weeks to cope with my family and get better sleep. That being said, I chose to continue to study for the rest of my exams at home just in case I felt like I would be ready to write them towards the end of April. After a few weeks of still no improvement in my mental health, me, my psychiatrist, and my family decided that it would be best for me to decline writing the rest of my final exams. The hardest thing to deal with for my mental illness is that I can have very good days and I can have very bad days, and I do not know when those bad days will occur. I cannot predict what my mental health will be like this coming year, but I do know that I am in a much better place now. I have found a good medication that helps stabilizing my mood and helps me have a good sleep. I have also been prescribed a good medication to help my anxiety that I will take when I feel panic attacks coming on. I have met with an Academic Counsellor this past summer who has helped me tremendously and I hope to continue seeing her once a week come the school year. I have also been informed about Disability Services and I will take that into consideration and look at my options and support that I will have come the Fall. I have contacted Professor Rob Beamish, Dr. Karen Dubinsky, Jill Atkinson, and Dr. Mike Kocis about my illness and made arrangements with all of them (got an extension on essays for SOC 122 and DEVS 100 which I have completed, will be writing my final PSYCH 100 exam August 11th, and will be completing extra course work for PHIL 153.) All the facility have supported and understood my troubles and illness exceedingly which I am very grateful for. I know that my dream is to graduate from Queens University with a major in Psychology, and although I will continue to have many bumps along the way, I am determined to make it happen. I ask that to whom this appeal concerns, you will be able to help me pursue that dream.