Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 13324
Submitted: June 11, 2025 at 10:40:41 AM
First Name: Yuchen
Last Name: Li
Pronoun: he/him
Preferred Name: Yuchen
Student Number: 20126237
Email: livictor528@gmail.com
Degree Program: BSc
Plan: PHYS
Level of Study: 4
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: The reason for the petition to waive the 1-year suspension is because I believe that the long-term extenuating circumstances for my academic under-performance was finally addressed in the past term. I have bipolar disorder, which I thought was being properly treated (with vyvanse and Latuda) until a freak accident in which I broke my collarbone in the winter of 2022. The injury caused me to isolate socially, something I was not mentally, or medically equipped for. As a result, I often got sick during periods of high stress, missing deadlines, quizzes, and had little to no time to study for exams. In the following, I will run down what happened from Fall of 2022 until now.
I broke my collarbone on December 5th, 2022, right before exams. This greatly hindered my ability to do basic things, which sent me into a period of depression in which I missed final assignments and exams. At the time I had planned to finish the missed assignments and exams over the Winter term, I had contacted the professors letting them know of my injury. However, because of my injury I was less able to cope with the symptoms of my bipolar disorder, which only made the depressive episodes more paralyzing and the manic states more emotional, both of which hindered my productivity greatly.
Over the Winter of 2023, I had many talks with my psychiatrist and we had come to the conclusion that the medication I was on was clearly not enough. However, I was reluctant to take more medication (vraylar) for something I believed at the time could be solved with discipline and willpower (grandiose). I would try a medication for a week, notice the side effects, and stop taking it. This went on until late April, in which I again fell ill during exam season, and only passed one of the three courses I took that term.
Fall 2023 and Winter of 2024 was spent largely in the same vicious cycle. I would notice symptoms of bipolar disorder, talk to my psychiatrist, take the recommended medication for a week, feel good enough and stop. As one would expect, I did very poorly academically, failing all of my courses (3 in the fall, 2 in the winter).
Eventually, during late May of 2024, my psychiatrist told me the exact medications (vyvanse, latuda, and vraylar) that I needed to take and to not contact her until I started taking them. Over the summer, because I had landed a job in a chemistry lab and was keeping a good sleep schedule and good working habits, I noticed my bipolar disorder less, and so did not take the prescribed medication.
However, as soon as school started (Fall 2024), the depressive episodes caused me to miss assignments, and the grandiose episodes let me think that I could just do well enough in the last month of the term to rectify my grades. As a result, I fell sick again during exam season, and failed my courses.
Winter of 2024 started similarly with manic and depressive episodes, but I think I finally noticed noticing the pattern, and realized something needed to change. I found the prescribed medication(Vraylar), took it and sent my psychiatrist and email asking her to meet a week after. The side effects were much less than I had thought, perhaps avoiding it all this time caused me to fear it on some level. On the medication, I was able to salvage two of my three then-failing courses, getting a B- on a 4th-year course I was taking for the first time, and a C- on the other. I have been steadily taking the medication daily since.
Having outlined the past 3 years, we can see that having repeatedly made the mistakes of going off medication numerous times and learned the hard way, I will not make that mistake ever again. I have been taking vyvanse, latuda, and vraylar daily and I don’t see myself stopping the medication and I know I will regularly contact my psychiatrist if bipolar symptoms do show up again. This is also evident in my grades, having passed two courses in a term for the first time since the collarbone break. Given that I was able to pass two courses while being treated half-way into the semester, I believe that on the medication I can more than handle the two courses I plan on re-taking in the fall, and the one course in the winter.
I broke my collarbone on December 5th, 2022, right before exams. This greatly hindered my ability to do basic things, which sent me into a period of depression in which I missed final assignments and exams. At the time I had planned to finish the missed assignments and exams over the Winter term, I had contacted the professors letting them know of my injury. However, because of my injury I was less able to cope with the symptoms of my bipolar disorder, which only made the depressive episodes more paralyzing and the manic states more emotional, both of which hindered my productivity greatly.
Over the Winter of 2023, I had many talks with my psychiatrist and we had come to the conclusion that the medication I was on was clearly not enough. However, I was reluctant to take more medication (vraylar) for something I believed at the time could be solved with discipline and willpower (grandiose). I would try a medication for a week, notice the side effects, and stop taking it. This went on until late April, in which I again fell ill during exam season, and only passed one of the three courses I took that term.
Fall 2023 and Winter of 2024 was spent largely in the same vicious cycle. I would notice symptoms of bipolar disorder, talk to my psychiatrist, take the recommended medication for a week, feel good enough and stop. As one would expect, I did very poorly academically, failing all of my courses (3 in the fall, 2 in the winter).
Eventually, during late May of 2024, my psychiatrist told me the exact medications (vyvanse, latuda, and vraylar) that I needed to take and to not contact her until I started taking them. Over the summer, because I had landed a job in a chemistry lab and was keeping a good sleep schedule and good working habits, I noticed my bipolar disorder less, and so did not take the prescribed medication.
However, as soon as school started (Fall 2024), the depressive episodes caused me to miss assignments, and the grandiose episodes let me think that I could just do well enough in the last month of the term to rectify my grades. As a result, I fell sick again during exam season, and failed my courses.
Winter of 2024 started similarly with manic and depressive episodes, but I think I finally noticed noticing the pattern, and realized something needed to change. I found the prescribed medication(Vraylar), took it and sent my psychiatrist and email asking her to meet a week after. The side effects were much less than I had thought, perhaps avoiding it all this time caused me to fear it on some level. On the medication, I was able to salvage two of my three then-failing courses, getting a B- on a 4th-year course I was taking for the first time, and a C- on the other. I have been steadily taking the medication daily since.
Having outlined the past 3 years, we can see that having repeatedly made the mistakes of going off medication numerous times and learned the hard way, I will not make that mistake ever again. I have been taking vyvanse, latuda, and vraylar daily and I don’t see myself stopping the medication and I know I will regularly contact my psychiatrist if bipolar symptoms do show up again. This is also evident in my grades, having passed two courses in a term for the first time since the collarbone break. Given that I was able to pass two courses while being treated half-way into the semester, I believe that on the medication I can more than handle the two courses I plan on re-taking in the fall, and the one course in the winter.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: I am currently on course to graduating with a bachelors in Physics. In order to complete this plan, I will have to take the courses PHYS 344(Quantum I), and PHYS 432 (Electromagnetic Theory) in the fall, and PHYS 317(Mathematical Methods in Physics II) in the winter. In doing so I will be a part-time student. I do not plan on working or doing any extracurricular activities during this time as completing my courses is of the utmost importance. I do not need to take a lighter course load as I have demonstrated that I can handle two courses in one semester before.
In the past I have struggled with not taking my medication, as well as poor time management which leads to anxiety, procrastinating and setting unrealistic goals. To address not taking my medication, I plan on meeting with my psychiatrist once every two weeks to let her know how I am functioning on my medication, the goal being to be well medicated enough that taking the medication becomes automatic. This should also help with my anxiety. To improve my time management, I plan on taking full advantage of student academic success services (SASS). I have already begun the habit of using a weekly agenda, going through weekly goals with a realistic view time.
I did not have difficulty with the course content, but I did find it hard to keep up with weekly assignments and bi-weekly quizzes on some courses. I believe that courses in physics require a lot of thinking on my part, as well as actively asking for help when I am truly stuck. Therefore, I plan on being more realistic with my coursework, planning out study sessions ahead of tutorials and office hours so that I have looked over the questions before asking the professors. I will contact student academic success services for this.
Despite having taken physics for so many years, I still find it rewarding when I do complete the work. Although I realize now that I may not want to pursue a career in physics, I am still very much interested in my courses. I enjoy sitting in lectures, asking the professors questions, and discussing problems with my peers.
As I have said before I had a tendency to fall behind in my classes, and miss readings and assignments. This is the ultimately the result of anxiety that comes in part from not taking my medication, and in part from poor time management. However, on medication, I have considerably improved in this regard, as seen in my past semester. I do not intend to do any extracurricular activities in the upcoming school year.
Apart from my collarbone breaking in 2022, and previously under-medicated bipolar disorder, I have not had any extraordinary personal circumstances.
In conclusion, my under medicated bipolar disorder had prevented me from being able to fully function as a student and a person. This has been brought under control since late January of 2025 through the correct medication, which I have been taking ever since. My poor time management, through building good study habits has improved markedly. For my bipolar disorder, I plan on meeting with my psychiatrist bi-weekly to discuss how I am doing on the medication and potentially make adjustments. For my poor time management, I have accessed the study skills questionnaire and realized that I have anxiety and perfectionism, and I plan on working with SASS in the upcoming school year to build better habits.
In the past I have struggled with not taking my medication, as well as poor time management which leads to anxiety, procrastinating and setting unrealistic goals. To address not taking my medication, I plan on meeting with my psychiatrist once every two weeks to let her know how I am functioning on my medication, the goal being to be well medicated enough that taking the medication becomes automatic. This should also help with my anxiety. To improve my time management, I plan on taking full advantage of student academic success services (SASS). I have already begun the habit of using a weekly agenda, going through weekly goals with a realistic view time.
I did not have difficulty with the course content, but I did find it hard to keep up with weekly assignments and bi-weekly quizzes on some courses. I believe that courses in physics require a lot of thinking on my part, as well as actively asking for help when I am truly stuck. Therefore, I plan on being more realistic with my coursework, planning out study sessions ahead of tutorials and office hours so that I have looked over the questions before asking the professors. I will contact student academic success services for this.
Despite having taken physics for so many years, I still find it rewarding when I do complete the work. Although I realize now that I may not want to pursue a career in physics, I am still very much interested in my courses. I enjoy sitting in lectures, asking the professors questions, and discussing problems with my peers.
As I have said before I had a tendency to fall behind in my classes, and miss readings and assignments. This is the ultimately the result of anxiety that comes in part from not taking my medication, and in part from poor time management. However, on medication, I have considerably improved in this regard, as seen in my past semester. I do not intend to do any extracurricular activities in the upcoming school year.
Apart from my collarbone breaking in 2022, and previously under-medicated bipolar disorder, I have not had any extraordinary personal circumstances.
In conclusion, my under medicated bipolar disorder had prevented me from being able to fully function as a student and a person. This has been brought under control since late January of 2025 through the correct medication, which I have been taking ever since. My poor time management, through building good study habits has improved markedly. For my bipolar disorder, I plan on meeting with my psychiatrist bi-weekly to discuss how I am doing on the medication and potentially make adjustments. For my poor time management, I have accessed the study skills questionnaire and realized that I have anxiety and perfectionism, and I plan on working with SASS in the upcoming school year to build better habits.
Documentation
Professional Letter: Victor_LI_May_2025.pdf