Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean
First and foremost, I am very grateful that you accepted my appeal to waive the 21-day deadline and granted me a chance to send this appeal.
My extenuating circumstances that I explained in my other appeal directly affected my overall performance at University due to the additional stress, anxiety, depression and challenges I had to face. My mental health state was poor and it has also contributed to some physical illnesses as a result of depression including weak legs, weak muscles, constantly tired, etc. I have seen numerous doctors and specialists regarding my physical ailments and they attributed it to depression because the physical tests came normal. I was unable to get adequate sleep as I had trouble falling asleep with racing thoughts and heart palpitations through the night and had to sleep in during the day or go to lectures tired and unrested. During lectures, I was unable to focus due to both being unrested and because of my depression. It is still unclear if I have ADD/ADHD but I am unable to undergo testing so my doctor advised me to wait until I start University and get testing once I have some coverage. As a result of the physical weakness I developed in my muscles, specifically in my legs, I become even more concerned about my physical health. I started going to the gym and I had syncope episodes there. My memories of the events are not very vivid so it is hard for me to distinguish and describe exactly what I was feeling at the time. The amalgamation of my mental problems and physical problems led me to breakdown and unable to adjust to University life, both from a social and from an academic standpoint, I lost hope in my life, started questioning myself, and even had suicidal thoughts. The courses I was taking at the time such as Phys 117, Chem 112, Biol 103, and Math 121 was too much for to balance on top of my issues. I fell behind and performed extremely poorly. These are courses in which one needs to fully understand everything to do remotely well and to understand, the concepts need to be learned then constantly practiced. Due to my overall depressed mood, concentration problems, anxiety, and restless nights, I was unable to fully commit the required mental effort and time to do well in these courses. In a desperate attempt to improve my GPA, I took Math 121 over the summer but my situation had not changed and I was even more depressed about my University performance. I returned to school in the fall to try and redeem myself thinking it¿¿s a fresh start but I had not done anything to improve my situation and had not sought any help. I developed even more symptoms and was ashamed of myself for my past performance and being so far behind my peers. During exam periods, it was close to impossible for me to get any sleep because I got very stressed and every time I would sleep, I would get thoughts of failing and other racing thoughts. As a result I did poorly in most of the classes I was taking including Econ 111, Biol 103, Chem 112, Econ 112, Phys 117, and Psyc 231. Around this time, my grandmother passed away as well. Additionally, in the Winter 2014 exam period, I lost my backpack with a lot of my belongings including my laptop, study notes etc. I did even worse this semester for the above reasons.
All in all, my situation during the two years I was at University led me unable to adapt and cope with the increased work load in order to perform well academically. My poor performance during my first year contributed further to the declination of my mental health.