Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean,

I would like to formally submit an appeal to request credit standing in the course PSYC 333, Human Sexuality (Fall 2015).

In the past semester I was facing an extenuating circumstance that significantly affected my grade in this course, and as such I feel that the grade received does not reflect what I have the ability to achieve. I have been coping with an anxiety disorder for many years, but in the past semester I also began to suffer severely from depression. As the depression became worse I found that I was struggling extensively with school. My work was severely affected as it became very difficult to concentrate on my school work. Readings were very difficult, taking significantly longer than they should have, and I lost interest in school, friends, and personal hobbies. As part of the depression I also generally felt extremely fatigued and found it very difficult to find motivation and keep up with assignments and their due dates. I had an extremely tough time accepting what I was feeling and began to avoid doing anything that would make me feel depressed. Unfortunately, school work was something that made me feel like I was a failure, for not being able to stay motivated, do well, or even keep up with the work at all. As such I found working on assignments very distressing and felt the need to skip tasks such as forum postings. My work on the final exam was also affected as I found that I could not concentrate during attempts to study or during the three-hour exam period itself.

After all of the difficulty I had last term, it has forced me to accept that I am suffering from depression and that I need to get help. I have been in contact with doctors at Health Services and have decided that it is time to see a professional psychologist. I am in the process of being referred for therapy and will also be continuing to see a doctor here at Queen's. I am working to get the help I now know I need, and doing everything I can to get back on track with school. I am hopeful that taking measures to repair the damage I did to my grades last semester will help me to move past the adversity and create goals to succeed in the future. I am planning to continue my education after my undergraduate degree and do not want to let mental illness or a bad semester stop me from achieving this goal.