Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies,

I am requesting an appeal for a credit standing in BIOL205. To begin with, the fall semester of this year was one of the most difficult and darkest times in my undergraduate career so far. I have always struggled with anxiety, through worrying about academics, social situations, and finances. Family stressors experienced in the fall semester aggravated this anxiety further. It took time to become adjusted as I continued to struggle, often finding it difficult to get out of bed, to attend class, and to maintain a positive outlook when things got difficult. I did not seek any help for my mental health as I was afraid and intimidated, worsened by the fact that I do not have a strong social support at Queen's.

I was overwhelmed with the workload from CHEM 211 and CHEM 212 and their heavy lab assignments. Since these courses were very demanding, I prioritized them, and did well on the midterms, and the lab group work boosted my marks enough to get a decent grade no matter how I did on the final. My elective, PSYC 235 was not graded in the fall semester (full year course taken online), but I managed to keep up with the material as it required little commitment, and was something I genuinely enjoyed. I did well in STAT 263, as it was a simple algebra based course that also required little time commitment. However, I found that I was consistently performing poorly in BIOL205, despite completing the readings, lecture notes, and practice problems, which came as a shock to me as I was very familiar with the material from past AP biology courses, as well as material in BIOL 102/103. The consistent poor performance had an additive effect in slowly increasing my feelings of discouragement and hopelessness as the semester progressed, making it even more difficult to keep up.

In mid-November to December, my aunt, whom I live with during the school year, began having difficulty with her health and had to go through multiple hospital visits. During this time, I found that the stress that I was already feeling was amplified, as I was increasingly worried and had to take care of her, and reassure her about her health. During the December exam period, my mother came live with us to assist us with the process. Many of the assessments in BIOL205 were online, and so I wrote the exams from home, which was a stressful environment during this time (one would think that online exams might be easier through access to notes). As a result, I ended the course with a D+, and I feel that I cannot accept this grade, as I believe that it is not a true reflection of my abilities in this subject area, being a biochemistry major with a D+ in a genetics course.

Looking at my transcript, this grade is an outlier, as I have done well in BIOL 102/103, and I am currently doing well in (and enjoying) BCHM 218 which requires BIOL 205 as a prerequisite. I feel that the external stressors from the fall semester had genuinely hindered me from doing as well in this course as I possibly could have, if I took this course at a later time. Additionally, I cannot retake the course as my financial situation prevents me from taking and paying for more courses than necessary for my degree. In the future, I will seek professional help, and will work to balance my course work during extenuating circumstances by dropping the course, and taking it later, or by asking the professor for assistance or extensions as needed.

I began seeking assistance by emailing my professor after grades were released, and I outlined my situation. I waited days for a reply, which did not come, and caused me further distress (I confirmed that the email was correct); I became discouraged and hopeless. My close friends from home convinced me to try and move on, and I was able to improve in the winter semester, especially as my aunt made a full recovery around late January. I found that my mental health improved and I was doing better in my courses, and began enjoying school again. Thus, I decided to let the situation go for the time being. Recently, I learned about the appealing process, and looking at my transcript, I would like to try to resolve this situation, as this grade is bringing my GPA down, and leads me to worry about my future. I was afraid and unsure about reaching out before, but I was able to regain the courage, and want to do something about this before it is too late.

Thank you for taking the time to read my appeal.

Sincerely,

Maisha Syed