Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Matthew Bettinson and I am a second year student in Computing at Queen's University. I am writing to formally appeal to withdraw the failed course, CISC 260, from my transcript due to the extenuating circumstances of my anxiety that hindered my full potential this year. My mental health was a problem last year, which combined with being in university for the first time, caused me to be under my current academic probation, so it is very important that I do not let anxiety jeopardize my GPA for this coming school year. My professor for the course, Margaret Lamb, has been very helpful in advising me in my next steps. She has recommended dropping the course and retaking it next year.

Though my anxiety is something that has been part of my mind for a while, it noticeably worsened second term as I had a lot of pressure coming from all directions. As summer approached, there was a lot of stress to get an internship relevant to computing, coming from myself, my family, and even my friends. In addition, my housing situation was falling apart which made me even more stressed as I lived in a house of four, with two of my housemates moving out and the third one not knowing whether or not he would return to Queen's next year. Most importantly, I felt an even bigger weight than last year on my shoulders to do really well in school. Not only did I feel I needed to have one aspect of my life to go well for me, I also needed to prove the academic potential I have in order to pursue my major, considering my academic probation. Contrasting the first school term, which is always filled with excitement and confidence, the Winter semester elevated my stress levels because I did not want to damage my future.

Although all this did impact my performance in all of my courses, it would be dishonest of me to blame it all on my mental health. However, it would also be unfair and untruthful if I said anxiety did not play a huge part on CISC 260. I absolutely love computing. I code in my spare time, and read and try to learn as much as I can outside of class. It is not something I put off studying because I do not enjoy; on the contrary, I enjoy it very much. Nonetheless, if there is a test or exam soon, I become very emotionally distressed around the time of it. I become jumpy and often become so overwhelmed to the point I get nauseous and short of breath. No matter how confident I am with the material, I cannot focus on anything else other than worrying about my performance, doubting my answers and wondering about what will happen to my future if I do not do well. The external stress factors I mentioned for the second term only worsened the issue. This affected my marks in CISC 260 as my final grade is a combination of two tests and the exam. It can be seen that I did well on the assignments for the course, as I had more time and less pressure to work on them, but unfortunately they do not play a part in the final grade unless you do well on the tests and the exam together.

For me, there was a stigma around the diagnose, and it was hard to accept that I have anxiety and that I need help to deal with it. This is why I did not drop the course by the deadline. I made the mistake of thinking I could push through. I knew I was more than capable of learning and understanding the material, but I thought the tests would not be a problem because I was going to get myself calm, to stop worrying, to take deep breaths and it would go away. Regardless, I now recognize I need support from professionals to better my mental health and I am seeking for it.

My plan for this next school year is to begin therapy at Queen'ss in order to learn how to deal with my thoughts, and discuss with my therapist what options I have to decrease the amount of stress that surrounds tests and exams times. I will continue to practice meditation and exercising in order to calm my mind. I also learned recently through professor Margaret Lamb that exam accommodations apply to students with anxiety, therefore I intend to make use of them in the future.

Thank you very much for your consideration,
Sincerely,
Matthew Bettinson