Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing to ask for permission to drop ECON 111 (introductory microeconomics) after the posted deadline. I took this course in the winter term of the 2013-2014 academic year and had to miss the exam due to illness. Currently the status of the course is IN on my transcript and the deferred exam is scheduled for early September. I am asking to drop this course as I got accepted to medical school and will have to write the deferred exam at the middle of my classes, which will interfere with my studies.

I suffer from severe migraines and had to miss two of my exams (ECON 111 and MATH 339) last term because of several episodes which all came with vomiting and dizziness. I use strong migraine medications, which unfortunately have a lot of side effects, but I was forced to use them during the exam period last term. I was taking two or three pills of Novo-Sumatriptan which helps with the headache but creates dizziness and I mostly vomit after using it and have to sleep to start feeling better. I was getting really worried about my headaches, as my symptoms were similar to initial signs of a brain tumor and was even prescribed a CT scan after consulting with my doctor. I had 5 exams last term and three were scheduled in two days. The first two exams were not affected by my illness but I experienced a severe episode on the morning of my economics exam. I also had to miss my MATH339 exam, which was on the morning after my ECON exam, but the exam was scheduled for the week after. I was able to write my BIOL 331 exam as I was feeling better before the exam and had already slept for a few hours after taking Sumatriptan. The exam was mostly based on the assignments we had completed in class and did not require much studying and I was able to write it.

I am asking for permission to drop the course as I got accepted to University of Toronto medical school and I am graduating with a General Science degree instead of an Honours Life Sciences degree. I already have more than 90 credits and will be able to graduate without ECON 111. In addition, our classes start on August 25th with orientation starting on the 18th. The deferred exam will be in the midst of my classes and it would interfere with my studies. The first few weeks of medical school are very challenging as we are doing a full term of anatomy with many labs and classes going from 8 am to 5 pm everyday with an hour break. I will also be overseas until August 17th and that really will not give me enough time to move into my new place and also get ready for my economics exam. Adapting to the new academic demands and also the new living conditions will themselves cause a lot of stress and I hope to not have to write an exam at the middle of all this.

I also want to mention that my current grade in ECON 111 is 96 and I have successfully completed all requirements of the course before the final exam. I am not dropping this course because I am not satisfied with my grade and it is only because I will not be in Kingston this fall and timing of the exam will interfere with my schedule at U of T.

I was not able to submit my appeal in the 21 days deadline as I received my acceptance after the deadline for appeals.

I have attached a summary of my grades in ECON 111 and also my medical note for missing the exam.

Thank you so much for your time and attention.


Sincerely,

-Armin Rahmani