Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I¿¿m writing this letter in order to appeal the decision requiring me to withdraw from Queen¿¿s University for a minimum of three years. The reason for my appeal is due to an extenuating circumstance, which directly affected my academic performance.

Throughout the past few years I¿¿ve been dealing with mental issues that have occurred following the death of a family member that I was very close to. The passing of my great-grandmother was the first death I¿¿ve ever had to go through in my family, which has made it very difficult to deal with and get through emotionally. This has unfortunately lead to difficulty focusing on my studies throughout the years and has therefore significantly damaged my academic performance.

My great-grandmother was always somebody that I looked up to in my life and that I was very close with throughout my childhood and her passing has brought about a very difficult and strenuous psychological challenge, therefore affecting my academics.

That being said, her passing has made it immensely difficult to keep focus when in my lecture halls, when studying or when working on assignments. I was continuously overwhelmed by grief and sorrow. This would completely crowd my mind which lead to a depressive mindset and because of this my academic performance ended up being brought to shambles. Her passing utterly derailed the focus and drive I initially had when I first started at Queen¿¿s.

I had initially thought after her passing that I would be able to fight the pain and the mourning on my own and push through the difficult time but it wasn¿¿t until it was too late that I realized how much this family matter had affected my grades.

I¿¿ve resorted to consulting with my family physician for his professional expertise on the matter. I¿¿ve been in contact with my family doctor regularly in order to help me with the mental health issues I¿¿m suffering from. Unfortunately, the recovery process has been longer than anticipated and therefore much of my academic performance has been negatively affected.

Nonetheless, I¿¿ve been able to realize that my poor academic standing throughout the past years has not been a reflection of my true capabilities as a student but rather the terrible timing of a traumatic event in my life, which drastically affected those capabilities.

Although coping with a family death is an issue that most people are able to put behind them without letting it affect their personal lives too much, I¿¿ve been extremely unlucky with how a family death has negatively impacted both my mental health as well as my academic standing. Thankfully enough with the help of both my family and my family physician I am finally able to appropriately cope and come to terms with the passing of my beloved family member.
I know that my poor academic performance has not been a cause of a too heavy course load or a program that was too difficult but rather it was the mental problems that I was struggling with that made it difficult for me to achieve the grades I truly wanted.

Due to the fact that I have successfully overcome my mental health issues I am confident that I will be able to finally perform the way I¿¿ve always wanted to in my classes and therefore complete my degree here at Queen¿¿s University within the next school year.

Hoping that my appeal is granted, I have looked on Solus for what requirements I have left in order to complete my BA in Economics. Now while I know my GPA is far too low to graduate at the moment, I know which courses I will take that interest me and that will allow me to elevate my GPA past the required level in the following year in order for me to be able to graduate and finally start my life as a Queen¿¿s Alumni.


Please note, I am still waiting for my doctor to provide me with a letter to attach with my appeal but unfortunately he hasn¿¿t able to get me one before the appeal deadline. Once I receive the letter from my family doctor I will look to send it in and add it to my appeal.

Thank you.