Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Arts and Science at Queens,


I am appealing the faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queens for a year. Over the last year I had trouble adjusting to life at university. It was a change in scenery I was not ready for and my academic performance suffered the consequences. I believe that the two skills I lacked during first year were time management and organization. I always found myself rushing through my assignments because I did not give myself enough time to do the work properly. I did not take advantage of all the services that Queens offers to help students get organized and help manage their time. Looking back on first year I should have went to my teaching assistants and professors more often to really help me understand what was required of me. I felt that I was at first nervous to talk to my teaching assistants and professors so I would avoid asking them for help because I believed it made me seem unorganized. I now know that teaching assistants and professors are sincerely there to help and I should not be nervous to talk to them at all. In high school I was very lucky in the sense that I had very small class sizes and my teachers would constantly check up on us to make sure we were on task and handed things in on time. When I came to university I was solely responsible for my own actions towards my academic success and I failed on my own. I did not plan enough time for my assignments so I would end up having to complete two large assignments in the same week and that was very stressful. Due to my lack of organization I was unable to put in the right amount of time for each assignment and ended up either finishing it quickly for the sake of handing it in or not handing the assignment in at all because I was unable to complete the work in time. I believe I now know what it takes to succeed in university and I am prepared to put in the work required to do well. Another step I can take to ensure my academic success would be better course selection for my next year at school. Coming into first year I was unsure of which courses to take so I looked around and took what people recommended were god courses to take. However I feel that my approach going into my next academic year should be what courses would interest me the most. I believe that doing this will help me succeed because I will be very interested in the courses I selected. If I were given the opportunity to return to Queen¿¿s next year I would use the services Queens provides for students to help me with time management and organization right from the beginning of the year to set me up for academic success. I will take courses that I am interested in to keep me motivated to go to class and I after experiencing first year the way I did, looking back on mistakes, I truly believe I now know what it takes to succeed in university and if given the opportunity I would work my absolute hardest to not make the same mistakes I made in first year and set myself up for academic success.

Sincerely,

David Phung