Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I have just transferred to Queen's and this is the first class that I have been enrolled in with Queen's. I struggle with depression and anxiety and have had an extremely difficult time keeping up with the pace of this online course, especially dealing with the time management requirements that comes with working nearly full-time hours and moving back to Ontario from British Columbia. During the first half of the course, I was hardly able to make academic deadlines of webwork and concept-checkins as I have been unable to work and keep up with the academic material at the required pace; I become incredibly anxious when I know that I am falling behind, and this anxiety keeps me from moving forward with course material as I lose my ability to concentrate. My mental stamina sucks, and when I come home from work for a day I have been unable to concentrate on academic material as I generally feel very low and tired. My doctor and I are currently experimenting with my anti-depressive medication as we have reviewed that this medication may be making my anxiety worse as a side-effect, but this can leave me feeling fairy unstable as my brain tries to adapt to the new levels of SSRI. I mentioned to Dr. Alan Ableson sometime around half way through the first half of the course that I was already unable to keep up. He was very helpful in extending some material for me, however as the weeks past I was still unable to keep up with the material and it was eventually set that I would always be a week behind. When I asked him for more help, it was at the point where I would have needed medical documentation to salvage the grades that I have lost as a result of my inability to keep up. I am still multiple units behind even after the mid-course exam, and I do not believe that the result of this course with reflect my true academic potential and it seems impossible for me to be successful in this course during this time. I would like to withdraw from the course and give it another go in the fall/winter terms where I will have more time to pace the course.