Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing to you today to request the ability to submit an appeal on a matter that is past its deadline. I am presently a third year Arts and Sciences student in the Environmental Sciences program, and in this past year I had some personal issues resulting in my failing two courses. In the weeks prior to the December exam period, my cousin Stacey, who growing up was the closest thing to a sibling I had, passed away from a drug overdose. This came as a shock to our entire family, myself included as she was doing very well, seeing a therapist and had been clean for several months when this occurred. At first I felt somewhat numb at the whole situation, as though I could not really acknowledge what had happened, but it affected me more deeply than I knew. I found it near impossible to study for my exams, as when I tried to focus I just felt very depressed and could not effectively prepare for the coming examinations; leading me to fail my organic chemistry exam.
I have never before failed any form of major assessment in my life. The shock of failure coupled with the grief at the loss of my cousin triggered a depressive episode in myself that alternated with periods of panic over my academics as I fell further and further behind in my studies. I would have deferred my exams had I realized that was an option at the time but the mistakes were made at that point. Second semester I struggled with my mental health to keep on top of my classes and was less than successful, despite dropping a course due to feeling overwhelmed. When second semester exams rolled around I was so behind there was little hope of saving my marks in some classes and I failed yet another exam, a year long course at that. I sought counselling over the Summer and some through Health Counselling & Disability Services at Queens during the year and feel I have a better grasp on myself and my emotions now. I feel ready to conquer these courses and get myself on the road to academic success. There is just one small issue, that is the blemish of those fails on my transcript which is why I am writing to you today; to request an waiving of the deadline so I can appeal to have those fails turned into dropped classes so as to enable me to apply to post graduate studies without my battle with depression coming back to haunt me. I am leaving a link to my cousin's obituary below, in addition should you require it, I can contact my doctor's office and request they send a note proving I sought help with them for my mental health over the Summer. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
Mitchel K. Shaughnessy
Obituary of my Cousin: http://www.highlandparkfuneralcentre.com/notices/Stacey-Johnston