Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Over the past month I have been suffering from anxiety which has made my ability to fully engage and succeed in academics difficult. This has been something I have struggled with for the passed month and have been ashamed of due to familial and community perceptions surrounding mental health. This shame has stopped me from disclosing this to my family and friends besides a select few and it is why I have only now begun to seek resources to help me manage my anxiety.


The pressure of entering third year where our marks will be evaluated for entrance into graduate school. During this month of October, I dealt with anxiety which caused me to experience dizziness, headaches, nausea, and problems sleeping.


As a third-year student, managing a heavy course load is the standard and is expected. This is a challenging feat to accomplish and when coupled with anxiety becomes extremely difficult to achieve. In particular, my anxiety has a direct impact on my ability to concentrate on the task at hand and complete assignments, therefore preventing me from doing well in my academics. This is especially evident during stressful times where I have many things due around the same time. Such was the case this past month where I had exams, assignments and reports simultaneously due and I completely shut down. Furthermore, my anxiety affects my physical health where I will feel lightheaded and experience pain in my stomach and thus has an impact on my attendance.


I recently received back marks for the course FRE305. Upon finding out that I was doing extremely poor in this course, I came to the conclusion that I would need to drop FRE343 which I am currently failing. This mark was obtained past the due date and so I was not able to make the decision to drop FREN 343 prior to the due date.