Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dr. Johanne Bénard
Associate Dean
Admission & Recruitment and Studies
Queen¿¿s University
94 University Avenue
Kingston, Ontario
K7L 3N9

February 2, 2017

Dear Dr. Bénard,
I am writing this appeal in hopes of being able to gain admission to CLST 103 (Introduction to Roman Civilization.) Gaining admission to CLST 103 would be extremely beneficial to me because it would help me gain a deeper knowledge of my area of study after last semester¿¿s negative academic outcome. After the completion of a recent psychological assessment, I now feel as if there is sufficient supporting documentation to aid my appeal.

The extenuating circumstance that hindered me from joining this course on time was my poor psychological fitness. This past semester I was suffering from feelings of anxiety, isolation, and depression. These feelings negatively affected my ability to study effectively, and therefore my overall academic success throughout the previous semester.

In October, I began to fall behind in my work as my course assignments increased and diversified. With the new and more advanced content, falling behind made it seem almost impossible for me to catch up, which showed itself in the subpar quality of my work. These negative feelings resulted in anxiety, which hindered my ability to focus and therefore study. I would often find myself emotionally overreacting to the prospect of studying with a looming deadline, which in many cases caused me to make irrational, last minute study binges.

In December 2016, in an effort to get some support to help with these feelings, I sought out a psycho-educational assessment at the Queen¿¿s Regional Resource and Assessment Centre. Since the assessment¿¿s recent completion, I have been aided greatly by the resources that the Centre gave me access to and put me in contact with.