Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Julie, I have been suffering a lot due to anxiety in the past semester, more than I care to admit. I had been raised with the mindset where failure is never condoned, and I've been struggling immensely to keep up with work and the course load for ENGL238 despite continually being stressed and anxious. Due to this immense stress I put on myself to keep up with my academic requirements and workload, I have been having frequent high-intensity anxiety attacks, even during class. I had one full-blown anxiety attack in the middle of class that I had not since been able to bring myself to attend class on a regular basis, only able to bring myself to attend when I was less anxious. I had been making efforts, however, to do the readings and all papers and assignments on my own and kept in touch with my profs. However, for the past couple of weeks, I had been overwhelmed with my course workload as a flurry of deadlines and tests became all too imminent, my anxiety attacks increased in frequency, consequently exhausting me mentally and physically. This, in turn, led me to neglect a very important essay past its due date to the point that my professor expressed concern as to whether I will be able to pass the course as the percentage of the essay was quite substantial to make or break my final mark in the course.

Thus, I am faced with this last choice. I had never wanted to fail, and yet here I am. However, my psychologist, academic advisor, and professors are encouraging me that failure is okay and that this is merely a setback. On another note, my psychologist will be sending a letter testifying of the difficulties I've faced this year, my struggles with anxiety, and it getting in the way of my academic performance. All my mentors have also encouraged that I seek intensive therapy and guidance from a psychiatrist, which I am planning on doing for the summer. For you see, I have dreamed and have been passionate about writing and literature for so long, that I had been hoping to take second-year English courses to switch into an English major program by the end of this year, but having a failure of this course on my academic transcript will hinder my path to realizing my dream of being a writer and English teacher.

Which brings me to this last thing I'd like to say: I am confident that I can and will be able to perform way better in the future, as I had good mental health in the past, which makes me confident that I can attain that again. Please accept my appeal to drop the course without penalty, and I'd like to assure you that I won't disappoint and will thank you for giving me hope in being able to graduate with a degree in English and Education.


Yours truly,

Julie Ro