Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),
My name is Michelle Nyamekye. My student number is 10188766 and my netid is 14mn42. I am emailing you because I am appealing to drop PSYC 203 (Winter, 2017).

The reason for this appeal is that I had mood functioning challenges that prevented me from completing the course to the best of my normal abilities. I had a rough year all around, but it was after reading week that my mood functioning problems peaked. I lost energy to do most of my normal responsibilities. I lacked the motivation to get out of bed, not just for class, but also eat. The lack of motivation my low mood caused, resulted in missed classes, missed labs, an inability to do my textbook readings, and trouble doing assignments. The missed classes, labs, and inability to do my readings, had an impact on my first assignment in the class, which sent me on a downward spiral for the rest of the course. This first assignment was due in week seven, which is the time where I hit a low in terms of my mood. I had trouble finishing the assignment, resulting in a -20 late penalty, which took my mark below 50. For the following assignment, which was due week ten, I was more pro-active, and got a two-day extension to help me complete it on time, but like previously mentioned, I had no energy to go to my classes or labs, so I had trouble getting the assignment started. This lead to my frustration in my abilities and eventually I crashed and gave up. Then, I reached out to my TA to inform him of my situation, and I was told that the prof was made aware of my situation, but no one got back to me. From there, I reached out to my faculty academic advisor, Vicky Andrews, to make an appointment to figure out my plans for my degree in the following year because with my marks, I couldn't continue with a psychology degree. She heard about the struggles I was having, and got me set up with a counselor, Whitney Babcock. I would have gone in when my problem first arose, but at the beginning of the year, I had a negative experience with the counselling services, which deterred me from going back. I went in for three sessions, once a week starting April 10, and she helped me come up with a plan for finishing up the school year, since I had 2 assignments in other classes I was struggling with. Once those were done and before my PSYC 203 exam, we had a meeting to see where I was at. I explained that I had mood problems that affected our proposed completion date, which cut into my studying time and left me unprepared and stressed, so we talked about appealing to drop the course.

Part of the agreement for the help I'm receiving from Whitney, is for me to check in with her at the beginning of the next school year, as well as throughout the year. I will also go see learning strategies at the beginning of the school year to get some tips that will help me stay on top of my work, even if I have low motivation due to low mood.