Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello,

I was a student at Queen's between 2008 and 2010. I'm appealing to have a failed course dropped from my transcript. The reason for this request is that I was unable to succeed academically due to mental health issues, most notably social anxiety and depression. These disorders prevented me from engaging in my studies effectively. My anxiety was so acute that I was unable to attend lectures without feelings of panic and paranoia, while my depression obscured any kind of vision of success for myself, which caused apathy towards my studies. My mental health issues were not properly diagnosed until after I had dropped out of university. Had I been diagnosed at the time, I might have been mentally capable of succeeding at school. Although my overall studies were impacted, one course was particularly affected - MATH110 (linear algebra). I stopped attending lectures well before the drop date and had no intentions of completing it, and yet I never dropped the course. It was conscious decision to punish myself and to validate my feelings of depression and only being worthy of a failing grade. That decision has had grave consequences, as it counts as a 0 for my GPA. Although I ended up completing my bachelor of science with honours at U of T with above-average grades and was planning to apply to medical school, this one mark brings my GPA below the minimum cutoff of 3.0 to apply to my program of choice. I am appealing to have this course waived from my transcript to give me the opportunity to pursue my dreams of medical school and to put my troubled past of mental health behind me.