Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear, Dean of Studies

I am sorry in advance for the length of my email but I felt that this was the best way to communicate my situation in a clear and comprehensive manner. I am writing this letter to inquire if there is any possibility that I could be allowed to have a chance to continue my studies at Queen¿¿s University for the Fall 2018 semester. Attending Queen¿¿s has always been a dream of mine and I wholeheartedly wish to continue my studies in the upcoming semester. I understand that my current GPA does not meet the minimum requirement of 0.7. In the event that it does not improve when our final marks are out on Friday of this week, I wanted to get in touch with you ahead of the decision to require me to withdraw and I was wondering if it may be possible that I be granted a chance to return to school in Fall 2018 and improve my academic standing.

I was accepted in 2017. I can still remember the moment when I received my official admission letter. I accepted the offer without hesitating and I was beyond joyful when I was looking forward to starting the next chapter of my life at Queen¿¿s.

I have always been slow to make new friends and I found it difficult to start a conversation or introduce myself to my classmates. I went into the first semester on my own and I found it difficult to follow along during the lectures. I should have been more proactive in seeking classmates who I could form a study group with, but again, I was unsure of my conversational abilities and I unable to make any connections with other students. I did my best in studying and preparing for my exams. I thought that I had given it my all. However, I continue to receive grades that were far below my lowest expectations. After receiving these grades, I was extremely distressed and I started to question my own abilities.

As a result, I lost a great deal of confidence in myself, and I was not sure who I could talk to. My closest mentors, my parents, were thousands of miles away and I had no other support group I could turn to. I looked to online forums in an attempt to try to find others who may have been in the same situation as myself. I was unable to find the help I needed and it felt increasingly more difficult for me to reach out for help.

During the spring term of 2018, I experienced periods in which I was extremely distressed and I found it difficult to sleep at night while reflecting on my failures. As a result of this, I had little energy to stay engaged during my classes and this continued for weeks. As a child of proud Chinese parents, the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint them, who have worked so hard all of their lives just to send me to my dream school, in hopes that I could set out on my own future path.

I was not prepared to meet the challenge of getting rid of the mental and psychological obstacles. I did not realize that it would be such a dramatic change from high school to university in terms of the difficulty of my courses. Also, I did not think that the stress and psychological pressures would affect me in such a drastic and severe manner. I know now that what I should have done was to seek out additional channels for receiving academic and emotional mentoring before taking on additional challenging courses in the spring.

Throughout all of my time at Queen¿¿s, I have loved and thoroughly enjoyed every second of being on this campus. The facilities and the academic environment of the university is perfect for a student such as myself. Many of the world-renowned faculty members and professors have helped shape my vision of how my career will be in the future. All of these elements made Queen¿¿s my dream school and are reasons why I am so passionate about being a part of this university.

I humbly implore you to consider waiving the requirement to withdraw from the university so that I can continue my studies at Queen¿¿s University for this upcoming fall semester. If I was granted permission and given another chance with my current academic status, I know that I will push myself harder than ever before and do everything in my power to become a student that the university would be proud of. Specifically, I will do everything I can to fulfill and exceed the current conditions of my status over the fall term in 2018 and spring term in 2019 in order to bring my status up to a good academic standing.

I completely understand that school regulations were created so that they could be enforced, but if you could find any way at all to allow me to continue at the university for the upcoming semester, I would be forever grateful. I completely understand the importance of having only the best students graduate from our school and I am fully prepared to face the challenges in the next term. I have taken the last few months to reflect on my performance with my parents, friends and my support group to carefully plan out exactly how I will change my studying methods and habits, adhere to a strict studying schedule throughout the Fall semester, and also check-in with my support group on a weekly basis to make sure that I am dealing with any emotional stress as they happen. I have also been in close communication with my advisor, and I plan to work with them to create a detailed plan to bring my grades into good academic standing.

I will also be spending my summer to review all of the courses I took in the fall and spring and try to identify all of the areas in which I did poorly in each course. I also plan to enhance my learning through online platforms such as Coursera and various educational sites in order to fully learn the material and work through as many practice problems as I possibly can to prepare for my studies ahead of time.

I spoke with my parents a few days ago and we had the opportunity to really communicate and they also helped me deal with some of the emotional burdens and stress that I had unknowingly put on myself over the past two semesters. I am now in a better place, and I feel stronger both physically and emotionally and I am confident that I will be able to earn the trust of the school and become an outstanding student of Queen¿¿s University.

I have also analyzed all of the challenges that I faced thus far and I realize now that I was previously poorly equipped to deal with all the psychological pressures as a freshman international student. I am now ready for anything that may come my way in the fall. I sincerely appreciate your time in reviewing my situation. If given another opportunity to prove myself to the university, I am willing to accept any condition if I can be granted a chance to remain at Queen¿¿s University for the Fall 2018 semester and I am eager to begin to make my parents, friends and the university proud.

Sincerely

Yili Wang (20060535)