Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),
I hereby submit this letter of appeal to drop Anat215 ( Fall 2017), Chem281 (Fall 2017) and for credit standings for the following subjects: Phgy 214 (6.0 Units),Physics 117( 6.0 Units) Bchem 218( Fall2017) and Micr221 (Winter 2018). I pursued my Associate Degree in Natural Science in July 2017 at T.A Marryshow Community College, Grenada, where I grew up. I then moved to Canada as a second year transfer student to start my program; Bachelor of Science (Hons.) (Life Science) at Queen¿¿s University in September 2017. Here, I faced many challenges which impacted my academic performance.
Firstly, I was in a city where I absolutely had nobody and I felt alone. I lived off campus with one other roommate. My roommate and I did not have a very good relationship and it was stressful. She always left the apartment dirty and never did her chores, causing me to feel very uncomfortable. At the same time, I felt alone as I had nobody to talk to and pressured to do well in school. I was also new to the system so I was in the process of adapting. There were resources that the school offered that I did not know about because I was not aware of it and did not have that back home.
After realizing my grades were starting to drop, I reached out to Dr.McKenzie; The Professor of Anat 215 for advice. I spoke to him to let him know what I was going through and he arranged accommodation for me and he advised that I speak to an academic advisor. I did not want to drop the course because I felt like I still had a chance of passing once I studied. I tried very hard and used all the resources I could to pass the course but I did not succeed. Also, a few days before the Chem 281 midterm, I fell sick due to the change in atmosphere so was unable to write it. I contacted the professor to let him know and he rearranged for me to write the exam the following Monday. However, I did not pass the midterms because I still had a chance to pass the course. I went to course cram to aid in the preparation for the finals but however, still did not pass the course. During final exams season for Fall 2017, I was extremely stressed out due to my hectic timetable and back to back exams three days in a row. I also was very worried about passing the courses and hence, was unable to focus on properly studying. I found out the night before physics 117 that I had fail chem281 and this distracted me from preparing for physics 117 finals.
I then spoke with my academic advisor to see what I could have done about failing anat215 and chem281. I decided to speak to both the professors again to see if they can look over my papers or for reweighting but this was not possible for Chem281. On numerous occasions I reached out to Dr.Mckenzie for updated regarding anat215 and reviewing/reweighting exams but he did not get back to me.
During Winter 2018, I started seeing a counselor to help me through my transition and problems I was having with my family as well. I made some friends, also changed my study routines (studied in groups, made notes everyday and studied atleast 2 weeks before a midterm). I also reached out to all my professors for each courses for advice on how to study and how to approach the questions. I started seeing some improvements in my marks (I started to pass) but I was still stressed and anxious before exams because I was scared of failing again. I was also experiencing family issues back at home which distracted me from school and affected my grades but counselling helped me through.
I am hence appealing to drop the courses Chem281 and Anat215 late but I will be retaking chem281 and taking stats263 to make up for anat215 during the summer period and credit standings for Phgy 214 (6.0 Units),Physics 117( 6.0 Units) Bchem 218( Fall2017) and Micr221 (Winter 2018).To succeed in my future studies, I plan to take a lighter course load, communicate with professors and maintain regular meetings with my counselor.
Thank You for considering this appeal. Looking forward to a positive response.

Sincerely,
Anni Patel
Student Number: 20086917