Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: 3 November 2014
Re: Associate Dean (Studies)

To whom it may concern:

I am a first year student appealing to drop first level German for the Fall 2014 semester. The course code is: GRMN 101

I am appealing to drop this course as I missed the posted deadline. I am fully aware that the last day to drop all first term courses was this past Friday, October 31st. I also understand that the circumstances permitting a student to have an appeal accepted must be severe due to the undoubtedly large amount of students who wish to drop a course this term. Nevertheless, I hope you will understand my situation and consider accepting my appeal.

I was a full-time French immersion student from kindergarten to high school during my public education career and received an honours certificate in this area at the time of my graduation. I am not fluent in any other foreign languages but have a passion for travelling and a strong desire to connect with other cultures, so pursuing German as a new language which I had no prior experience in seemed like a great fit for my first year university schedule.

However, once I began the course, I found it exceedingly difficult to grasp the language and keep up with the coursework. This caused an excessive amount of fear and anxiety in knowing that I could possibly fail the course and disappoint a lot of people, including my family. I had expected myself to grasp the concept of a new language well due to my background experience in French, but unfortunately this was not the case. I continued to do poorly on tests and assignments, and began avoiding the coursework all together due to the overwhelming stress it caused me.

During the week prior to the appeal deadline, I was under an extreme amount of stress and could not stop thinking about the course and whether or not I should decide to drop it. I knew that if I continued doing poorly, I would likely fail the course and create a bigger problem for myself, but I did not want to give up entirely. Eventually, I decided that I would drop the course on Friday evening (the 31st) because I could not handle the idea of dealing with the associated anxiety any longer.

I cannot begin to explain the amount of anger I felt towards myself when I woke up on Saturday morning and realized that I had completely forgotten about Friday¿¿s deadline. There was no significantly important event that occurred on Friday which caused me to forget about the course dropping deadline, it was just an irresponsible accident on my part. I understand that you likely receive countless emails regarding many similar situations, but please consider the fact that I am a first-year student only having moved here less than two months ago and am still having some difficulty with the transition towards living on my own and dealing with new and unfamiliar responsibilities, in addition to the stress and anxiety I was feeling due to the pressure from this course. Regardless, I am not asking for your sympathy and please understand that despite the fact that I am dealing with an increased amount of anxiety and stress due to this course, I admit that my inability to meet the deadline was my fault entirely. I hope that you will appreciate my honesty in this.

Although my struggles in this course have negatively affected me, I do not have any increased amount of self-doubt in my academic success and I know that I can still do well and get past this minor difficulty. I promise, if given the chance, I will do whatever I can to make up for this course, either by taking six classes next semester or attending summer school. I still have a passion for learning a new language, however with the overwhelming stress I¿¿ve received through doing poorly in this course, I really cannot proceed with this German class any further.

I do not have a medical note as my anxiety was not professionally diagnosed, however I did briefly receive counselling in my ninth grade of high school and I have attached a letter from my mother confirming this. I had a similar difficulty associated with anxious school-related feelings which resulted in me missing a substantial amount of class, but fortunately I managed to get past the issue and lift myself back up by pushing myself and prioritizing my academics. I would be more than willing to meet with an advisor or Dean to further explain my situation in detail. I will also do whatever it takes to ensure that I can drop this course and no longer have to worry about being in this predicament.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my concerns and explain my situation. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Claire Duffy
Student number: 10146242