Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: This is a difficult letter for me to write and I fully respect whatever decision you will make.

I am reaching out with an appeal to strike the three failed grades off of my academic record.

During my time at Queen¿¿s University, I have been struggling with mental health issues. I had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression from an early age, and while my symptoms were previously under relative control, following the beginning of my studies at Queen¿¿s, the intensity of these mental illnesses has greatly increased. My symptoms caused great difficulty completing work, attending class, as well as my overall ability to concentrate. The worsening in my mental health also caused an influx of psychosomatic migraines in addition to my already-prevalent migraine disability. All these conditions made it excessively difficult to excel or even participate academically.

I am truly passionate about learning which makes my present inability to develop myself academically a deeply frustrating and saddening occurrence. I truly believe that with the proper care and with time to heal, I could excel academically. Unfortunately I do not believe that I am able to complete the necessary personal changes within the school environment.

So, instead I will be taking the year off, away from school, in order to complete deep work on my mental health. Under the care of my psychiatrist, we have begun reevaluating my medications, as well as working towards identifying and dealing with the mental blocks I have been experiencing. However, I¿¿m keenly aware that true healing is not something a psychiatrist can simply prescribe, which is why I¿¿m focusing on all areas of my health ¿¿ including mindfulness, diet, exercise, and counseling ¿¿ in order to bolster these recovery efforts.

In the future, once I have overcome the current health challenges, I also plan to pursue studies in art and design. But I worry that my failures at Queen¿¿s will have a large negative impact on my ability to apply for further studies in those areas to various other institutions of higher learning. Having a clean record from my time at Queen¿¿s would be tremendously helpful in achieving this goal, as it would unlock opportunities for admission that I could take advantage of once I am myself again.

I truly yearn for the day when I will return to my academic pursuits and contribute back to the society and culture that has given me so much support.

I understand that this is a difficult request to answer, and I will of course respect whatever decision you ultimately make. If you are able to strike the three F-grades that currently exist off of my transcript ¿¿ perhaps removing the classes entirely from the record ¿¿ I would be extremely grateful.


Thank you in advance,

Ariana Kuperman
20019012 ¿