Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies
Hello, my name is Heejae (Katie) Choi and I am currently a second year Biology major student. I am writing today wishing to appeal to drop BIOL 205 for the fall semester of 2014.
Just to give you a little background about myself, although I am a second year student, this is currently my fourth year at Queen's. I have had quite a journey during the last four years that I would like to share with you in hope for you to understand where I am coming from.
During my first year at Queen's I had great difficulty adapting to my new environment, as well as experiencing a falling out with my housemates. Both events clearly reflected on my grades. I was depressed and was not happy about living, and I was seeing a counsellor from La Salle Services. Coming from a 90 average in high school, a GPA of less than 1.6 was a huge shock for me, causing me to consider dropping out of university as altogether in my following second year to pursue a trade in the Canadian Forces. In the midst of my application to join the Forces, my parents convinced me to rethink my choices and pursue my academic ambitions that I have had for as long as I can remember. Coming back to Queen's as a first year student to repeat my courses under academic probation pushed me to put more effort into my courses. I tried desperately to get back on track. As a result, the following fall, I was released from academic probation and I am currently a Biology major student. Although my best mark amongst first year was Psychology, my grade was not high enough to pursue a Psychology major, and thus pursued Biology since it was the only major my grades allowed.
This fall as I started my studies into Biology, amongst the four courses I took: Anatomy, Biology, Physiology, and Psychology, I had the most struggles with Biology out of all four subjects. I realized Biology was not something that I am interested in and it also showed in my grades. The intricate and complex system of genetics was not something that I was too excited to learn about.
This fall, three weeks into school when the flu virus was going around, I had unfortunately caught the flu and resulted in missing about two weeks of classes (on and off between Sep. 23rd to Oct.10th). After a week of unwillingly being absent from classes, I tried going again for few days, which made my flu symptoms worsen and resulted in another week of missed classes. I tried my best to catch up on my course load, however, with me already having a hard time with Biology 205, I could not really catch up to the lecture speed and the content being covered. In those two weeks, I had missed two Biology labs, unable to do two assignments (Due date were Oct.2nd and 9th), and numerous lectures in total which resulted in me falling behind significantly. For my midterm, I panicked, and attempted to catch up by applying and taking Course Cram, but I was so behind to the point where I was having hard time understanding materials being taught in Course Cram as well. Since my midterm on the October 20th, I have decided to give a week or so on catching up. However with my Anatomy Evaluation and Assurance Test on 22nd and 31st, I had to put more focus on Anatomy, and have completely missed the date to drop the course within the due date of the 31st of October. This past week, I have discussed my problems with my parents and mentors, and came to the decision of dropping the course even with the financial loss on my part.
Going through another academic hardship due to my illness made me realize the mistake I have made of choosing to study Biology this year. Knowing that I was more interested in Psychology, I should have applied to retake PSYC 100 in order to improve my grade to get into Psychology major following fall, however I did not, and the consequence of my poorly made decision kept me dissatisfied. Thus, as per my future plan, I have talked to the academic advisor Spring Forsberg-Lewis (as I have continued to email her since my return to Queen's), and I want to pursue a different major into Psychology. Psychology is something that has always caught my attention and it is something that I have always been interested in. Amongst my first year grades, I achieved highest in Psychology 100, and my highest grade after midterms this fall, was again in Psychology (I am taking Abnormal Psychology as my elective). Moreover, my decision to study Biology was a second choice after Psychology, and to rectify my mistake, I will be putting more effort into switching over to being a Psychology major by taking the course this coming summer, with hope to pursue Psychology as a major for the next fall semester.
I am hoping desperately to drop BIOL 205. If a person falls behind, it is remarkably difficult to catch up, and at this rate, it will be impossible for me to catch up. Even if I could pass at this point, I will not be satisfied with the grade, and I believe I could perform much better under different circumstances. I hope you could see and understand the unfortunate circumstances I was under and, give me permission to drop BIOL 205 for this fall.
I am attaching a self-declaration of illness form with my parent as the witness.
Thank you for your time and consideration
Sincerely,
Heejae (Katie) Choi