Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

My name is Lianne Orlowski, student number 10204124 and currently in my 4th year studying Software Design. I am writing this letter to appeal two of my courses that I took this past semester of Fall 2018, which I failed. These courses are CISC 435 and CISC 422.

The reason I am appealing these courses is due to mental health related reasons, such as extreme stress, depression, severe anxiety and a bit of insomnia. I have been struggling with these issues for a while but this past semester was extremely difficult for me. It was difficult for me to go to classes, do work, or anything really related to school that was not the bare minimum. Going to class gave me anxiety because I did not understand what was being taught, and eventually I missed so much that going to class seemed futile. Asking for help also gave me anxiety because I felt as though missing all this work was my fault and was embarrassed to get the help I needed. The thought of the amount of work I had to catch up on made me extremely stressed, which lead to panic attacks which made it not possible for me to focus on the work I had to do. I realized that I do not particularly enjoy what I am studying, and therefore made going to the previously mentioned classes even more difficult to go to, and why my other courses were okay. The grades in the other courses also suffered, as they were not as good as I have done in the past, but I managed to at least pass them. I thought that I would be able to some how pull through on my computing courses and catch up on the work, but that never happened because I kept getting into the downward spiral of anxiety and stress which made me more depressed about my situation and everything going on.