Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

I would like to appeal for a late-drop for a few courses which I have received Fs in last term, (Fall 2018: PHYS 206, MATH 225, MATH 221) and all courses (Winter 2019: ARTH 215, COMM 200, PHYS 216, GNDS 215) I am currently in, as well as credit-standing for PHYS 242 (Fall 2018) which I also took last term.

I have been dealing with some major mental health issues in general, which have worsened this school year. Last term (Fall 2018), since around October, I wasn¿¿t able to attend many lectures or do the required homework as expected. I only dropped one course at midterm, and hoped the slightly reduced workload would be enough to make it easier to manage; however, it didn¿¿t. I was extremely overwhelmed and have completely given up towards the end of the term. I only attended the finals as a gesture of ¿¿perseverance¿. I only passed one course as it was a prerequisite for many future courses in my program, and I had the most pressure studying for it before the major decline in mental health. In general, I believe that the grades received last term weren¿¿t an accurate representation of my academic abilities, and wish that those courses could be dropped/changed to CR status.

This term, I decided to take a few electives outside of my physics major to take a break from the math based courses, as I wasn¿¿t handling those very well. Around reading week, my mental health issues have gotten a lot worse. I was also put on a different medication for my anxiety, which have caused some side effects such as insomnia making it harder to focus on school. I failed to attend my midterm for PHYS 216, and missed a couple of tests and assignments in the majority of my classes. I dropped PHYS 250, the course that required the most time, at midterm to further lessen the workload. However, this term has still turned out to be too much. I tried to stay in my courses, but was far from being well enough to finish all the work required. It was to be point where, despite actively ¿¿forcing myself¿ to go to class and finish assignments, I just couldn¿¿t.

I felt too overwhelmed and was unable to take much of an action regarding my situation. Which was one of the reasons why I wasn¿¿t able to request to drop the courses earlier.

I actually worked very hard when I could for many courses this year, and was hesitant to drop the courses too since I didn¿¿t want the already finished work to ¿¿go to waste¿. But it really has come to a point where I think dropping all my courses is essential for my health.

While the side effects of my new anxiety medication is wearing off, and I¿¿m starting to seek help from QSAS and private counselling, I believe I am slowly but surely getting better. Although this term is still too much for me to handle, I think I will be able to start fresh next academic year. I have a passion for my major and have done well in the past; however, I plan on taking a mixture of physics and other courses next year in case I decide switching majors is best for my situation. I also plan on taking a more reduced course load next year so I have more time to focus on my health.

Thank you so much for your consideration.


Sincerely,

Ruohan (Olivia) Lu
Student : 20081729