Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies,

I am appealing to receive credit standing in my Math 111, and 121 courses (Fall/Winter, 2018/19). I requesting this based on a serious illness that I had at the time of these final exams, and other factors such as my course load during the year. I understand that these are not listed as the main extenuating circumstances on the academic appeals page, but after reading my letter of request I hope that you understand, and agree that at the time it was.

To begin, going into Queen's I didn't know what I wanted to do as a major, and what my passion was. Although I was enrolled in a BCSH, I decided I would take on courses that interested me in high school, and then go from there. Computer science was my highest mark after leaving The Bishop Strachan School so I thought that might be a good fit. First semester I took, CISC 121, MATH 111, MATH 121, ECON 111, and CHEM 112. I was looking to keep my options open, but by doing so I put myself through a very rigours and heavy course load for a person's first few months at university, living on their own. After finishing first semester I realized Computing was not the path for me, but decided to stick with MATH 121, and MATH 111. I think math is a very important subject although not my strongest, and it is also a prerequisite for many programs. I also learned you need a certain number of credits to pick a major, so I stuck with them since I had already completed half of each course. Dropping these courses was not an option for me because of this. In April, these exams were scheduled for the same day just two hours apart. About a week before the exams I started getting the flu. Most sicknesses only last a couple of days so I decided to wait it out, and see how I was feeling closer to the exams before seeing a doctor to prescribe antibiotics. The day before the exam I spent most of the day trying to find a way to get in contact with the university to explain that I was not in a good condition to be writing six hours of math exams. I had a fever, dry cough, very sore throat, runny nose, and was dizzy if I stood for too long leading up to the exam and on the day of. Since it was Easter weekend (May 22, 2019), everything was closed and I made the decision that it was not an emergency in terms of going to the hospital. This leaves me in the case that I don't have a letter from a professional. I've spoken to a doctor at home but he cannot write me the letter because he did not physically assess me on that day. I spoke to my mother who worked for the dean of medicine at U of T for many years, but is not a doctor. I have also spoken to my aunt the head of the sociology department at Lakehead, because I wanted advice on how to approach this situation. My roommate in engineering had the same flu, which I caught from her. She got her exam moved two hours before he exam because it was during the week when the university was open to assess her situation. To be frank I think that if the university is going to schedule two exams back to back on Easter weekend, that they should be open to accommodate with circumstances like mine. I tried my best given how I was feeling, and if I had had the option to write them when I was feeling 100, I would of. If I had known that I would be appealing for a credit standing I would have gone to the hospital just to have that letter, but I didn't. My exams count as a valid attempt because I didn't notify a proctor how I was feeling. It was not the main thing on my mind during the exams, as you can understand. I've researched the process of these appeals, and note that this weakens the evidence of my explanation, but I hope you can take deeply in consideration what I have just explained, that you can waive the condition of the letter from a professional.

After completing first year, I have more of sense of direction of what I want to do, which will hopefully lessen the weight of my course load as it will be more focused on my major, which I'm better at. I plan to also learn more strategies on exam and note taking, provided by the university, one thing that I feel I should have used more of. Especially for subjects like math which I knew I had to work more at to do better. First year didn't go the direction that I had planned on, but hopefully if you grant my appeal it can be a step in the right direction. I hope that my GPA is not permanently affected just because of a temporary illness that I had for 2 weeks. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter, as I know it's not the only one you've had to read. I hope you can consider my appeal, and hope you have a good summer.

Thanks,
Natasha Jarman
20096337