Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 5874
Submitted: June 10, 2019 at 10:34:46 AM
First Name: Bo
Last Name: Zhang
Student Number: 20071140
Email: 17bz1@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BA
Plan: LLCU
Level of Study: 1
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear to Whom It May Concerns,
I am writing to appeal the decision of withdrawing me a year from the Faculty of Arts and Science.
I am making this appeal on the basis of my personal problems and here are the following reasons that I think contributed to my academic performance.
I am an international student from China. It was my first-time leaving home to study at a foreign university here in Canada. This was definitely a huge life change for me, not only I had to deal with my school works, but also had to spend a lot of free time settling down here at Kingston. My first language is not English and I believe my limited English skills is one of the reasons that I did not do so great in first year. Although I had spent most my high school studying English, it is still quite different from applying it to university courses. I often found myself spending lots of my class time looking up English words in the dictionary. As soon I found myself lagging behind in some of my courses in first year, I have started to find help. For example, I tried meeting up with my professors and TAs during office hours. I also joined study groups with my friends. I even tried finding a Chinese tutor that can explain my class materials in Mandarin. In addition, I often find myself isolated from the local students here. It is a very big culture shock for me. During groups work, when others are talking about their lives here, I can never join their conversations because I just don¿¿t know what are they talking about. My friends recommend me the English conversation group that they offered at QUIC. However, I went there once and found it not to be very helpful for me. I had to spend extra times studying than my peers. For instance, if an assignment is indicated to take about an hour, it would take my three hours because I had to spend a lot of times fixing my grammar. I had some local friends that offered to help me with my grammar, but it is not possible to ask them every time. So, I mostly rely on programs like Grammarly. The progress is just so slow, and I felt that I am terrified to talk to my classmates because I think my English is so horrible, I often feel anxiety and shaking when I talk them.
I think another reason for my unsatisfying performance would be my mental health. Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, my parents had beyond imageable expectations for me to succeed. They are also my main source of income, they pay for my tuition and all my expenses here. I don¿¿t want disappoint them so I often felt guilty if I did not work hard enough. This perhaps led me into a vicious cycle. I tried to going to the consul they offered here, but I couldn¿¿t communicate with them fluently and I don¿¿t think they would have a great understanding of the cultural reasons behind my anxiety and stress. And now I back in China, I have already seen a professional therapist. I have appointments twice a month and my therapist also agreed to facetime me regularly when I am back to Canada.
I think I am still improving and just need time to prove myself. As you can see from my transcript, my individual GPA of each term is slowly increasing. I went from a GPA of 0.82 in first year to a GPA of 2.42 in second year. It was just my cumulative GPA that was lagging behind. If I was given enough time, I would be able to overcome all the obstacles. If I am required to withdraw from my program for a year, I believe it would do more harm than benefit. I would have to stay in China, where I would not be able to continue to improve my English skills. If I stayed back home, it would be a constant reminder to my parents that ¿¿I have failed in school¿. They would not understand the hard work that I have put in to improve my studies. My parents are just so focused on the result. This is definitely going to take a toll on my mental health. Just thinking about this, makes my extremely anxious.
When I first came here for university, I am determined in receiving a better education than at home. I also understood the extra hard work I would need to put in. I really hope that I can continue my studying and improve upon the two years of foundations.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Bo Zhang
I am writing to appeal the decision of withdrawing me a year from the Faculty of Arts and Science.
I am making this appeal on the basis of my personal problems and here are the following reasons that I think contributed to my academic performance.
I am an international student from China. It was my first-time leaving home to study at a foreign university here in Canada. This was definitely a huge life change for me, not only I had to deal with my school works, but also had to spend a lot of free time settling down here at Kingston. My first language is not English and I believe my limited English skills is one of the reasons that I did not do so great in first year. Although I had spent most my high school studying English, it is still quite different from applying it to university courses. I often found myself spending lots of my class time looking up English words in the dictionary. As soon I found myself lagging behind in some of my courses in first year, I have started to find help. For example, I tried meeting up with my professors and TAs during office hours. I also joined study groups with my friends. I even tried finding a Chinese tutor that can explain my class materials in Mandarin. In addition, I often find myself isolated from the local students here. It is a very big culture shock for me. During groups work, when others are talking about their lives here, I can never join their conversations because I just don¿¿t know what are they talking about. My friends recommend me the English conversation group that they offered at QUIC. However, I went there once and found it not to be very helpful for me. I had to spend extra times studying than my peers. For instance, if an assignment is indicated to take about an hour, it would take my three hours because I had to spend a lot of times fixing my grammar. I had some local friends that offered to help me with my grammar, but it is not possible to ask them every time. So, I mostly rely on programs like Grammarly. The progress is just so slow, and I felt that I am terrified to talk to my classmates because I think my English is so horrible, I often feel anxiety and shaking when I talk them.
I think another reason for my unsatisfying performance would be my mental health. Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, my parents had beyond imageable expectations for me to succeed. They are also my main source of income, they pay for my tuition and all my expenses here. I don¿¿t want disappoint them so I often felt guilty if I did not work hard enough. This perhaps led me into a vicious cycle. I tried to going to the consul they offered here, but I couldn¿¿t communicate with them fluently and I don¿¿t think they would have a great understanding of the cultural reasons behind my anxiety and stress. And now I back in China, I have already seen a professional therapist. I have appointments twice a month and my therapist also agreed to facetime me regularly when I am back to Canada.
I think I am still improving and just need time to prove myself. As you can see from my transcript, my individual GPA of each term is slowly increasing. I went from a GPA of 0.82 in first year to a GPA of 2.42 in second year. It was just my cumulative GPA that was lagging behind. If I was given enough time, I would be able to overcome all the obstacles. If I am required to withdraw from my program for a year, I believe it would do more harm than benefit. I would have to stay in China, where I would not be able to continue to improve my English skills. If I stayed back home, it would be a constant reminder to my parents that ¿¿I have failed in school¿. They would not understand the hard work that I have put in to improve my studies. My parents are just so focused on the result. This is definitely going to take a toll on my mental health. Just thinking about this, makes my extremely anxious.
When I first came here for university, I am determined in receiving a better education than at home. I also understood the extra hard work I would need to put in. I really hope that I can continue my studying and improve upon the two years of foundations.
Thank you for taking the time to consider my appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Bo Zhang
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: For my future plan, I will retake some of my courses in following year. My major is World Language Studies which means I need to take language courses. When I retake Spanish, my plan is as the following. I will plan about how many words should I remember every day. Speaking is the most important part to study languages. I think to gain better grade, I need to answer questions in class actively, and no more fear to find professor and tutor, to join study group like what I have do before, and have more communications with group partners. I also need to study after classes. I will have a better planning of my free time.
In addition, strategies are important as well. I found that I am often confused about how to remember the new words. I struggle to remember words. To find better ways to remember my words, it is also important to talk with my professors. Moreover, maybe meeting up with my academic advisors would be a great idea.
In addition, strategies are important as well. I found that I am often confused about how to remember the new words. I struggle to remember words. To find better ways to remember my words, it is also important to talk with my professors. Moreover, maybe meeting up with my academic advisors would be a great idea.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: NO DOC
History
Originally submitted June 10, 2019 at 10:34:46 AM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | Withdrawn | Carrie Roosenmaalen | 2019-06-10 2:05:10 PM |