Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 5889
Submitted: June 10, 2019 at 9:32:30 PM
First Name: Navjeet
Last Name: Veghal
Student Number: 20074183
Email: 17nkv@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BSc
Plan: Undeclared
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Academic Advisors,
My name is Navjeet Veghal. I'm sure there's a decent amount of these types of letters you must read. A decent number of stories and trying to come up with an appropriate academic decision concerning the individual. This letter is supposed to explain why I should continue my studies at Queens in the upcoming Fall/Winter semesters. Unfortunately, like many others, I don't have documentation from any of my doctors. I was told by an academic advisor I could proceed without any documentation from a professional, and I really hope this doesn't affect your final decision after reading my perspective on this matter. If you take a look at my transcript it's an obvious decision to withdraw me and to be fair, looking at it from third person, I would conclude similarly.
In first year, I attended BISC at Herstmonceux. It was a very big change in comparison to my high school, but I decided to experience something different. I started off doing very well and my motivation was at a maximum. After a couple of months, I started experiencing a depression in my academics and mental state. In high school I had a psychologist and a psychiatrist as I was diagnosed with panic disorder, anxiety, and ADHD. I didn't continue seeing my doctors and I soon stopped taking my medications. I found that I had done way better without the medication and support. I have been back and forth with support groups, trying to get to the bottom with what exactly what was wrong with me. I stayed seeing doctors for two years when I just realized enough was enough. I was an honours student within the first two years of high school before I was diagnosed with these mental illnesses. As one should do, I continued attending my psychologist appointments as well as keeping in contact with my psychiatrist. In grade 11 my grades dropped exponentially. My above average grades had dropped to extremely below average. The problem I personally had was not with the grades specifically, but with the fact that after the year was over, I didn't learn a single thing. In my last year of high school, I stopped the mind-numbing medications and stopped seeing my psychologist. Almost all of my experiences I had with the doctors never seemed to benefit me. I realized I couldn't change unless I really wanted to and unless I made the first step. In my last year of high school, I did the best I ever did, with the exception of first semester since I had to pick myself back up again from the previous year. I was told that my below average grades in the sciences and mathematics will ruin all of the chances I had to get into any post-secondary. It was heart breaking to hear because I lived my whole life loving science and math. I loved learning, I didn't care about my grades, I just wanted to learn. I aced my grade 12 courses and ended up attending Queens university. Similarly, I found myself stuck in this never-ending cycle.
In first year, I saw the psycho-therapist at BISC and was roughly diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. It was a real shock to me, but I saw the similarities. I was stuck in this mindset that since I was diagnosed with autism, it gave me the excuse to continue acting the way I was. I was extremely close to getting a withdrawal in first year. I tried hard to pick myself back up again. I realized the issue I had was that every time I received help, I took advantage of it. No matter what new label I had, I just kept thinking of it as an excuse. No matter how many extensions I got, I still never completed the work. My exact issue within university was, that I never had the motivation to get up and actually finish my assignments and homework problems. When it came down to it, I could easily learn 2 month's worth of a course within two days for an exam. I realized that it was not good enough to pass or do the best I could within a course.
Ever since I was a child, I always worked smart, I never knew how to work hard. I knew I was on academic probation coming into my second year. Most academic advisors advised me to go to student services, get the help that I needed. This time, I didn't. I felt sick of everything, nothing ever seemed to help. I knew I couldn't judge all of this off of one bad experience with the doctors. At this point, everything seemed so repetitive, nothing could help someone like me. I couldn't fit into any label. It wasn't that I couldn't learn, I knew deep down I could do 10 times better than what I was doing. My problem was not finishing my work. After first semester, I was mortified looking at my fall term marks. I knew what was about to happen. I deserved it. Most of my courses were full year. I had already tainted my chances of changing anything major with these marks. I was embarrassed that I messed up once more, the fact I couldn't take anything seriously. Second semester, I had a rebellious type of mind set. Of course, my reversed mentality kicked in, and instead of taking a lighter course load, I ended up adding two more. The reason being was, I thought that I was going to get withdrawal one way or another, there's absolutely nothing I could do. So, I ended up taking an extra two courses that I had an interest in. At this point, I wanted to leave Queens knowing I actually learned something. To at least prove to myself that I was worth being in my dream university. I went in to talk to some of my professors. I explained my situation, and I received a crucial amount of support, that I will always be grateful for.
Explaining my situation to people is hard. Everybody sees me in different perspectives. Either I'm a lazy student who doesn't care about academics, or I'm just a lost demotivated student who has no idea where I'm going. Spending time with my professors, they learned the type of student I was. Slowly, without realizing it, in my last semester, I developed so many methods and skills to help me learn with the class, rather than racing to learn everything before an exam. My grades improved in specific classes. Although it was an extreme change for me, I managed to change more than I expected to. I learned more than I thought I would, both academically and personally. I guess it wouldn't show on my transcript since my first semester was incredibly bad, but I know deep down I changed. One of my professors thought of me as an outlier. Someone who doesn't really fit in with the trend of the other students.
My concern was never being the best in the class or getting straight A's. I just wanted to learn, I loved the essence of mathematics and the sciences. At home, I would always learn new theories on my own, I even started writing a paper. My passion has always been to just learn, no matter what grades I got. Of course, given that I knew what I was doing, the grades would automatically come with it. I was more than excited to finish the last of my exams. I was learning so much that I wish that I could just go back in time and ace it in the moment. I got news that my grandfather was extremely sick and in the hospital. I have never had anyone close to me get that sick before. I was in Kingston and my whole family was in Toronto. I was doing so good, but I didn't know how to continue with the given circumstances. I didn't know I could feel the ways I did in that moment. I don't know how I could've focused on school knowing there was nothing I could do 300 km away from home. I just wanted to go home.
Not sleeping for several days, really impacts performance. It might not show, but I've worked extremely hard to break my bad habits in the winter semester. I didn't want to fail chemistry for the 2nd time. I wanted to at least pass the lab component part, so I could retake it in summer school. Of course, that wasn't possible because I had none of my labs finished. I went in and talked to one of the lab coordinators, and by the slimmest of chances, got the opportunity to finish all of the 9 labs. The growth I had went through, aided me in completing all of the labs in the matter of a couple of days and surprisingly acing them.
I know I belong in university. I might have not made the right decisions in the beginning, but I know I have grown a lot. If I stop now, I have no idea what will happen in the next 12 months. Everything I've developed, I don't want to lose. I want to keep moving. I feel confident enough to even say, before I start the fall term, whether it will be this year or next year, I could get my GPA up a significant amount, if not out of academic probation. I don't want to stop learning, I belong in this environment, I don't see myself doing anything else. I hope I can be given the chance to continue university in the upcoming Fall term, and this time, I want to be able to show my abilities and passion throughout the semester. I apologize for the lengthy letter, I needed to really express my situation and how much this means to me. Thank you for your time.
Best,
Navjeet Veghal (20074183)
My name is Navjeet Veghal. I'm sure there's a decent amount of these types of letters you must read. A decent number of stories and trying to come up with an appropriate academic decision concerning the individual. This letter is supposed to explain why I should continue my studies at Queens in the upcoming Fall/Winter semesters. Unfortunately, like many others, I don't have documentation from any of my doctors. I was told by an academic advisor I could proceed without any documentation from a professional, and I really hope this doesn't affect your final decision after reading my perspective on this matter. If you take a look at my transcript it's an obvious decision to withdraw me and to be fair, looking at it from third person, I would conclude similarly.
In first year, I attended BISC at Herstmonceux. It was a very big change in comparison to my high school, but I decided to experience something different. I started off doing very well and my motivation was at a maximum. After a couple of months, I started experiencing a depression in my academics and mental state. In high school I had a psychologist and a psychiatrist as I was diagnosed with panic disorder, anxiety, and ADHD. I didn't continue seeing my doctors and I soon stopped taking my medications. I found that I had done way better without the medication and support. I have been back and forth with support groups, trying to get to the bottom with what exactly what was wrong with me. I stayed seeing doctors for two years when I just realized enough was enough. I was an honours student within the first two years of high school before I was diagnosed with these mental illnesses. As one should do, I continued attending my psychologist appointments as well as keeping in contact with my psychiatrist. In grade 11 my grades dropped exponentially. My above average grades had dropped to extremely below average. The problem I personally had was not with the grades specifically, but with the fact that after the year was over, I didn't learn a single thing. In my last year of high school, I stopped the mind-numbing medications and stopped seeing my psychologist. Almost all of my experiences I had with the doctors never seemed to benefit me. I realized I couldn't change unless I really wanted to and unless I made the first step. In my last year of high school, I did the best I ever did, with the exception of first semester since I had to pick myself back up again from the previous year. I was told that my below average grades in the sciences and mathematics will ruin all of the chances I had to get into any post-secondary. It was heart breaking to hear because I lived my whole life loving science and math. I loved learning, I didn't care about my grades, I just wanted to learn. I aced my grade 12 courses and ended up attending Queens university. Similarly, I found myself stuck in this never-ending cycle.
In first year, I saw the psycho-therapist at BISC and was roughly diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. It was a real shock to me, but I saw the similarities. I was stuck in this mindset that since I was diagnosed with autism, it gave me the excuse to continue acting the way I was. I was extremely close to getting a withdrawal in first year. I tried hard to pick myself back up again. I realized the issue I had was that every time I received help, I took advantage of it. No matter what new label I had, I just kept thinking of it as an excuse. No matter how many extensions I got, I still never completed the work. My exact issue within university was, that I never had the motivation to get up and actually finish my assignments and homework problems. When it came down to it, I could easily learn 2 month's worth of a course within two days for an exam. I realized that it was not good enough to pass or do the best I could within a course.
Ever since I was a child, I always worked smart, I never knew how to work hard. I knew I was on academic probation coming into my second year. Most academic advisors advised me to go to student services, get the help that I needed. This time, I didn't. I felt sick of everything, nothing ever seemed to help. I knew I couldn't judge all of this off of one bad experience with the doctors. At this point, everything seemed so repetitive, nothing could help someone like me. I couldn't fit into any label. It wasn't that I couldn't learn, I knew deep down I could do 10 times better than what I was doing. My problem was not finishing my work. After first semester, I was mortified looking at my fall term marks. I knew what was about to happen. I deserved it. Most of my courses were full year. I had already tainted my chances of changing anything major with these marks. I was embarrassed that I messed up once more, the fact I couldn't take anything seriously. Second semester, I had a rebellious type of mind set. Of course, my reversed mentality kicked in, and instead of taking a lighter course load, I ended up adding two more. The reason being was, I thought that I was going to get withdrawal one way or another, there's absolutely nothing I could do. So, I ended up taking an extra two courses that I had an interest in. At this point, I wanted to leave Queens knowing I actually learned something. To at least prove to myself that I was worth being in my dream university. I went in to talk to some of my professors. I explained my situation, and I received a crucial amount of support, that I will always be grateful for.
Explaining my situation to people is hard. Everybody sees me in different perspectives. Either I'm a lazy student who doesn't care about academics, or I'm just a lost demotivated student who has no idea where I'm going. Spending time with my professors, they learned the type of student I was. Slowly, without realizing it, in my last semester, I developed so many methods and skills to help me learn with the class, rather than racing to learn everything before an exam. My grades improved in specific classes. Although it was an extreme change for me, I managed to change more than I expected to. I learned more than I thought I would, both academically and personally. I guess it wouldn't show on my transcript since my first semester was incredibly bad, but I know deep down I changed. One of my professors thought of me as an outlier. Someone who doesn't really fit in with the trend of the other students.
My concern was never being the best in the class or getting straight A's. I just wanted to learn, I loved the essence of mathematics and the sciences. At home, I would always learn new theories on my own, I even started writing a paper. My passion has always been to just learn, no matter what grades I got. Of course, given that I knew what I was doing, the grades would automatically come with it. I was more than excited to finish the last of my exams. I was learning so much that I wish that I could just go back in time and ace it in the moment. I got news that my grandfather was extremely sick and in the hospital. I have never had anyone close to me get that sick before. I was in Kingston and my whole family was in Toronto. I was doing so good, but I didn't know how to continue with the given circumstances. I didn't know I could feel the ways I did in that moment. I don't know how I could've focused on school knowing there was nothing I could do 300 km away from home. I just wanted to go home.
Not sleeping for several days, really impacts performance. It might not show, but I've worked extremely hard to break my bad habits in the winter semester. I didn't want to fail chemistry for the 2nd time. I wanted to at least pass the lab component part, so I could retake it in summer school. Of course, that wasn't possible because I had none of my labs finished. I went in and talked to one of the lab coordinators, and by the slimmest of chances, got the opportunity to finish all of the 9 labs. The growth I had went through, aided me in completing all of the labs in the matter of a couple of days and surprisingly acing them.
I know I belong in university. I might have not made the right decisions in the beginning, but I know I have grown a lot. If I stop now, I have no idea what will happen in the next 12 months. Everything I've developed, I don't want to lose. I want to keep moving. I feel confident enough to even say, before I start the fall term, whether it will be this year or next year, I could get my GPA up a significant amount, if not out of academic probation. I don't want to stop learning, I belong in this environment, I don't see myself doing anything else. I hope I can be given the chance to continue university in the upcoming Fall term, and this time, I want to be able to show my abilities and passion throughout the semester. I apologize for the lengthy letter, I needed to really express my situation and how much this means to me. Thank you for your time.
Best,
Navjeet Veghal (20074183)
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: If given the chance to continue at Queens University in the upcoming 2019-2020 year, I have come up with a set of goals and plans I will carry on throughout the year. One of my biggest difficulties was being able to finish the coursework. A solution I've come up with, which was very difficult at first, was getting into a routine. There are a specific number of hours I need to put in for different courses. Trying to juggle 5 courses through summer school is nowhere near easy. It's almost a skill that you need to develop. At the beginning, my sleep schedule was all over the place, sometimes I wouldn't see the light of day for weeks. The solution I came up for this is coming up with a specific routine where I could get used to doing work at specific times. Setting specific times for working and eating and leisure time is very important. When I didn't have a routine I would never know when to start and that would increase my procrastination. Having a routine for when school at Kingston starts again, I would need to add in my class schedule and make a routine that would compliment my class, tutorial, and lab times. As of right now I am enrolled in online summer school, so it's quite lenient. Having a routine made for just summer school is a good start to getting ready for my routines in the fall semester. Here is an example of my how my schedule looks at the moment.
Attached as a document.
In complete honesty, this is a very simple schedule, and most of the time, the designated spots I have for courses, I don't need, but I continue trying to perfect in each and every single course. Having a schedule like this makes things easier to keep up with. Not to mention, I have monthly schedules to mark specific due dates, tests, and exams. With this method, everything becomes much more crystal clear and you don't need to keep trying to remember what you need to do for every course in the back of your mind. Leaving leisure time and a having a day off is very important, you need to find a balance in where you can succeed the most, which is how I designed my schedule to keep up with my academics and job. I know that if I could keep up with the 5 courses I have during summer school and a job, and still have a social life and some solitude, I can keep up with my fall term classes and finally perform at my best.
I'm not completely sure if this is the type of thing that must be included in an academic plan, but having a routine, really keeps me sane and intact with reality. There's no rush to finish any assignments or prepare for tests because you have already learned what you need to throughout the week and during the designated times. This way, you can avoid any procrastination and last-minute preparation.
As I am an undeclared student, I would love to major in physics and minor in life sciences. Although this may seem very hard, these are the easiest courses for me. I know I didn't display that throughout my grades, but throughout this summer, I've been taking a numerous amount of life science courses, and with the schedule, I have been able to go at my best pace and most of the time, go further than the content intended for that week. I am also doing my own research with physics and mathematics. With some of the stuff I missed during my calculus and PHYS104 class, I go over and learn all over again so I wouldn't have any difficulty with continuing with these courses. I am confident that this type of schedule will work in the upcoming year because it is working very good with my summer school. I am more than excited to try it out with my fall term classes, which I will attend because my sleep schedule would complement my class timings. That way I could attend my classes and avoid the issue of falling behind. This schedule is specially designed so that I could actually learn some of the courses contents before even attending the lecture. After experimenting with some methods, I found that I perform extremely well when I learn some concepts before even walking into class, and this schedule will allow me to do that.
As mentioned previously, I did not have a problem with the course content, it was always the course load and assignments. I can easily finish an assignment within the span of two hours, but when all of them started piling on top of each other, that's when I experienced my greatest down fall and came to the realization I had to work hard at the same time and not just work smart all of the time. My schedule in the last two years was messy, in fact, I never even made one. With this schedule now, I have designated time to finish what I need to finish for every course, and it's much less stressful than doing multiple assignments at the same time.
I am also willing to visit Student Academic Success Services. Maybe not for any sort of therapy but having someone there that I could inform about how I'm doing with my course load and courses would be beneficial. This way, I don't feel like I can take advantage of anything, I could just come in and talk about how I'm doing. Having that type of support would be beneficial for me, instead of feeling like I'm getting a bunch of extensions when they're not needed. This will avoid the cycle from repeating.
As I am still continuing with my summer school courses till August, I am very well aware that I will come up with even more methods and perfect in some of these skills. Every single day, I'm developing into a much more successful student than I ever was. Words cannot express how excited I am to continue learning, taking more courses and expanding my mind. I love challenges, and now that I've unlocked the secret to my personal success, I am confident to say, I'm most likely going to be out of academic probation before classes commence of Fall 2019. I am well aware that this is a very bold statement, but I really know it's finally my time to shine and perform my maximum at this university. My roommate of two years has provided a letter on my behalf explaining my circumstances from her perspective. I'd like to thank you once more for giving me the opportunity to express my side of the story, and hopefully I can continue learning in September.
Attached as a document.
In complete honesty, this is a very simple schedule, and most of the time, the designated spots I have for courses, I don't need, but I continue trying to perfect in each and every single course. Having a schedule like this makes things easier to keep up with. Not to mention, I have monthly schedules to mark specific due dates, tests, and exams. With this method, everything becomes much more crystal clear and you don't need to keep trying to remember what you need to do for every course in the back of your mind. Leaving leisure time and a having a day off is very important, you need to find a balance in where you can succeed the most, which is how I designed my schedule to keep up with my academics and job. I know that if I could keep up with the 5 courses I have during summer school and a job, and still have a social life and some solitude, I can keep up with my fall term classes and finally perform at my best.
I'm not completely sure if this is the type of thing that must be included in an academic plan, but having a routine, really keeps me sane and intact with reality. There's no rush to finish any assignments or prepare for tests because you have already learned what you need to throughout the week and during the designated times. This way, you can avoid any procrastination and last-minute preparation.
As I am an undeclared student, I would love to major in physics and minor in life sciences. Although this may seem very hard, these are the easiest courses for me. I know I didn't display that throughout my grades, but throughout this summer, I've been taking a numerous amount of life science courses, and with the schedule, I have been able to go at my best pace and most of the time, go further than the content intended for that week. I am also doing my own research with physics and mathematics. With some of the stuff I missed during my calculus and PHYS104 class, I go over and learn all over again so I wouldn't have any difficulty with continuing with these courses. I am confident that this type of schedule will work in the upcoming year because it is working very good with my summer school. I am more than excited to try it out with my fall term classes, which I will attend because my sleep schedule would complement my class timings. That way I could attend my classes and avoid the issue of falling behind. This schedule is specially designed so that I could actually learn some of the courses contents before even attending the lecture. After experimenting with some methods, I found that I perform extremely well when I learn some concepts before even walking into class, and this schedule will allow me to do that.
As mentioned previously, I did not have a problem with the course content, it was always the course load and assignments. I can easily finish an assignment within the span of two hours, but when all of them started piling on top of each other, that's when I experienced my greatest down fall and came to the realization I had to work hard at the same time and not just work smart all of the time. My schedule in the last two years was messy, in fact, I never even made one. With this schedule now, I have designated time to finish what I need to finish for every course, and it's much less stressful than doing multiple assignments at the same time.
I am also willing to visit Student Academic Success Services. Maybe not for any sort of therapy but having someone there that I could inform about how I'm doing with my course load and courses would be beneficial. This way, I don't feel like I can take advantage of anything, I could just come in and talk about how I'm doing. Having that type of support would be beneficial for me, instead of feeling like I'm getting a bunch of extensions when they're not needed. This will avoid the cycle from repeating.
As I am still continuing with my summer school courses till August, I am very well aware that I will come up with even more methods and perfect in some of these skills. Every single day, I'm developing into a much more successful student than I ever was. Words cannot express how excited I am to continue learning, taking more courses and expanding my mind. I love challenges, and now that I've unlocked the secret to my personal success, I am confident to say, I'm most likely going to be out of academic probation before classes commence of Fall 2019. I am well aware that this is a very bold statement, but I really know it's finally my time to shine and perform my maximum at this university. My roommate of two years has provided a letter on my behalf explaining my circumstances from her perspective. I'd like to thank you once more for giving me the opportunity to express my side of the story, and hopefully I can continue learning in September.
Documentation
Professional Letter: Supporting Doc..docx
Professional Letter Detail: Letter from roommates perspective
Document: Summer Schedule.pdf
Documentation Detail: Academic Plan Routine Schedule