Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean concerned,



I am writing to explain a set of extenuating circumstances that has affected my academic performance throughout this academic year. I hope that this information will be taken into consideration in order to appeal my final grades and to receive a credit standing or to take any other option deemed appropriate for my situation in order to register into the program of my choice. Enclosed with this letter are documents to support this appeal.



Unfortunately, I was unaware that my OCD and ADHD that I had begun to relapse throughout this year and it was only until December that I did realize that. Over the course of the year, my symptoms had worsened and as a result, I had a poor academic performance. I also later found out this relapse may have been due to a combination of academic stress and also that my family doctor took me off my medication far too early prior to the beginning of the school year.



Furthermore, for some time I was taking a 6th course in the second term: APSC161. My original plan was to transfer into Engineering. I had requested this course and gotten approval well before the start of the second term, and at that time I believed I could handle the overall workload. Due to all the trouble that was going on, Aphra Rogers, who had been helping me before the school year even started, suggested that I drop the course and focus on all the other courses. So I did, and around the same time in February I finally saw a psychiatrist, Dr. O'Brien at Providence Care, here in Kingston.



Since the academic year was nearly over, there was not enough time to determine the best medication and dosage to recover, however I was hopeful that something would work out. Unfortunately, the dosages were not making much of an improvement and many had side-effects that also affected my ability to perform in class and on exams. On top of that, the week prior to Reading Week, I suffered from a concussion which made it even more difficult as I was a few weeks behind trying to catch up on academic work.



I realized there was a slim chance that I would recover and boost all my grades before the end of the year and I tried my best to do so. I sought help from multiple academic advisors, doctors, friends, professors and received a few accommodations to help myself out. Dr. Fraser, my physics professor, had been helping me out constantly throughout the year, which I'd like to contribute to the reason why my Physics mark ended up better than all the other courses. Sadly, in the end it did not work out given the nature and timing of the situation. As a result of all theses issues, I failed my exams and two courses, while receiving mediocre grades in my other courses. I ended up with an overall GPA of 0.8 at the end of the term.



Now another issue that I am facing is in regards towards my academic plan for the future. I've spoken to Joyce Hunter at Student Services, and she has recommended that my plan at the moment is to register in a program I can get automatically accepted into at the moment, and to then appeal in order to enroll in the program I wish to go into. After careful consideration, I now plan to go into Physics with a specialization in Astrophysics.



I do not have knowledge of what options are best for me; whether I can take credit standing, if I sadly need to repeat first year, or any other course of action that I can take at this point. However, I've written this letter to you in order appeal my grades in hopes of becoming registered in the program and to let you know that I am capable of being successful, despite the setbacks I've gone through. I have e-mailed my instructors for the two failed courses, CHEM112 and GEOL104, but I will attach documentation later on if they support my request for CR in those two.



At the moment I am actually doing quite a lot better thanks to the current medication I am on. Now that the school year is over, I will be able to recover properly over the summer. I do believe I have the capability to take on the workload and courses that I am planning to do. Now that I realize these issues do have chances of returning, I will be working closely with my psychiatrist and Disability Services in order to receive the proper accommodations I need to make sure this does not happen again in the future and to also ensure my success while at Queen's.



I apologize for the length of this letter, I have done my best to keep it brief and detailed as possible for you. Please let me know if you require further information or if you have any questions. I appreciate your time and consideration.



Sincerely,
Tayyab Jafar.