Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing this letter as I would like to file an appeal to late drop my Biology 103 course that I took during the winter semester, 2019.

I have been struggling with ADHD since my start at Queen¿¿s University, with multiple instances where I changed my medications. Up until the winter semester of 2019, I had been taking extended-release medication for ADHD, specifically Concerta. I had various issues with side effects from this medication such as loss of appetite, and inability to feel at ease, and these side effects were increasing consistently. That is why I discontinued my use of ADHD medication (Concerta) from the beginning of the winter semester until February 12, 2019, as outlined in my Doctor¿¿s letter that is attached to this appeal file. When I had signed up for the biology 103 course back in the fall semester, I was not anticipating the side effects of Concerta to increase, and hence I did not think my academic abilities would suffer due to discontinuing the medication.

My ability to focus in my Biology 103 lecture was severely impacted during the period up until February 12, 2019. This is due to the lecture being made of almost entirely first-year students, and the constant bickering/talking in the lecture severely impacted my ability to learn. Especially because I was off of medications entirely, I was not able to effectively learn or focus in lecture. Additionally, Biology 103 had a lab component to the course and I was not able to have enough sustained attention to focus and do well in the in-class labs for the course. That is why after a month of studying with no medication, I went to the doctor on February 12, 2019, and did a trial of a new medication, Vyvanse. I had the same negative side effects, if not worse side effects while I was on Vyvanse. I could not tolerate the medication, and I visited the doctor again on February 26, 2019, in order to discuss a new medication. Up until this point I had been severely disadvantaged through the first half of the semester, as I was off of medication until February 12, and until February 26 I suffered very debilitating side effects from the Vyvanse which took away greatly from my academic performance in Biology 103 and overall well being.

My other courses, cognitive psychology, research methods, and online French, did not have lab portions, and hence I did not suffer the consequences of my ADHD affected my ability to do well in a lab as it requires sustained controlled attention. Additionally, my two psychology courses were upper year courses, and hence the lecture halls were significantly easier to focus in and allowed me to absorb a much greater amount of material as my peers were significantly more mature and quieter during lectures. My French course was online, and I was able to be in solitude whilst learning and working on the course, hence my ADHD did not affect my performance in this course at all either.

On February 26, I was switched to a short-acting ADHD medication, namely, Ritalin. The day after, being February 27, I picked up the medication and started taking it. I had high hopes that the short-acting form would provide me with better relief of ADHD symptoms and I started taking the medication. After a week of being on the medication, it was March 6, and I had seen great improvements in my ability to concentrate and focus on my Biology course. However, I had only newly become capable of focusing and learning properly in lecture/lab after over half of the semester was already done. Even with my increased ability to learn in lectures I was realistically not going to be able to complete the course to the best of my ability due to not learning properly for over half of the semester. I wanted to give the new medication a chance, so I did not drop the biology course before March 1, as it had only been 2 days since being on the new medication. I had to make the decision to refocus my abilities onto the other 3 courses that I was enrolled in, since I had been learning properly throughout the entire semester in these courses. I did not write the exam for biology 103 as I was focused on at the minimum, doing my best in the other courses. For this reason, I did significantly better in my other courses, with grades being B+, A-, A-. However, for biology, I received an F, as I did not write the exam, and had also done poorly in the other course work from the beginning of the semester as I was not capable of focusing properly due to the impact of my ADHD symptoms on information absorption in lecture, and performance in sustained attention tasks in the labs.

As I was dealing with the adjustment of my medication only 2 days before the course drop deadline, I was not in a position to be able to accurately judge whether or not my new medication would allow me to complete my biology course to the best of my ability. Transitioning to new medications take a minimum of a week to occur, and by that time it was several days past the drop deadline, and I had already missed out on learning over half of the course. I was successful in my other courses due to one of them being online, and the fact that I was actually able to focus in lectures, and that they did not have a lab component. For these reasons, I believe that the severity and impact of my health condition lead to enough evidence to support a late drop request for my Biology 103 course.

Kind Regards,
Arian Sattari
20065450