Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am appealing to drop BCHM 310 (Fall/Winter, 2018-2019) after the drop deadline has passed. Due to circumstances beyond my control this past year, I feel as though my academic performance in the class suffered. Thank you for taking the time to review my appeal.

During the second semester of my third year, I was put into a difficult situation that affected my academic performance greatly. First, I was faced with the health decline and eventual death of my closest family friend, Theresa. During the winter semester, I found myself travelling from Kingston to Toronto often to visit her. These visits, although necessary, took away time I would have otherwise used to study and prepare for my courses. During study sessions, I would often find myself feeling guilty for continuing my studies instead of offering support to her and her family. I found it hard to be alone for long amounts of time and even harder to regain focus after break periods, both of which are crucial for the detail-oriented and complex study of biochemistry. The real difficulty came as she passed away suddenly right before the final exam. In turn, I had to postpone my exam until May. However, studying during this time of grieving proved to be extremely challenging and I did not succeed when the time came to write. The exam was worth a large portion of my final mark and took a toll on my final grade in the class.

BCHM 310 had the largest and toughest workload of any course I took in 3rd year. In addition to multiple weekly lectures, I fell behind on time consuming labs and lab write-ups as I was trying to balance returning home and continuing my studying. BCHM 310 was the only full year course I took this year. In my mind, it was better to push through to the end as I had already done so much work in first semester, rather than just drop the course entirely. Moreover, as a LISC specialization student, this course is required if I was to progress into my 4th year. Looking back, I should have prioritized my mental health, dropped the course earlier and taken it again in 4th year when the circumstances had subsided. I applied to see a therapist at La Salle, however no one was available to see me for 3 months.

Despite the aforementioned circumstances, I am currently working towards greater academic success in my 4th year. In hopes that my appeal is granted, I am taking 2 summer courses to make up for lost credits due to the dropped course. In addition, I have moved down to a LISC major rather than specialization, reducing my number of mandatory courses. Finally, I have begun to seek professional help. My support person helps me to find more productive coping mechanisms to stay on task and divert mind wandering. I hope these changes combined with the accepted late drop of my course will allow me to regain an academic standing I can be proud of.

Sincerely,
Emma Colson
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