Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern,


I am sending in this Academic Appeal with the hopes of changing the statuses of my courses from the previous semester from 'fail' to 'dropped'. To explain the circumstances that have affected my academic progress during the 2018-19 school year, there have been several external reasons that have played a detrimental role to my mental health which have led to me completely being unable to prioritize and pursue my academic responsibilities. This includes most midterms and final examinations. Some of the most notable reasons include: the sudden divorce of my parents, the significant increase of frequencies of my stress-induced chronic migraines, and being a victim of gas-lighting and emotional abuse from some of the members of the extra-curricular club that I am a part of. The occurrences of these particular events are spread throughout the fall and winter semesters of the 2018-19 school year, and my emotional stress had peaked in the winter semester. This led to me ending the previous school year diagnosed with severe situational depression by my counsellor from the Queen's Counselling Services. As advised by the Academic Advisor here at Queen's University I believe that changing the statuses of my courses from the previous semester from 'fail' to 'dropped' (supporting medical documents will be provided) would be the best course of action for my academic interests.


After my meeting with the Academic Advisor, I have also decided that the best course of action for myself would be to pursue a General Bachelor's degree for economics rather than continuing my current Honours degree. I will also be taking three courses per semester for the 2019-2020 study period. This is so I lighten the academic pressure, as well as giving myself the chance to put in my hardest work to reach for a higher GPA, as I was not in a state to do so in the previous semesters. I plan on successfully achieving this goal through participating in all my class discussions, having better time management, and utilizing all helpful resources available from the professors and the faculty. Furthermore, although both my mental and physical health have gotten remarkably better over the summer break, I will continue to intentionally partake in stress-relief and health-improving activities to prevent any external circumstances and stress factors from being a possible obstacle to achieving my goals again.


I would genuinely appreciate the chance to prove myself in this year's academic period.
Thank you so much for your time and consideration.



Highest regards,

Sang heui Christina Kim