Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean

I am writing to you today in hopes that you may grant my request to drop my enrollment in the online section of Intro to Finance, Comm 221.

Firstly, I originally had enrolled for the in-class/brick and mortar version of this course for next semester (winter). However, in my desire to apply for internships in my field of applied economics, I moved this class over to the current semester. This meant that I was to daringly attempt to juggle SIX rather difficult classes on top of my large extracurricular obligations.

Two months later, and after the final deadline to drop a class, I received my results for the 40 percent midterm and 25 percent assignments and was rather devastated. What appeared as a poor grade on d2L, began to spiral into a deeply lethargic phycological struggle that would begin to, and continue to erode my deeply held aspirations for the future (in the field of finance) and my capacity to contribute to the Queens community as I have in past years and prior to my grades slipping this year. This class continually served as just an extra thing in my busy schedule that would continually tip me over the edge.

Over the course of two to three weeks, countless facetime calls with my long-distance family back in Houston, Texas only seemed to exacerbate the phycological struggles that would severely damage my quality of life. And subsequently hurt my grades overall. The fear that failing this course would jeopardize my future single handily took away my perception of possibility. And therefore, began to eat away at the very demeanour that constituted my past successes and desire to wake up in the morning. I got locked in a cycle of NOT sleeping for days on end and then flipping to oversleep for days on end. I began to get sick, and I had not eaten a normal meal in weeks.

The reality is that doing well in this class is of utmost importance for my future. Taking this class as a sixth class, especially when it is online and difficult to learn at the required rate was a mistake. And I want nothing more than to get a second chance to face this course head-on, in a classroom, and as one of the main focuses of my studies. I dont feel like I am learning, I feel like I am fighting to stay afloat. The class is also taking time away from my core studies, which only makes the sense of dread worse.

Dropping this course, and wiping the slate clean will allow me to achieve the goal that I seem to have jeopardized by accelerating too quickly toward it. It would restore my optimism for the future and greatly relieve the toll that this class is taking on my mental health and physical health.

I sincerely hope that you consider my request seriously and allow me to drop this course so that I can reap the benefits of a second chance next semester.

Kieran McConnell