Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Academic), I am submitting an appeal to return to studies since the minimum withdrawal period of three years has lapsed.

I've included notes on my extenuating circumstances, success since 2012 and steps taken to ensure academic success below. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

A. Explanation of Extenuating Circumstances: In 2012, I attempted to upgrade my GPA by taking courses online. At that time, I was working for Canadian Pacific Railway as a Manager, Shipment Planning. I wanted to transition into Sales and knew I needed my degree to achieve those dreams.

Unfortunately, 2012 was the year CP Rail went through a dramatic restructuring. The upheaval caused thousands of layoffs across the Network, 2 strikes and unstable employee-management relations. I had to abandon my academic pursuit and prioritize work to secure a role in the new organization.

I was ultimately able to survive by demonstrating my commitment and sharing the tangible results I had achieved while working as a Manager. I secured a role on the commercial team despite not having my degree.

B. Success since 2012: I spent 4 more years with CP under the new leadership. As an Account Manager, I managed a 31 million portfolio. I was consistently ranked as 1 Account Manager across North America for of revenue delivered above YTD targets. I acted as a spokesperson for the CP Sales Team, nationally and regionally.

My consistent success in business development and account management was a result of my results-oriented drive, resilience and my commitment to innovative business solutions. In that time, the organization effectively moved from the worst-run railroad to the best. It was a source of pride to be part of the Canadian organization at such a transformational point in their history.

After CP, I joined the executive team at inland rail transload in BC, Ashcroft Terminal, as Vice President, Rail & Logistics. I managed corporate rail strategy related to the movement of all shipments moving in and out of Port Metro Vancouver.

In my last role, I worked as an Enterprise Account Executive with Hootsuite, headquartered here in Vancouver. I worked with State and Local Governments across North America - helping communication teams leverage social media to its fullest potential. This included aiding the State of Hawaii with crisis communications strategy in preparation for Hurricane Lane and the LAPD in managing social media use across hundreds of officers.

C. Steps taken to Prepare for Future Academic Success: I know that my poor GPA while attending Queen's University did not accurately reflect my intellectual capacity or work ethic. This should be demonstrated in my career growth over the past 10 years.

The time spent regretting not completing my undergraduate degree has gifted me the opportunity to reflect on study habits and review why I was not successful. The superficial answer is circumstantial, but the underlying cause was ADHD and an undiagnosed Anxiety Disorder.

From a circumstantial perspective, I admit that I was not mature enough when I first attended university to fully respect the implications of not completing a degree. And, in 2012, I was distracted by non-academic pursuits - specifically, keeping my job during a time of corporate upheaval.

That being said, the probable cause of failure in attempts to complete my undergraduate degree, was the mismanagement of my ADHD & Anxiety Disorder. I was unwilling to admit how profoundly it affected my personal, academic & professional life.

Over the past few years, I've worked with a psychologist and various counsellors to better understand the strengths and weaknesses associated with both disorders. This has helped immensely in shedding light on why I struggled so much in my previous academic pursuits and provided me a framework to begin resolving the fundamental issues. This includes strategies to help with organization, memory and commitment. Also to manage Anxious Self-Talk which prevented me from reaching out to teachers, submitting work and ultimately failure in classes.

As a result of this work, there have been measurable improvements within my career. I know now that I have put the work in to develop the level of academic preparedness required to improve my GPA.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Caitlin Courteau
(604) 862-1140.