Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I do not normally take a summer course at Queen's but I thought with having more free time this year due to COVID that I could handle one. During the course of the semester, it has become apparent to me that I cannot handle a summer course and I needed a break after the winter semester. Additionally, the course I chose was a mistake at this time, because it involves heavy reading and long essay writing. Due to my anxiety, I cannot concentrate for long periods right now due to stressing about covid-19, and coupled with the heat wave that we have been experiencing in southern Ontario this summer, I have been having increased anxiety, headaches, and loss of sleep. I do not feel that there is any point to finishing this course as I will fail anyway and continuing to stress about it will exacerbate the symptoms that I already have. I also recently had to euthanize my dog of 14 years (I am 39 years old) and that has been hard for my mental health, causing loss of sleep and mild depression.

My plan is to take courses in the fall that I am more interested in on a personal level, with less long essay writing requirements while I seek additional help for my anxiety. I am dedicated to my success at Queen's and you can see from my history that I have never failed a class but I do generally get lower marks in my English classes.

I would like to drop this course now while I still have time to get my mental health in order and to take time and consideration while choosing my fall classes. Thank you for your consideration.