Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My original plan for the Summer was to work in a QUIP internship. I had several interviews and potential employers before they were all suddenly cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. I usually work during the Summer term, but I was disappointed to discover that most QUIP internships were cancelled, and I was left unemployed with a lot of spare time.

This presented me with the opportunity to take a higher course load in the Summer. I enrolled in 3 courses which I thought were interesting: Social History of Popular Music (MUSC171), French Communications and Culture (FREN106) and Introduction to Canadian Law (LAW201). As a 4th year student in Engineering Physics (Mechanical), these courses would count towards my required electives. I decided to complete my electives in the Summer, so I would have more time to focus on Engineering courses in the Fall and Winter terms. As an energetic and ambitious individual, I was trying to effectively utilize my spare time for my benefit. I started online-tutoring high school students in Mathematics to earn money and voluntarily helped them to study for their tests and write their English essays. Although I am a Muslim, I also volunteered to help the local Christian community to safely organize Bible studies and events for children. Therefore, I successfully kept myself busy during the quarantine and continued to make progress towards my academic career.

I am originally from Pakistan, where most of my close family is located. As a large portion of Pakistan¿¿s population is uneducated, the idea of social distancing and quarantine was not understood at first. The pandemic had a major impact on Pakistan¿¿s population, including my family who I hold most dear. Throughout the Summer term, I was frequently told unfortunate news concerning my family which kept leading me to a depressed state. My grandmother, who was highly vulnerable to the virus, was infected and admitted to a hospital. Thankfully, she fought the virus. At some points, my older cousins¿¿ whole families were infected with the virus and hearing about their agony was heart-breaking and unbearable on my part. After only 3 days of living, my new-born niece passed away due to the virus. The depression from hearing such news had a negative impact on my daily performance. My course load started becoming heavier and tutoring high school students began becoming much more challenging and time-consuming. I stopped volunteering for the local Christian community to make more time for my courses, but it was not enough. As I was constantly mourning, I was unable to efficiently complete my daily tasks, including the coursework for LAW201.

Although I am achieving decent marks in the LAW201 course, I am currently unable to meet my goal of an A in the class. I plan on applying to Engineering graduate school after my undergraduate degree. I managed to do well in French and Music, but LAW201 would drag my GPA down to an unsuitable level. I am writing to ask you if you could help me drop LAW201, so I can apply to Graduate school. I hope you understand how this pandemic directly affected my academic performance and take this appeal into consideration.