Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

This letter is in hope to drop my summer 2020 term (ENG 100) course. I am currently applying to accelerated nursing programs and I feel as though under extenuating circumstances that my performance in ENG 100 does not reflect my academic performance. As a student receiving A's and B's throughout first year and almost all A's in second year, there were many physical and psychological challenges that negatively reflects my abilities as a student.

Over the winter 2020 semester to the fall 2020 semester, I have had ongoing physical illness, psychological challenges, as well as family problems that have affected my performance in school. My physical illness includes allergies to 20+ chemicals that I am exposed to on a daily basis which causes moderate/severe rashes on my face that blister, bleed, and weep. These occur 2-3 times a week and lasts for a day, the extreme pain from this reaction leaves me bedridden and on medication. The only medication that worked for me left me very drowsy, causing me to fall asleep for hours no matter what action I took in attempt to stay awake. This is especially worse in the summertime due to the heat, although it is an ongoing issue. This severely impacts my ability perform academically at my best.

Towards the end of the winter 2020 term (around March/April) to the present, I began to have psychological challenges in the form of a depressive episode and anxiety. I did seek out for online counselling, but unfortunately had to discontinue as at this time I moved back home for the summer semester and didn't have the space to speak to a councillor. This impacted my studies especially in the summertime as I was unable to get help, although I wanted to due to being at home. One of the biggest contributions to the stress was family troubles at home since I moved home for the summer term. It was really difficult to open up to my family about my psychological issues and their reaction only added to my depression. However, to combat this issue, for the fall semester I took action to distance myself. Mixed with frustration from the allergic reactions I had and other personal issues, I felt as though I could not get through the pain. The depression hindered my ability to get up during the day and do the work I needed to do. The anxiety prevented me from appealing earlier as I had overwhelming stress and panic looking at my grades and even reading webpage on academic appeal. Although I knew that I had to write an appeal, I could not get through the panic I would feel, partially due to the workload stress I already had. Therefore, writing the appeal now, between semesters is the only time I feel as though I have lower panic levels. Additionally, throughout the fall semester, I had a lot of stress balancing my workload with my physical challenges that I was constantly playing catch up in the course (ENG100) as well as throughout the fall 2020 semester. The stress from the courses were overwhelming and made me feel like I did not have time to write an appeal.

I hope that this appeal will be taken into consideration. I believe that I am a very hardworking student that just had a tough time, and this does not reflect my achievements here at Queen's University for the past 3 years. I do enjoy this school and really have enjoyed my program and have worked very hard to excel in the classes that I take. Thank you so much for those taking the time to read my appeal. All I can truly hope for is that it goes uphill from here.

Thank you,
Elise Nguyen