Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean of Studies, Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am writing this letter to you in order to appeal a late drop for the course PHYS 315 taken in Fall 2019, Physical Processes in Astrophysics. As applications begin to open for summer student positions, my physics academic advisor, Melissa Balson and I believe it is in my best interest to appeal to have this grade dropped from my transcript. I would like to begin by emphasizing how grateful I am for you to even provide me the opportunity to explain my circumstances as I highly value my academic success and my success overall as a student at Queen's University.

On August 15th, 2019, I unfortunately, suffered a severe concussion diagnosed by Dr. Adam Blair in my hometown, Pickering, Ontario. I hoped to ease into classes by September 2019; however, I found myself worse than before. Concerned with my success as a student, I then took the next steps to register with Student Wellness Services under Academic Accommodations which provided me Queen's official documentation for my instructors in hopes of a greater understanding for my circumstances. This, unfortunately, did not go as planned. I was not provided the support from my professors while I continued to have blurred vision, headaches, sore eyes, fatigue, trouble focusing and short-term memory loss.

Truthfully, I was in immensely rough shape and was struggling to travel to campus for even fifty minutes a day. I dropped down to three courses in week six, which I believed I could manage with the duration of my semester. My recovery progressed very slowly, lasting over 6 months into February 2020. During exam season of Fall 2019, I appealed to have PHYS 344 after a meeting with my professor at the time, Dr. Greg van Anders. We discussed the level of difficulty of this course and he believed it would be near impossible to complete without the help of peers and TAs with the exam just 10 days away. As promised, I have retaken PHYS 344 in Fall 2020 and done well in the course with my good health.

At the time, I was also enrolled in PHYS 315. When discussing my progress in this course and my intention to drop it, my professor insisted that I file it as an Incomplete instead. This course required me to complete nine chapters of content, eight assignments, a final project, and a final exam. She suggested that I could do this all on my own the following semester and would not support me dropping the course. An integral part of succeeding in Physics is collaboration, and although I did not feel comfortable with doing this course on my own, I proceeded with the Incomplete. I take full responsibility of this academic decision and understand that I should have done what I thought was best for my health and success at the time.

Like many of my peers involved at Queen's who take part in extra curriculars, we all know that there is a sense of home and safety that comes with involving yourself in the student community. Orientation Week has made such an inexplicable impact in my life. So large, that from 2019-2020, I had the privilege and the honour to take on the role of Head Gael of ASUS Orientation. I wanted nothing more than to be able to be home, to continue my degree and to heal while watching my passion of Orientation Week come to life in front of my eyes. I was not able to manage this position, my three new courses in the semester of Winter 2020 while also completing PHYS 315 with no support at all. My professor was unresponsive to emails, provided me with no further instruction on material except for the textbook and annotated slides. Come April 2020, while I had gone through all material of the course, I was unable to complete assignments and heard no word from my professor. The grade is currently a F on my transcript. I fully intend to take PHYS 315 in the upcoming Spring 2021 term and complete a fifth year of my undergrad to complete my Astrophysics degree.

In the upcoming weeks, application for Summer Student positions, SWEP, and NSERC USRAs are due. My grades are a huge factor in these applications. It would not be possible for me to explain the circumstances of this grade to individuals reviewing them in each application. Moreover, it is most certainly not a reflection of my knowledge and capabilities within Astrophysics. This grade is not an accurate reflection of any work I submitted or the effort I committed to learning the material on my own time. Rather it is from a semester that I spent teaching myself the content with no support while also trying to keep my health the top priority. I have worked every summer and throughout the school year at AMS, ASUS, and as a Tour Guide to pay for my undergraduate studies. This year, I would love the work opportunity of being in my field and obtaining that hands-on experience. I would be very grateful if this grade for PHYS 315 taken in Fall 2019 could be removed from my transcript.

Kindest Regards,


Anika Chowdhury