Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am appealing to drop PSYC 351 (Winter, 2021).

In August 2020 I was diagnosed by my family doctor, Dr. Quaderi, with ADHD. Although I was diagnosed prior to this academic year and was able to successfully complete my first semester (Fall, 2020) as being diagnosed with ADHD, I found the weight of second semester much heavier. Specifically, on Monday February 1st, the first assessment took place in PSYC 351 and I missed the deadline (it was due at 3pm and I had thought we had until 11:59pm to complete it, as like most online assessments). I took full accountability and asked for a chance to retake it accepting any type of late penalty, I explained that I hadn¿¿t filed any accommodation for my mental illness because I¿¿ve been okay without one for almost four years, however I was still unable to retake it as there was no leniency offered from the professor. At this point, I could have dropped the course since that was a big chunk of my grade, however I was determined to make up for it and attain this credit. The second assessment of this course took place on Monday March 1st, but the grades didn¿¿t get released until Wednesday March 17th. The weekend prior to March 1st I came from Kingston back to my hometown Burlington to complete the remainder of the semester from home. On Monday I realized I had left my prescribed medication in Kingston, which is my required treatment that without it, temporarily interfered with my ability to complete schoolwork. Luckily, I managed to obtain my prescription following March 1st, but it was however an extenuating circumstance for that short period of time. I took the steps after the occurrence of this circumstance to assure I never miss taking my medication again. I genuinely didn¿¿t think it would affect my academic performance as much as it did, but that was naïve of me to think, and I blame that on being new to ADHD treatment and not knowing the negative side effects of being without it. I have reached out to my doctor and am in the process of attaining documentation. I hope it is clear that this is the only course I am appealing because this course in particular was severely affected by this circumstance, and the others were not affected because I was able to attain my medication before anything major was due in those courses. I didn¿¿t drop the course earlier because I genuinely didn¿¿t realize the consequences of my extenuating condition until after I received my grade that was affected by it. Lastly, I hope it is well-defined that I am unable to finish this course (this semester) because there is a very low chance that I will obtain a passing grade due to the circumstance.

In terms of my future plan, after I drop this course, I am preparing to retake this course/ an equivalent of this course this coming spring. I am already planning on taking a couple courses this spring, so I will spread out my courses between the spring and summer semesters to assure I will succeed in these studies. The lighter course load in the spring/ summer will allow me to graduate with the grades I desire and will support my academic goals at large.

I hope we are able to get through this tough situation. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Please reach out if there are any further details I can supply.

Thank you,

Bronte Martin 20056086
16bam9@queensu.ca