Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am applying for an academic appeal towards credit standing of the 2020 fall semester courses. the reason for such is that I was battling major depression throughout the semester. I have been previously diagnosed with major depressive disorder, however had thought it had passed as I was told it may. Looking back at the semester I was, unfortunately, unable to notice at the time how badly it was affecting my grades. Unfortunately, I struggled with the sickness throughout the entire semester, while only receiving some help in December after the term was finished.

During the semester, my major depressive order affected mostly my motivation as well as my ability to focus. Specifically, I overslept or underslept frequently as a result of the depression. This resulted in either missing course content or being unable to absorb any knowledge while in attendance. My motivation was at an all-time low and struggled to even make myself food day-to-day. Furthermore, I viewed assignments and deadlines as a burden rather than a goal and did them to have them out of the way rather than to succeed. This resulted in submitting work that was far from my best, in order to get by yet another day. I found myself trying to survive in the newly online academic environment rather than flourish. Overall, the result was many missed attendance marks, some missed labs and a lack of knowledge heading to the exams. In terms of the exams, I did study thoroughly, however, I was unable to make up for the lost time. Lastly, I had occasional suicidal thoughts that shifted my focus from academics to the thought of life itself. Looking back, the depression influenced my ability to learn and achieve anything more than the bare minimum.

I have since taken measures to assist myself academically and mentally, by visiting counsellors and healthcare professionals. At the time I, unfortunately, did nothing to assist myself, as a result of the mentioned lack of motivation or purpose. The major depression affected me from approximately late September to the end of the term in December.

I hope this sheds some light on my situation.

Sincerely,

Tristan Burr