Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Xinyu Gao. I am an undergraduate student in Psychology. My student ID is 20014124. I am writing this letter to appeal for credit standing in Advanced Statistical Inference F20 (PSYC 301).

My severe health condition had affected my academic performance in this course so badly, which made my grade drop a lot.

Back in the summer of 2020, I started to feel my body was getting wired. I had severe abdominal pain during menstruation, which lasted much longer than usual. I also felt weak and no strength at all during that time. But at that time, I did not pay attention to it. However, on October 13, 2020, I got a high fever and intense dizziness when my mother brought me to the hospital. After a thorough body check, I was diagnosed with multiple endometrial polyps. Considering my poor health condition and the size and the number of endometrial polyps, the doctor advised me to stay in the hospital, and he would arrange surgery for me the next day. So I was admitted to the hospital that day, and on the second day, I underwent surgery. Those two days were so tough for me since it was the first time I had any surgical operation. I felt extremely uneasy before and after the surgery, thinking about its effects on my life and study. 2020 Fall term was my second to the last semester in my bachelor's program, so I took a lot of core courses. Because of the decision to pursue further education in this field, I worked hard in the previous semesters to get relatively higher marks. I did not want to ruin my efforts because of the disease. With my mind setting on getting good marks, even when I was in the hospital under monitoring from October 14 to 22, I ignored the uncomfortableness I felt and followed the course progress. I took online courses, preparing two course-papers for PSYC 452, taking one quiz on PSYC 450, and doing the mid-term exam on PSYC 301.¿

However, my effort did not pay off. Instead, I did poorly in all of the above papers and exams which I felt so miserable about the results. So after I was discharged from the hospital, I worked much harder to make up for the scores I lost and get fair marks. I attended all the courses with a strong concentration on the course materials. After each class, I reread the materials to digest them completely. I also actively used the Internet to clarify the confusion over the materials and actively participate in any group discussions. However, because of the 13-hour time difference between China and Canada, my biological clock got messed up. Besides, I got less time to rest after the surgery with more time spending on the study. So by the end of the fall semester, my body again got out of control. As a result, some of the indicators were abnormal after a body check. The doctor was so concerned about it and asked me to stay in the hospital for close monitoring. So on November 26, 2020, I was again admitted to the hospital for another two weeks until December 6, 2020. In these two weeks, the study load reduced with the end of the term at the corner. Thus, I was able to rest properly, which brought the abnormal indicators back to normal. Before I left the hospital, the doctor seriously suggested me to take good care of my body by having enough rest and a healthy diet. He said even though my body seemed well by now, it might turn worse again if I burned myself out. I followed the doctor's instructions one day until the final exam time.

The final exams and the term papers were important to me since they were the last chances to increase the final scores. I could not afford to lose these chances, so I determined to excel in all of them. However, I was not good at writing, and I lost time researching because of my poor health condition.

Because of my poor health condition and the huge stress I encountered, the course scores were undoubtfully far from satisfactory, which dragged down my GPA a lot. I planned to do a master's program in 2021 and had already received offers. But with a low GPA, I might not get any chances. Therefore, I sincerely hope that the university could allow me to credit stand the course, PSYC 301 Advanced Statistical Inference F20, to continue my further education as planned.