Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr.Stephenson,

My name is Kruthika Mahadevan and I am a 4th year Biology Major student at Queen¿¿s University. Firstly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I am writing this appeal to drop five of my courses during my 2017-2018 academic year at Queen¿¿s University (ANAT 309, ANAT 315, CHEM 281, PATH 310 and PHGY 210). I wasn¿¿t aware of the severity of my condition and wasn¿¿t in the right mental state to be taking a decision regarding this, having not being diagnosed earlier, which is why I couldn¿¿t send this appeal before and you are receiving this letter now. I am aware that I have struggled academically in the past, but during my year off I have significantly worked on my mental health and well-being, which intern has helped me academically this year.

The physician that has been treating me has gone into details regarding my condition and its effects on my academics in the letter attached to this appeal. But I had been struggling with a condition called Dissociative Disorder (DD), which has significantly impacted my academics. I was unable to meet deadlines, and make any proper judgement calls during this time, hence I failing these courses that I took that year. When I would occasionally have some energy, I was able to manage a little bit of work on courses, which I barely passed those two terms. However, academically I was unable to concentrate, and would be studying the same thing over and over again, as nothing I studied would register during this time. I wouldn¿¿t realize time going by and would skip meals several times, which gave me really low energy to do work.

Due to my mental state during that time, and my poor judgement, I significantly struggled to do school work or study. My sleep was also significantly affected during this time, along being detached from myself and emotions. Due to this disorder my judgement was compromised and I was unable to meet drop deadlines, as I was unable to clearly judge my capacity during that time. I would go days without proper sleep, which in turn effected my school and being able to keep up my academics. Due to this, my mind wasn¿¿t able to realize how poorly I was doing and that I was failing my courses. I had only realized how poorly I¿¿d done when I had come home for the summer, but was unable to identify as to why that occurred until I was diagnosed.

I have made significant academic improvement this year and have learned to better cope with my emotional well-being during my year off. I am in constant contact my psychotherapist along with my doctor and am continually working on my wellbeing. Thank You once again for taking the time to read my letter of appeal. I look forward to hearing back for you.


Sincerely,
Kruthika Mahadevan