Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Sirs,

My name is Akriti Shrivastava, student number 20130144, and I am writing to request to waive the requirement for me to withdraw for one year, as well as to request credit standing in my courses, and to late drop courses from my transcript. I have extenuating circumstances that impact my academic performance and my ability to excel at Queens. I have detailed below what they are, and provided an approximate timeline for these events for a comprehensive understanding of their impact on me and my education.

I first began to have issues in the winter 2019 semester, where a combination of stress from school work and feeling lost being in a new country began to overwhelm me. I felt emotionally isolated from my peers and dealt with large amounts of internal shame at my mental state, which impacted my faith in myself. At the time, as a coping mechanism, I began to neglect my physical well being, often dismissing my issues as silly and trivial. I often lacked the energy and will to go to class, and only left my room to eat. I also struggled to sleep, and kept odd hours which reflected in my grades dropping (which were the lowest I have ever received), further causing me stress.

The next semester, I found myself only able to successfully manage two courses, which was a major wakeup call. I was often awake till 5 am, and only slept for three hours a day. I lost about 7 kilos of weight and would tire after very little exertion. I grew irrationally paranoid and only left home if I was coerced by concerned friends. This meant I had little energy or mental ability to attend class, and only studied before big tests or exams out of anxiety and panic, causing missed school work and haphazard study notes. Additionally, due to the insomnia I was often sleep deprived when writing tests or exams, and would thus perform poorly, despite knowing the content. I often contemplated suicide as a means of escaping these problems and struggled with being able to channel my thoughts in a positive manner. I went to see an Occupational therapist as well as an Academic advisor (who advised me on late drops and my current plan) so that I could get back on track after being advised to by a friend.

After being recommended a mental health evaluation, and undergoing various tests, I was Diagnosed with clinical depression as well as anaemia and was given both iron supplements and SSRI medication to help regulate my physical and mental health. It was also recommended I take a lower course load, and that I late drop and/or request credit standing some courses so that they would not negatively impact my GPA. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I had to return to my home country which made it difficult to access the resources I would have otherwise used for support, despite my best attempts to schedule calls with my doctor, which caused another lapse in my mental health. This past year has been especially isolating, and I was unable to request the late drops and credit standing due to this continued poor mental health. I recognise now that that was an unwise decision, and applying for accommodations would have likely eased my worry.

I have since privately been seeing a personal counsellor who is trained to work with individuals with depression, and she has been helping me regulate my well-being by regular therapy sessions and providing me access other resources, and allowing me to reflect on my mental state. I am working harder at being more consistent with my studying pattern and making notes and submitting work. I still often struggle with not being overwhelmed with panic when I have assignments due, but I am going back to my study habits in high school and they are helping. I have seen success using these methods recently with extracurricular online work, and I am ready to make more changes. I have had significant up's and downs with my mental health, but I am ready to move on from this bump in the road, and I am now better equipped to handle it.