Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,



I am writing today to appeal a late drop for PHIL263, Summer 2021 due to my mental health. Over the past year, I have been getting support for my mental health from both Queen¿¿s and my family doctor. In February 2021 I was put on an SSRI to help with this, and we have upped the dose twice now ¿¿ the first at the end of April, and the second about two weeks ago. As it goes with medications like this, I have been consistently in an adjustment period with these meds, where my academic capabilities have been affected.

These medications were intended, among other things, to improve my concentration and ability to complete academic responsibilities, something I have struggled with throughout university. I have found that they are not helping this but rather have become something of an obstacle to my ability to focus on and even begin coursework. I have been less capable to complete my coursework than normal due to this.

I am appealing to drop this course because I have not been able to produce work on time for deadlines due to the external factor that are my medications, despite my efforts over the past five to six weeks to try new tactics to get me to do the work. The course ends within this week, and I am behind on assignments that have been affected by these medications.

While I am saddened that I cannot complete this course this semester, I know that it will be better for my mental health to prioritize my stability and my own personal family matters that have also come up. I know that I can produce quality work that would be recognized as such by the professor of this course, who I have had courses with before, but that this semester, due to the adjustment of medications and attempts to find medications that will support me, that this goal cannot be met.

I plan to re-enroll in this course in another semester, because the content is still of major interest to me ¿¿ I just know that I will not find success if I were to complete the course this semester. I instead will focus on stabilizing my mental health and working with my support team to find the medication that works best for me. I have spoken with a counsellor at Queen¿¿s who I have a relationship with who suggested that a late drop might be best in this case for me, and so I am taking her advice in writing this letter.



Sincerely,

Claire Taylor