Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing an appeal to withdraw from the ECON-351 course because as of December 1st, I have left Kingston to my home in Vancouver having discussed with my parents who preferred I be away from Ontario to avoid the Omicron variant, which I agreed was a safe decision as I have certain health conditions such as severe fatty liver and high blood pressure. I want to also note that my parents are currently based in Hong Kong, as they are still working. They felt that it would be safer if I was in Vancouver as all of my extended family in North America is based there, and I agreed my health and wellbeing should come before my studies.

This is the only course that I am currently enrolled in that has an in-person exam and unfortunately, the decision my family and I made to leave Ontario was made after the deadline for dropping a course without academic penalty. I understand that a decision such as this should be made sooner, as my family and I ultimately decided to err on the side of caution. I understand that students were given the option to study online for this semester, but I recall how daunting it felt when the number of courses available to me to take online was so few. Thus, I eagerly decided to enroll in in-person classes for the fall semester. Virtually all my classes including this one was administered online with regards to assignments, midterms and finals. It just so happened that this course in particular has its exam administered in person. So I spoke with my family and we agreed I should retake this course at a later time.

I understand how precarious my situation is like the exam for ECON-351 is scheduled to be on December 11th and I am submitting this academic appeal on the 10th. I can only apologize for the lack of responsibility for not coming forward sooner.

As I intend to pursue a degree in Economics, I will have to retake this course(as it is a core course) while also receiving the academic penalty on my transcript if my appeal were successful. But I would much rather pursue this alternative if possible than ruin my GPA.

Sincerely,
Mark Andrew Wong
20115942