Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I have only recently decided that a period of studies abroad would expand my academic experience and be a fantastic stepping-stone in helping me achieve my career aspirations. However the deadline to apply for Queen¿¿s Exchange has already passed and therefore I¿¿m applying for the Independent Study Abroad provision of Queen¿¿s student charter for the Fall Semester of 2015.

My professional ambition is to be involved in the economics and business of sport, and more specifically in soccer or basketball. I am a passionate sports fan, with a strategic and analytic orientation, and I dedicate a lot of my time learning about both the tactical and business side of both of these sports.

My specific interests are in data analytics, I am constantly thinking of ways to improve the professional sports industry through the application of modern analytics tools. To that end I have participated at the Queen¿¿s Sport Industry Conference in January as well as the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston in February 2015. At the Queen¿¿s Sports Industry Conference I was a member of a five-person team that were finalists out of thirty teams at the Conference¿¿s case study competition.

While studying in Spain, my immediate goals would be to improve and make substantial progress in learning the Spanish language. I have taken two basic courses at Queen¿¿s and I am planning to take an intensive summer language program in Spain before classes commence. I would then also plan to enroll in an appropriate level Spanish class to continue my progress. Apart from learning Spanish, the Universities of Navarra, Nebrija and Pompeu Fabra, where I am planning to apply, offer courses that draw heavily on unique European perspective in sport and would be of great value to my professional plans. I have already contacted all three universities and received an enthusiastic invitation to submit a formal application. Being a student in one of these programs would connect me with similarly minded Spanish students and I would develop new friendships and contacts based on my interests in economics and business of sports.

With respect to my background, both my parents were born in Poland and immigrated to Canada about 35 years ago. I have been exposed to different cultures and travelled to other countries from my early days. Both my brother and my sister (BCOMM ¿¿08) have spent time studying abroad and the experiences they have shared with me have further enticed me to go on an international study program as well. The growth that they experienced plus my professional interests, natural curiosity of different people and places, and different perspective on learning, is why I am so eager to study abroad in Spain. I have already studied internationally during my high school years which would help me transition into the international student environment. In 2011, I took a grade 11 Biology course in Mexico, and then in grade 12 I was one of twenty volunteers on a service trip in Ghana, where we did various restoration tasks around the community.

These trips taught me how beneficial it is to integrate oneself in a different culture, and that there is no alternative to the experience one gets from these trips. This is why I would like to study in Spain as I believe I am ready to immerse myself in Spanish culture first-hand. The universities I have selected are perfectly tailored to suit my needs and it would be a wonderful opportunity to spend a semester there.

Please kindly approve my request to take a Fall, 2015 semester as a Visiting Student in one of the three Spanish Universities I mentioned above.

Respectfully,

Marek Kmiec