Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: March 31, 2022


Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing this letter to appeal for the faculty??s approval to drop PHGY 170 (Human Cell Physiology) for the Winter 2022 semester, due to an extenuating circumstance outside of my control.

The reasoning for this request is due to some mental health issues I am experiencing at the moment, which have worsened throughout this semester. I have been struggling with clinical anxiety disorder since the age of 16 and I started a higher dose of fluoxetine at the beginning of March, to which there has been a direct correlation with the effects of the new dosage to my academic performance. I had an appointment with my doctor on March 25 to discuss my progression with the medication and will be checking in with him again in four weeks.

I believe myself to have always been a great, hardworking student, however, my mental health struggles and my increase in medication dosage has significantly affected my grades. I first started experiencing these anxiety attacks around the end of February, which is when I wrote my midterms. I failed my PHGY 170 midterm with a 46.25%. I have not been performing on my assignments to the best of my ability, which is not like my usual self.

The reasoning behind my request to drop only one class is because I have reasonable belief that I will not be able to pass PHGY 170, as the midterm was worth 20% of my grade and I am also not doing to well on my other assignments in this class, due to my extenuating circumstance

I know that I should have dropped PHGY 170 sooner, before the March deadline, however, I had some hope for myself to be able to pick up that grade. Looking at my situation now though, my grades are slowly decreasing and I am not certain that I will pass anymore. I have spoke with an advisor from PASS Advising to discuss my options and I feel that having this clean slate will be the most beneficial for my circumstance.

Currently, there are a few things that I am doing to help with my anxiety. I have been accepted into therapy and started my sessions this earlier this month with my first, weekly session being on Friday, March 18. As well, I was given a worksheet to fill out daily to determine my goals each day and why they are important to me. I have been finding that it has been changing my mindset greatly already and I have been able to manage my time better. I am hoping that with this pattern of change, I am able to pass the remainder of my classes and be proud of myself.

If my appeal is to be granted, I do have a clear plan on what my next steps would be. I will continue to do my school work outside of the house to get myself motivated, and make myself a schedule to set time in between work to properly study and do my assignments. To make up for the dropped class, I am looking at taking a spring course through Queen??s to make up for my missed credits. I will be continuing my therapy sessions and I plan on taking three-to-four classes next semester for myself to be able to balance a work and school life.

I would like to thank you for reading my letter and taking the time to consider my appeal.


Sincerely,

Kaitlin Andrews
Student : 20317318