Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 9232
Submitted: May 31, 2022 at 4:37:58 PM
First Name: James
Last Name: Yates
Student Number: 20202772
Email: 19jky2@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BSCH
Plan: Biology
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,
My name is James Yates and I am looking to go into my third year of biology here at Queens University. My first year here was fraught with problems and after dealing with this onslaught of extenuating circumstances I found myself with a very low GPA and a requirement to withdraw for a year. At the time I explained what went wrong and was granted my appeal which allowed me to pursue my education here for another year. Unfortunately this left me facing this year with a task to raise my GPA from roughly 0.5 to 1.6, I thought this would be extremely difficult but not impossible so I set my mind to bettering myself and aiming for this goal. Going into my second year I came out as gay to my family as I found a boyfriend which alone was very tough for me but this caused more issues that I could not have seen coming. I have talked extensively about these issues with my therapist and although I have mostly come to terms with it all it is still difficult to write about but I will explain everything in as much detail as I can for clarity; I moved into a new home here in Kingston with a group of friends that I had met online and after a few months of living there I ended up cheating on my boyfriend with a girl in Kingston, it is very complicated why I did this but as far as me and my therapist can ascertain it is due to my history of being in extremely abusive relationships and being groomed at a young age by an older male, this caused me to try to think cheating was forgivable since I, at the time, did not know of what a real relationship should look like. A while after this girl falsely accused me of sexually assaulting her, I do not know why she did this but I assume it is because she also had a boyfriend and he found out but I do not believe I will ever really know. Whatever the reason she spread it to my friend group and boyfriend which caused me to lose a vast majority of my friends, and have my boyfriend break up with me, I broke when this all happened as I did not understand what was going on and the thought of losing my boyfriend caused me to attempt suicide. I was kept at the hospital for a while before being released and when I returned to my home I found out that they had prepared all of my personal items and were kicking me out. This was in the middle of the school semester which left no option for me other than to move back to my parents home over in Hanover, Ontario. Forcibly stopping my studies. Nobody would listen to a word I said and even though I now have my boyfriend back as I explained the situation with the help of my therapist I still lost almost every single friend and connection I had here. This all meant that even as I was desperately trying to get into connection with Queens support I was losing my ability to study. This caused my depression to get worse and as I was at my parents home, 5 hours away from Kingston, I could not even force myself to get out of bed or talk to anybody. After my depressive episode had subsided a full month had gone by and I was trying everything in my power to move back to Kingston. Eventually I found a house and came back to my studies as soon as I could but by then the class drop date had already gone by and I was left picking up 5 full courses of work in the last couple weeks of school. My first full semester was gone and even if I had gotten full As in my second semester I never would have made the GPA requirement.
I am doing better now, I have gained new friends and a new house and I am trying to leave all of these problems behind me. I got a job at QUBS under the Professor Dr. Paul Martin and have proven myself to have quite strong abilities in the biological field. It is my dream to pursue biology and Queens is my dream university to do it at. This requirement to withdraw would do nothing for me but delay my life and education.
Please do consider everything that has happened to me outside of my control and allow me to continue my studies here. It really is what is best for me as a student.
My deepest sincerity,
James Yates - 20202772
My name is James Yates and I am looking to go into my third year of biology here at Queens University. My first year here was fraught with problems and after dealing with this onslaught of extenuating circumstances I found myself with a very low GPA and a requirement to withdraw for a year. At the time I explained what went wrong and was granted my appeal which allowed me to pursue my education here for another year. Unfortunately this left me facing this year with a task to raise my GPA from roughly 0.5 to 1.6, I thought this would be extremely difficult but not impossible so I set my mind to bettering myself and aiming for this goal. Going into my second year I came out as gay to my family as I found a boyfriend which alone was very tough for me but this caused more issues that I could not have seen coming. I have talked extensively about these issues with my therapist and although I have mostly come to terms with it all it is still difficult to write about but I will explain everything in as much detail as I can for clarity; I moved into a new home here in Kingston with a group of friends that I had met online and after a few months of living there I ended up cheating on my boyfriend with a girl in Kingston, it is very complicated why I did this but as far as me and my therapist can ascertain it is due to my history of being in extremely abusive relationships and being groomed at a young age by an older male, this caused me to try to think cheating was forgivable since I, at the time, did not know of what a real relationship should look like. A while after this girl falsely accused me of sexually assaulting her, I do not know why she did this but I assume it is because she also had a boyfriend and he found out but I do not believe I will ever really know. Whatever the reason she spread it to my friend group and boyfriend which caused me to lose a vast majority of my friends, and have my boyfriend break up with me, I broke when this all happened as I did not understand what was going on and the thought of losing my boyfriend caused me to attempt suicide. I was kept at the hospital for a while before being released and when I returned to my home I found out that they had prepared all of my personal items and were kicking me out. This was in the middle of the school semester which left no option for me other than to move back to my parents home over in Hanover, Ontario. Forcibly stopping my studies. Nobody would listen to a word I said and even though I now have my boyfriend back as I explained the situation with the help of my therapist I still lost almost every single friend and connection I had here. This all meant that even as I was desperately trying to get into connection with Queens support I was losing my ability to study. This caused my depression to get worse and as I was at my parents home, 5 hours away from Kingston, I could not even force myself to get out of bed or talk to anybody. After my depressive episode had subsided a full month had gone by and I was trying everything in my power to move back to Kingston. Eventually I found a house and came back to my studies as soon as I could but by then the class drop date had already gone by and I was left picking up 5 full courses of work in the last couple weeks of school. My first full semester was gone and even if I had gotten full As in my second semester I never would have made the GPA requirement.
I am doing better now, I have gained new friends and a new house and I am trying to leave all of these problems behind me. I got a job at QUBS under the Professor Dr. Paul Martin and have proven myself to have quite strong abilities in the biological field. It is my dream to pursue biology and Queens is my dream university to do it at. This requirement to withdraw would do nothing for me but delay my life and education.
Please do consider everything that has happened to me outside of my control and allow me to continue my studies here. It really is what is best for me as a student.
My deepest sincerity,
James Yates - 20202772
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: Academic Plan Going Forward:
I will be reducing my workload in order to focus on the necessary classes, last semester I took 6 in order to try and correct my gpa problem which was overwhelming. Due to this I will reduce course count back down to 5.
I will be retaking past courses that I failed or did very poorly in first year to expunge my low marks and replace them with higher grades in order to permanently correct my GPA from troubled semesters.
I am currently working with an official queens therapist and have plans to continue working with her for the foreseeable future. With this I will also be looking out for more support services offered by Queens to aid myself in my courses. This may include tutors if I am falling behind.
Since I am taking Biology as my major I require a C in both bio 102 and bio 103, since I have a D in bio 103 as of right now I am going to request professors of my necessary courses to drop this requirement as it was not a realistic representation of my skillset, if this request is not allowed I will be retaking the course and aiming for the courses I want for the following year. I am hoping that my research time at the Queens University Biology Station as a second year student will be enough to prove that I am indeed capable of taking part in these courses but ultimately it is the professor's discretion.
Finally I have stable housing now which sets a very good precedent for my studying and sleeping schedules alongside reducing my hours at my job here in Kingston during the school year to focus more time to my studies.
James Yates - 20202772
I will be reducing my workload in order to focus on the necessary classes, last semester I took 6 in order to try and correct my gpa problem which was overwhelming. Due to this I will reduce course count back down to 5.
I will be retaking past courses that I failed or did very poorly in first year to expunge my low marks and replace them with higher grades in order to permanently correct my GPA from troubled semesters.
I am currently working with an official queens therapist and have plans to continue working with her for the foreseeable future. With this I will also be looking out for more support services offered by Queens to aid myself in my courses. This may include tutors if I am falling behind.
Since I am taking Biology as my major I require a C in both bio 102 and bio 103, since I have a D in bio 103 as of right now I am going to request professors of my necessary courses to drop this requirement as it was not a realistic representation of my skillset, if this request is not allowed I will be retaking the course and aiming for the courses I want for the following year. I am hoping that my research time at the Queens University Biology Station as a second year student will be enough to prove that I am indeed capable of taking part in these courses but ultimately it is the professor's discretion.
Finally I have stable housing now which sets a very good precedent for my studying and sleeping schedules alongside reducing my hours at my job here in Kingston during the school year to focus more time to my studies.
James Yates - 20202772
Documentation
Professional Letter: JY Appeal Doc.pdf