Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am a student here at Queen??s University and I will be entering my fourth year of study this upcoming fall. I am writing to you today to request an appeal / a credit standing on my entire 2021-22?? academic year.

During fall 2021, in mid-October I began to experience severe symptoms of depression which started to overtake my life and every aspect in it, and unfortunately, the main component of my life that was impacted was my education. I was unable to focus, listen, gain any motivation to learn, and above all I was too exhausted to make it to class. I felt as though since I had previously been diagnosed with depression during Fall 2018, that it was a part of me, and I was still able to continue with my daily life as though I was unaffected. I tried to shake it off as though it was ?no big deal?? until October when everything seemed to catch up to me. I was too scared to admit to my failure / tell my parents about my recent mental health hiatus and therefore, I did not drop any of my Fall term courses. I realize now that this was a mistake and that I have pushed myself for far too long and that I have only made my situation worse by performing poorly in school. I did not pass most of my courses which has made continuing my studies difficult as I have several Fs dragging down my GPA. Therefore, I am asking you today for an appeal for several courses in my fall term.

These feelings of guilt and depression seeped into my Winter 2022 term as well, except things were much worse. I did reach out to counselling in November of 2021, but it was not until a couple month afterwards that I started to reap the benefits. As my transcript states, I did not fail any of these courses, but I did not perform well whatsoever. I once again did not drop out of these courses as I wanted to try and prove to myself that I was able to overcome depression on my own. This was a very unsuccessful strategy and I now realize that I do need more time and kindness towards myself than someone who does not experience the same mental health issues I do. Now knowing these things about myself, I feel as though I can successfully complete my remainder of my studies. I would be very grateful if I were to be granted a credit standing for my winter term as I feel as though I am only able to perform even better throughout the school year and I fear that my significantly low GPA will hold me back. I understand that I will need to put forth far more effort and diligence to become successful in the upcoming school year and I can say that through the assistance of Ms. Blacker, I am confident that I will remain in good academic standing from here on.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Olivia Dyer
Student No. 20173373