Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: November 5th, 2022

Dear Associate Dean of Queens University,

My name is Kiana Biase (20362743) I am a first-year student, here at Queens University, in the online Psychology program. This is my formal appeal letter to be considered for late withdrawal from ANAT100 (Anatomy of the Human Body) taught by Dr. Lezlie Mackenzie, for the Fall 2022 term. I have always thrived academically, and the same goes for the other courses I have enrolled in this term, but I have unfortunately not had this experience with ANAT100. I have been working to the best of my ability to try and better understand what we are learning and study hard, but I am not doing well at any rate. Because of this, I am rapidly losing hope of passing, which is causing my pre-existing mental health issues to escalate. I have struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my life and have been medicated for this since I was 16. Seeing the grades that I have been receiving in ANAT100, especially after trying so hard to do better, my mental health has taken a horrible turn. My mental health may not have been the cause of my bad grades, or general misunderstanding of the content being taught, but the fact of this is causing a drastic decline in my mental health; thus, I am concerned for this further affecting my grades, and the cycle continues.

I missed the deadline for a drop without academic penalty because I was genuinely afraid of what I would do if I had to drop a course. As I said, I have always thrived in my studies, therefore I have never had to consider something this big. For what feels like months, I was stressed over whether I should drop the course or try to power through and see what happens. Now that this deadline has passed, my anxiety and painful regret, in only 4 days, has increased drastically. I am losing sleep and having an increase in panic attacks, and I am afraid that this will hinder my abilities to continue to do well in my other courses. I feel my only option is to drop the course, if given the opportunity, that way I can take a different course at another time and not have my GPA affected, nor my mental health.

This letter serves as my formal appeal to be considered for a late withdrawal and my explanation of my extenuating circumstance. I thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Kiana Biase
20362743