Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

New Information: REVISED Petition Letter:


RE: JOSHUA FISCHTEIN, 20335835, request to drop the course late due to extenuating circumstances

Dear Associate Dean (Academic),

I submit this petition to drop ASTR 101 (Fall 2022) past the withdrawal deadline due to the following extenuating circumstances:

- Assignment 1 grades were not released until 12 days after the official drop deadline.
-
- Three mini-assignments grades were not released until 35 and 36 days after the official drop date.

- there was an incident with my instructor which impacted my ability to communicate with him, which affected my performance in the course.

- The instructor did not provide a rubric in a written format.

- I filed a pending petition to have two assignments regraded. However, I was advised that since one assignment is not eligible to be regraded due to late submission, only one would be regraded. The petition office suggested I make this petition to withdraw late instead.

The official drop date is November 1, 2022. I submitted assignment 1 on October 18. I received a grade of 26% on November 12. I was given the opportunity to resubmit assignment 1, and the final grade was 29%. There were three other assignments where I was not provided with grade feedback until December 5 and 6.

Would I had understood that my grades would have been this low, I would have dropped the course prior to the deadline.

As a result, I was unable to make an informed decision about whether to continue with the course or drop it. This delay in grading significantly impacted my ability to make a timely decision about my enrollment in the course.

This instructor also did not include any written rubric for the assignments, which made it difficult for me to understand what was required to perform successfully.

Sometime in October, an incident occurred with my instructor, which impacted my ability to communicate with Prof. William Joyce. Due to the nature of this incident, I am not comfortable discussing the specifics in this letter, but I am willing to discuss the matter with you in person if necessary. In an attachment to this petition, I have outlined what transpired in an email to my academic advisor, Charan Rainford.

For these reasons, I ask to withdraw/drop ASTR 101 without academic penalty to my GPA.

I understand that it is generally not allowed to drop a course after the official drop deadline, but I believe these extenuating circumstances justify my request. I am confident that with your approval, I will be able to complete my academic goals for the semester successfully.

Thank you for considering my request. I look forward to your response.

Yours truly,

Joshua Fischtein