Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean,
I¿¿m writing today in an effort to explain the situation that led to the decision made by yourself and the other members of the academic committee. As you will see in the attached letter from my psychologist I was dealing with personal circumstances well beyond my control. While I accept full responsibility for the outcome of my first year, I do appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to explain my situation, in such a way that the decision to suspend me academically for one year may be reconsidered. Should you allow me to return next semester and to ensure my success academically, I respectfully request the courses in which I did fail to be dropped from my academic record so that my future transcripts are a true reflection of my capabilities, rather than a reminder of my personal struggle. Additionally, the courses in which I did earn credit, I would like to remain on my transcript. It has always been my dream to obtain an education at Queen¿¿s University, although my performance was less than spectacular in my first year, I can assure you this will not be an issue in the future.
When I started my first year here at Queen¿¿s University I began with the hopes to start fresh and open up in a new academic environment and greatly succeed. I believed that the new environment and keeping busy by indulging in academic material would counteract my anxiety and depression, however I wasn¿¿t aware of just how challenging that would be. This proved to be the opposite as after one month, the work load and the social factor of University began to increase my anxiety and depression, and impacted my motivation and ability to keep up with new material being learned. In order to improve my academic situation, I made the decision to drop PHIL 100 and proceed with four courses (ENGL 100, FILM 110, SOCY 122 and LING 100) as I thought it would lessen the workload and decrease anxiety and stress. Due to my lack of experience in the subjects LING 100 and FILM 110 and in addition to a high severity of depression and anxiety, it made it challenging for me to adjust and obtain to new material as I normally would. In hopes to improve my performance in LING 100 which was the course I was struggling in most, I invested in a tutor (Julie Fang) who I met with 1-2 times a week for 1-2 hours at a time as she helped me grasp new material and stay on top of deadlines and assignments required. Although at that point I had become so far behind that it made it impossible for me to catch up, get current and stay ahead. I also invested in tutors for the following courses, ENGL 100 (Spencer Kalan) and SOCY 122 (Laura Scott). Due to the fact that these courses were more in tuned with my academic future/interest I was able to perform better, although this was nowhere near my optimum. Unfortunately I was unable to afford tutors across the boards for all my courses as I was restricted to a financial budget. Therefor I chose tutors for the courses in which I thought would be most appropriate to my academic plan, in which case I was unsuccessful in FILM 110.
I accept the fact that I did not live up to my full academic potential. However, in the future I plan to reach out to professionals and the various opportunities that I have around campus in order to cope with stress, anxiety and depression, rather than trying to fix it myself. I now have a clinical psychologist who I see weekly, who has helped me tremendously in decreasing my levels of anxiety and depression, while also providing me with many personal coping skills in which I can work with on a day to day basis, in order to get back to the position where I can carry out a successful education and live up to Queen¿¿s academic standards. I will continue to meet with tutors throughout my future studies, to ensure I am always up to date and understanding current material to the best of my ability. I plan to carefully choose courses in which I gather a strong interest and understanding in order to be successful and carry out a specific future academic plan. Throughout my studies I will also continue to stay current with my psychologist and keep updated on sessions whether it be through phone or skype. With new actions and new efforts put in place going into second year, I assure you I will not let you down, but most importantly I will not let myself down. I do hope you understand my situation and recognize that I truly wish to be a part of the Queen¿¿s University family again for this upcoming semester.
Sincerely,
Aimee Ware
I¿¿m writing today in an effort to explain the situation that led to the decision made by yourself and the other members of the academic committee. As you will see in the attached letter from my psychologist I was dealing with personal circumstances well beyond my control. While I accept full responsibility for the outcome of my first year, I do appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to explain my situation, in such a way that the decision to suspend me academically for one year may be reconsidered. Should you allow me to return next semester and to ensure my success academically, I respectfully request the courses in which I did fail to be dropped from my academic record so that my future transcripts are a true reflection of my capabilities, rather than a reminder of my personal struggle. Additionally, the courses in which I did earn credit, I would like to remain on my transcript. It has always been my dream to obtain an education at Queen¿¿s University, although my performance was less than spectacular in my first year, I can assure you this will not be an issue in the future.
When I started my first year here at Queen¿¿s University I began with the hopes to start fresh and open up in a new academic environment and greatly succeed. I believed that the new environment and keeping busy by indulging in academic material would counteract my anxiety and depression, however I wasn¿¿t aware of just how challenging that would be. This proved to be the opposite as after one month, the work load and the social factor of University began to increase my anxiety and depression, and impacted my motivation and ability to keep up with new material being learned. In order to improve my academic situation, I made the decision to drop PHIL 100 and proceed with four courses (ENGL 100, FILM 110, SOCY 122 and LING 100) as I thought it would lessen the workload and decrease anxiety and stress. Due to my lack of experience in the subjects LING 100 and FILM 110 and in addition to a high severity of depression and anxiety, it made it challenging for me to adjust and obtain to new material as I normally would. In hopes to improve my performance in LING 100 which was the course I was struggling in most, I invested in a tutor (Julie Fang) who I met with 1-2 times a week for 1-2 hours at a time as she helped me grasp new material and stay on top of deadlines and assignments required. Although at that point I had become so far behind that it made it impossible for me to catch up, get current and stay ahead. I also invested in tutors for the following courses, ENGL 100 (Spencer Kalan) and SOCY 122 (Laura Scott). Due to the fact that these courses were more in tuned with my academic future/interest I was able to perform better, although this was nowhere near my optimum. Unfortunately I was unable to afford tutors across the boards for all my courses as I was restricted to a financial budget. Therefor I chose tutors for the courses in which I thought would be most appropriate to my academic plan, in which case I was unsuccessful in FILM 110.
I accept the fact that I did not live up to my full academic potential. However, in the future I plan to reach out to professionals and the various opportunities that I have around campus in order to cope with stress, anxiety and depression, rather than trying to fix it myself. I now have a clinical psychologist who I see weekly, who has helped me tremendously in decreasing my levels of anxiety and depression, while also providing me with many personal coping skills in which I can work with on a day to day basis, in order to get back to the position where I can carry out a successful education and live up to Queen¿¿s academic standards. I will continue to meet with tutors throughout my future studies, to ensure I am always up to date and understanding current material to the best of my ability. I plan to carefully choose courses in which I gather a strong interest and understanding in order to be successful and carry out a specific future academic plan. Throughout my studies I will also continue to stay current with my psychologist and keep updated on sessions whether it be through phone or skype. With new actions and new efforts put in place going into second year, I assure you I will not let you down, but most importantly I will not let myself down. I do hope you understand my situation and recognize that I truly wish to be a part of the Queen¿¿s University family again for this upcoming semester.
Sincerely,
Aimee Ware