Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean
I am writing to appeal to drop PHIL256 (existentialism) taken in the falls semester of 2015. I failed the course on account of my mental instability (specifically anxiety) which made me inept to handle my academic workload. During the falls semester of 2015, I was unable to cope with the pressure and academics demands of the 5 courses that I was taking and it had reflected on the failure of this particular course. My anxiety had put a toll on my ability to focus and concentrate. I could not retain any of my readings nor produce quality work which in result put a damper on my productivity and efficiency in accomplishing the essays that were required in my courses. I struggled to formulate my thoughts in an organized manner and it was also difficult articulating my thoughts and putting ideas into words. I also had comprehension hindrances. My head was scrambled at all times and I was struggling with day to day organizational tasks. My incompetence to be productive in all aspects of my life, in result, caused me even more anxiety which puts me in a tense state. Last semester, I had experienced the same trouble with mental instability and concentration issues, as a result i dropped two courses ended up taking 3. I came back after a summer of recuperating and thought that I can handle full course load if I consciously tend to my mental wellbeing. I was determined to dedicate the effort to achieve good grades. With this particular course(phil256), I was not doing well at the time of the course drop deadline however I did not anticipate the possibility of failing. I was still pretty confident that I can pull my marks up. However, I overestimated my abilities and was too ambitious. As the semester progressed after the deadline, midterms approached and my work load for all my other courses only got heavier and there were other courses that had priority over this one because they were mandatory for my major. As a result, I did not put enough attention on this course as needed which led to my failing grade in this course. As my ability to concentrate as well as my server panic attacks seems to be an ongoing issue that hinders my academics and other components of life, I went to see the doctor about it. I had originally thought that i was suffering from ADD because it was directly related to concentration problems but I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I just started taking the medication for it.
To prevent this situation from occurring in the future I will employ the following measures. First, I've learnt that I must not over estimate my abilities; clearly 5 course full course load is going to be overwhelming for me on account of my history with mental instability and had taken 3 courses the previous semester. The upcoming semester, I will be taking 4 courses instead of 5. The reduced work load will help me to stay clear headed. Secondly I will write down my essay and test due dates in advance, this way I can more accurately predict the prospect my grades with regards to my anticipated workload. If i feel that the workload will create too much pressure for me and it is unlikely for me to improve the marks that that are at risk, I will drop it by the course drop deadline. Thirdly, I have recently started taking medication for my anxiety and i plan to stay on it. I am very confident that this will improve my mental state significantly and will enable me to cope with the pressure of my academic workload. All in all, I'm learning to aware of my capacity in handling the pressure that comes with the workload of my courses and to cater the number of courses I should take based off of my abilities and not to push myself against what I cant handle. This way I can exile at the reduced number of course that I do take instead of overwhelming myself with too many course while sacrificing my grades. This is a more effective and prudent approach which benefits both my mental health and any academic standings.
To this letter I will attach documentation of my diagnoses of depression / anxiety which negatively impacted my academic performances in the falls semester of 2015 causing me to fail PHIL256 as well as the prescription for my meds. I hope this acts as sufficient proof.
Thank you for your consideration
Best,
Lucy (xin) He
I am writing to appeal to drop PHIL256 (existentialism) taken in the falls semester of 2015. I failed the course on account of my mental instability (specifically anxiety) which made me inept to handle my academic workload. During the falls semester of 2015, I was unable to cope with the pressure and academics demands of the 5 courses that I was taking and it had reflected on the failure of this particular course. My anxiety had put a toll on my ability to focus and concentrate. I could not retain any of my readings nor produce quality work which in result put a damper on my productivity and efficiency in accomplishing the essays that were required in my courses. I struggled to formulate my thoughts in an organized manner and it was also difficult articulating my thoughts and putting ideas into words. I also had comprehension hindrances. My head was scrambled at all times and I was struggling with day to day organizational tasks. My incompetence to be productive in all aspects of my life, in result, caused me even more anxiety which puts me in a tense state. Last semester, I had experienced the same trouble with mental instability and concentration issues, as a result i dropped two courses ended up taking 3. I came back after a summer of recuperating and thought that I can handle full course load if I consciously tend to my mental wellbeing. I was determined to dedicate the effort to achieve good grades. With this particular course(phil256), I was not doing well at the time of the course drop deadline however I did not anticipate the possibility of failing. I was still pretty confident that I can pull my marks up. However, I overestimated my abilities and was too ambitious. As the semester progressed after the deadline, midterms approached and my work load for all my other courses only got heavier and there were other courses that had priority over this one because they were mandatory for my major. As a result, I did not put enough attention on this course as needed which led to my failing grade in this course. As my ability to concentrate as well as my server panic attacks seems to be an ongoing issue that hinders my academics and other components of life, I went to see the doctor about it. I had originally thought that i was suffering from ADD because it was directly related to concentration problems but I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I just started taking the medication for it.
To prevent this situation from occurring in the future I will employ the following measures. First, I've learnt that I must not over estimate my abilities; clearly 5 course full course load is going to be overwhelming for me on account of my history with mental instability and had taken 3 courses the previous semester. The upcoming semester, I will be taking 4 courses instead of 5. The reduced work load will help me to stay clear headed. Secondly I will write down my essay and test due dates in advance, this way I can more accurately predict the prospect my grades with regards to my anticipated workload. If i feel that the workload will create too much pressure for me and it is unlikely for me to improve the marks that that are at risk, I will drop it by the course drop deadline. Thirdly, I have recently started taking medication for my anxiety and i plan to stay on it. I am very confident that this will improve my mental state significantly and will enable me to cope with the pressure of my academic workload. All in all, I'm learning to aware of my capacity in handling the pressure that comes with the workload of my courses and to cater the number of courses I should take based off of my abilities and not to push myself against what I cant handle. This way I can exile at the reduced number of course that I do take instead of overwhelming myself with too many course while sacrificing my grades. This is a more effective and prudent approach which benefits both my mental health and any academic standings.
To this letter I will attach documentation of my diagnoses of depression / anxiety which negatively impacted my academic performances in the falls semester of 2015 causing me to fail PHIL256 as well as the prescription for my meds. I hope this acts as sufficient proof.
Thank you for your consideration
Best,
Lucy (xin) He