Academic Plan
Alexander Strang¿¿s Academic Plan
Due to the severe extenuating circumstances I had dealt with this past academic year, I have used this summer to reflect upon the issues I faced with regards to my academics and how my mental health difficulties prevented me from being able to properly perform at the academic level I am accustomed to working at. With this reflection comes a detailed academic plan where I address the issues I faced and how I will go about advancing beyond those said issues this upcoming school year so that they do not negatively impact my academics again while working towards my undergraduate degree here at Queen¿¿s University. Below I shall detail the components of the plan and why I believe that I will be successful in implementing this plan into my everyday life, enabling me to have a successful school year here at Queen¿¿s. To start, I will address the proposed Degree Plan I intend on working on this upcoming school year and why the courses I hope to take will aid in my academic success while also raising my overall GPA so that I am no longer on academic probation. Furthermore, I will address my course load and how I am going to properly manage courses going forward so that I am not negatively affecting my studies while I continue to manage my mental health difficulties in a positive manner. Lastly, I will continue to outline in detail my strategies for success and how I will continue to use my plan throughout the school year to guide myself to the academic success I know I can achieve.
My course of study for this upcoming school year is to continue going forward with the proposed plan I and an academic advisor agreed upon working towards back in May 2016. The plan is to continue with my temporary Degree Plan of a BA in PHIL while I continue to complete courses related to the POLS Degree Plan, as Politics is and has been my desired Degree Plan since starting my undergraduate degree back in 2013. This course of study was decided to be my best approach as it has placed me in a BA major for PHIL while I work towards increasing my GPA until it is sufficient enough where I can switch over to a major in POLS under a BAH. In addition to this, the overall plan for this upcoming school year is to redo previous POLS courses that I had done this past year which were negatively impacted by the mental health difficulties I suffered from. These POLS courses are required if I am looking to complete a BAH in POLS and will also aid me in making sure I have a high enough GPA come May 2017 to be taken off of academic probation. After assessing what sorts of grades I would need to be successful in being taken off of academic probation with the academic advisors here at Queen¿¿s, it has been determined that if I were to achieve a B- in each of my classes this upcoming year I would successfully be taken off of academic probation for the BA degree program. I know that by redoing the courses I took this past academic year, in addition to lightening my course load, and focusing on the success strategies I¿¿ve began to create and will continue to work with, I can be successful in being removed from academic probation.
In addition to assessing my course of study and figuring out which is the best way to approach this upcoming term, I¿¿ve decided that lightening my course load to four classes per term will also help me in successfully managing both my academics and my mental health going forward. By limiting myself to a maximum of four courses a term, I can provide myself ample time to work on each course effectively, while also maintaining focus on my mental health difficulties so that they do not become an issue this school year. I believe that through having a lighter course load I will not only be able to be more attentive to each course I take, but I will also be giving myself more time to deal with my mental health difficulties. The fact that I now know I suffer from Bipolar Disorder II means I must address the issue on a regular basis. This requires me to put time and effort into going to counsellor sessions, keeping up with my medication, and giving myself time to stabilize my mood through ¿mindfulness¿¿ activities and behavioral cognitive therapies (CBT) so that I do not suffer from further major depressive or hypomanic episodes. By limiting my course load I will be effectively giving myself extra time to complete assignments, study for exams, and prepare for tests, readings and tutorials that would otherwise be time spent with another class. I believe that this is vital in my academic success here at Queen¿¿s, as my mental health difficulties will most likely affect me for the rest of my life and require constant monitoring by me and by my support group here in Kingston. This plan of action, with regards to my course load goes hand in hand with my strategies for success and how I believe that there is much more required for my success than to just try harder in my courses.
The issues that negatively impacted my academic success here at Queen¿¿s University this past year - and perhaps even before that - go far beyond merely making sure that I try harder in my studies. Instead, my issues with academic success at Queen¿¿s this past year have been due to severe mental health difficulties involving extreme mood cycling from one end of the spectrum to the other. This past year I had suffered from prolonged episodes of severe depression and anxiety as a result of my Bipolar Disorder II, where I was at times too scared to leave my house or too depressed to get myself out of bed. In April 2016, when I finally cycled out of my episode of severe depression and began to recognize that there was something significantly wrong with my mental health, I sought help through the counselling services on campus and have been regularly attending all counselling sessions since. These sessions have made it apparent to me that to manage my Bipolar Disorder II, I must not only be vigilant with how I am feeling on a regular basis, but need to also focus on what may be a trigger that will send me into a state of depression or hypomania. The regular journaling of the status of my mood and how I feel has helped greatly in keeping away from things which I believe would send me into either a depressed or hypomanic state. Additionally, the counselling services have opened up an array of options for me to better understand how to deal with my mental health difficulties in the future. Since becoming exposed to the options available to me, I¿¿ve decided that going forward it will benefit me greatly to continue with counselling sessions on a bi-weekly basis, where I can monitor and assess where I am mentally and report my own findings back to my counsellor for further evaluation. The counselling services are also going to be offering me cognitive behavioral therapy to help solve thinking patterns that have previously led me to feel extremely depressed this past year. Additionally, I have since late August 2016 began the use of regular medication to help stabilize my mood and combat the negative symptoms associated with my mental health difficulties. The use of the medication also requires a semi-regular visit to the health services on campus to further assess how well the medication is working to combat the negative symptoms associated with my mental illness. I believe that my continued work towards making sure that the medication is working properly for me with the help of the health services on campus will greatly aid me in keeping my mood stabilized during this academic year. Another strategy for my academic success I plan to utilize this school year is called mindfulness therapy. A six-week course being offered at Queen¿¿s University, called Mindfulness for Students 2016 is something I have registered in and plan on attending regularly as another way to combat the relapse of any major depressive episodes like what I had last year. Lastly, since becoming aware of the mental health issues I faced last year, I¿¿ve started to let people close to me in on what I¿¿ve been dealing with so that I can forge strong support groups for this upcoming year to help me if things start to get tough again. I have close friends here in Kingston who¿¿ve promised to look out for me if they recognize that my mental health begins to decline again and have offered a number of ways to help combat my mental health difficulties going forward. For example, my very good friend and my housemate this year has offered support through the maintenance of physical activity. By having a gym-buddy who knows of the personal struggles I faced this last year, I believe I can make a real difference in my mental health by staying on top of my physical health as well. Additionally, my family has become well aware of my mental health difficulties and since both my parents are physicians they too have pledged their support with my academic efforts.
In conclusion, my academic plan for the school year is to continue with the course of study that an academic advisor and I laid out back in May 2016, which includes retaking POLS courses that were negatively affected by my mental health difficulties this past year. In addition to this, I will be limiting myself to 4 courses per term so that I can give myself a sufficient amount of time to focus on my coursework while also regularly managing my mental health. Furthermore, I will be actively attending counselling sessions on a bi-weekly basis throughout the year so that I can learn how to manage my mental health difficulties more effectively. The counselling sessions are also planned to include cognitive behavioral therapy to help change thought patterns that have negatively affected my mental health in the past. Along with counselling sessions, starting September 20th, I will be attending a mindfulness course on the campus to better my understanding of how to handle my mental health difficulties going forward. Lastly, now that I have a group of close friends and family who are aware of my mental health difficulties and are here to support me with my academic career for this school year, I believe that I will be able to successfully monitor my mental health so that it does not negatively affect me with regards to school or any other social aspects. My support group of close friends and family has pledged their support to making sure that I take my medication, maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine, and am actively gauging my mood levels so that I know whether or not my mindset is in a stable place. With all of these things in place, I know that I can be a successful student this year and get myself out of academic probation and start heading in the direction I want to be headed in here at Queen¿¿s University.
Due to the severe extenuating circumstances I had dealt with this past academic year, I have used this summer to reflect upon the issues I faced with regards to my academics and how my mental health difficulties prevented me from being able to properly perform at the academic level I am accustomed to working at. With this reflection comes a detailed academic plan where I address the issues I faced and how I will go about advancing beyond those said issues this upcoming school year so that they do not negatively impact my academics again while working towards my undergraduate degree here at Queen¿¿s University. Below I shall detail the components of the plan and why I believe that I will be successful in implementing this plan into my everyday life, enabling me to have a successful school year here at Queen¿¿s. To start, I will address the proposed Degree Plan I intend on working on this upcoming school year and why the courses I hope to take will aid in my academic success while also raising my overall GPA so that I am no longer on academic probation. Furthermore, I will address my course load and how I am going to properly manage courses going forward so that I am not negatively affecting my studies while I continue to manage my mental health difficulties in a positive manner. Lastly, I will continue to outline in detail my strategies for success and how I will continue to use my plan throughout the school year to guide myself to the academic success I know I can achieve.
My course of study for this upcoming school year is to continue going forward with the proposed plan I and an academic advisor agreed upon working towards back in May 2016. The plan is to continue with my temporary Degree Plan of a BA in PHIL while I continue to complete courses related to the POLS Degree Plan, as Politics is and has been my desired Degree Plan since starting my undergraduate degree back in 2013. This course of study was decided to be my best approach as it has placed me in a BA major for PHIL while I work towards increasing my GPA until it is sufficient enough where I can switch over to a major in POLS under a BAH. In addition to this, the overall plan for this upcoming school year is to redo previous POLS courses that I had done this past year which were negatively impacted by the mental health difficulties I suffered from. These POLS courses are required if I am looking to complete a BAH in POLS and will also aid me in making sure I have a high enough GPA come May 2017 to be taken off of academic probation. After assessing what sorts of grades I would need to be successful in being taken off of academic probation with the academic advisors here at Queen¿¿s, it has been determined that if I were to achieve a B- in each of my classes this upcoming year I would successfully be taken off of academic probation for the BA degree program. I know that by redoing the courses I took this past academic year, in addition to lightening my course load, and focusing on the success strategies I¿¿ve began to create and will continue to work with, I can be successful in being removed from academic probation.
In addition to assessing my course of study and figuring out which is the best way to approach this upcoming term, I¿¿ve decided that lightening my course load to four classes per term will also help me in successfully managing both my academics and my mental health going forward. By limiting myself to a maximum of four courses a term, I can provide myself ample time to work on each course effectively, while also maintaining focus on my mental health difficulties so that they do not become an issue this school year. I believe that through having a lighter course load I will not only be able to be more attentive to each course I take, but I will also be giving myself more time to deal with my mental health difficulties. The fact that I now know I suffer from Bipolar Disorder II means I must address the issue on a regular basis. This requires me to put time and effort into going to counsellor sessions, keeping up with my medication, and giving myself time to stabilize my mood through ¿mindfulness¿¿ activities and behavioral cognitive therapies (CBT) so that I do not suffer from further major depressive or hypomanic episodes. By limiting my course load I will be effectively giving myself extra time to complete assignments, study for exams, and prepare for tests, readings and tutorials that would otherwise be time spent with another class. I believe that this is vital in my academic success here at Queen¿¿s, as my mental health difficulties will most likely affect me for the rest of my life and require constant monitoring by me and by my support group here in Kingston. This plan of action, with regards to my course load goes hand in hand with my strategies for success and how I believe that there is much more required for my success than to just try harder in my courses.
The issues that negatively impacted my academic success here at Queen¿¿s University this past year - and perhaps even before that - go far beyond merely making sure that I try harder in my studies. Instead, my issues with academic success at Queen¿¿s this past year have been due to severe mental health difficulties involving extreme mood cycling from one end of the spectrum to the other. This past year I had suffered from prolonged episodes of severe depression and anxiety as a result of my Bipolar Disorder II, where I was at times too scared to leave my house or too depressed to get myself out of bed. In April 2016, when I finally cycled out of my episode of severe depression and began to recognize that there was something significantly wrong with my mental health, I sought help through the counselling services on campus and have been regularly attending all counselling sessions since. These sessions have made it apparent to me that to manage my Bipolar Disorder II, I must not only be vigilant with how I am feeling on a regular basis, but need to also focus on what may be a trigger that will send me into a state of depression or hypomania. The regular journaling of the status of my mood and how I feel has helped greatly in keeping away from things which I believe would send me into either a depressed or hypomanic state. Additionally, the counselling services have opened up an array of options for me to better understand how to deal with my mental health difficulties in the future. Since becoming exposed to the options available to me, I¿¿ve decided that going forward it will benefit me greatly to continue with counselling sessions on a bi-weekly basis, where I can monitor and assess where I am mentally and report my own findings back to my counsellor for further evaluation. The counselling services are also going to be offering me cognitive behavioral therapy to help solve thinking patterns that have previously led me to feel extremely depressed this past year. Additionally, I have since late August 2016 began the use of regular medication to help stabilize my mood and combat the negative symptoms associated with my mental health difficulties. The use of the medication also requires a semi-regular visit to the health services on campus to further assess how well the medication is working to combat the negative symptoms associated with my mental illness. I believe that my continued work towards making sure that the medication is working properly for me with the help of the health services on campus will greatly aid me in keeping my mood stabilized during this academic year. Another strategy for my academic success I plan to utilize this school year is called mindfulness therapy. A six-week course being offered at Queen¿¿s University, called Mindfulness for Students 2016 is something I have registered in and plan on attending regularly as another way to combat the relapse of any major depressive episodes like what I had last year. Lastly, since becoming aware of the mental health issues I faced last year, I¿¿ve started to let people close to me in on what I¿¿ve been dealing with so that I can forge strong support groups for this upcoming year to help me if things start to get tough again. I have close friends here in Kingston who¿¿ve promised to look out for me if they recognize that my mental health begins to decline again and have offered a number of ways to help combat my mental health difficulties going forward. For example, my very good friend and my housemate this year has offered support through the maintenance of physical activity. By having a gym-buddy who knows of the personal struggles I faced this last year, I believe I can make a real difference in my mental health by staying on top of my physical health as well. Additionally, my family has become well aware of my mental health difficulties and since both my parents are physicians they too have pledged their support with my academic efforts.
In conclusion, my academic plan for the school year is to continue with the course of study that an academic advisor and I laid out back in May 2016, which includes retaking POLS courses that were negatively affected by my mental health difficulties this past year. In addition to this, I will be limiting myself to 4 courses per term so that I can give myself a sufficient amount of time to focus on my coursework while also regularly managing my mental health. Furthermore, I will be actively attending counselling sessions on a bi-weekly basis throughout the year so that I can learn how to manage my mental health difficulties more effectively. The counselling sessions are also planned to include cognitive behavioral therapy to help change thought patterns that have negatively affected my mental health in the past. Along with counselling sessions, starting September 20th, I will be attending a mindfulness course on the campus to better my understanding of how to handle my mental health difficulties going forward. Lastly, now that I have a group of close friends and family who are aware of my mental health difficulties and are here to support me with my academic career for this school year, I believe that I will be able to successfully monitor my mental health so that it does not negatively affect me with regards to school or any other social aspects. My support group of close friends and family has pledged their support to making sure that I take my medication, maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine, and am actively gauging my mood levels so that I know whether or not my mindset is in a stable place. With all of these things in place, I know that I can be a successful student this year and get myself out of academic probation and start heading in the direction I want to be headed in here at Queen¿¿s University.