Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I am submitting an academic appeal to have a failed grade dropped from my GPA. I took an economics course as an elective in my first year at Queen¿¿s, during my first semester, and I did not attain a passing grade. I believe this was due to a number of factors that I will outline in this appeal. I have been diagnosed with a Specific Learning Disability that undermined my performance in this course. I registered for accommodations during the first month of the semester but was not able to book a meeting until late October due to the high volume of accommodation meetings. This learning disability affects my ability to focus, and unfortunately, this economics class took place as a 3-hour lecture from 6:30-9:30 on Monday evenings, which gave me significant difficulty in being able to pay attention for the entire lecture. Since that semester, I have not taken a course with a class period longer than 1.5 hours, which integrates more effectively with my learning style and has facilitated my success in these courses.
I struggled to adjust to the academic demands of university, and my accommodations were not implemented until late October, before which I had at least two assessments in ECON111. Notetaking in this course was particularly difficult because there were lots of diagrams and detailed imaging that was arduous to recreate and limited the accuracy of the notes that I had to review for course assessments.
I am currently applying to transfer into the Health Studies major. I was not successful in selecting this plan at the end of first year because my GPA did not meet the requirements. I have worked very hard in my second year to improve my grades and have succeeded in raising my GPA. However, this ECON111 grade has acted as an anchor on my GPA and may prevent me from being accepted into my preferred program.
I am hopeful that you will grant this appeal request for the reasons I have outlined. Please contact me if you need any further clarification about the details of my appeal.
Sincerely,
Graham Williams
I am submitting an academic appeal to have a failed grade dropped from my GPA. I took an economics course as an elective in my first year at Queen¿¿s, during my first semester, and I did not attain a passing grade. I believe this was due to a number of factors that I will outline in this appeal. I have been diagnosed with a Specific Learning Disability that undermined my performance in this course. I registered for accommodations during the first month of the semester but was not able to book a meeting until late October due to the high volume of accommodation meetings. This learning disability affects my ability to focus, and unfortunately, this economics class took place as a 3-hour lecture from 6:30-9:30 on Monday evenings, which gave me significant difficulty in being able to pay attention for the entire lecture. Since that semester, I have not taken a course with a class period longer than 1.5 hours, which integrates more effectively with my learning style and has facilitated my success in these courses.
I struggled to adjust to the academic demands of university, and my accommodations were not implemented until late October, before which I had at least two assessments in ECON111. Notetaking in this course was particularly difficult because there were lots of diagrams and detailed imaging that was arduous to recreate and limited the accuracy of the notes that I had to review for course assessments.
I am currently applying to transfer into the Health Studies major. I was not successful in selecting this plan at the end of first year because my GPA did not meet the requirements. I have worked very hard in my second year to improve my grades and have succeeded in raising my GPA. However, this ECON111 grade has acted as an anchor on my GPA and may prevent me from being accepted into my preferred program.
I am hopeful that you will grant this appeal request for the reasons I have outlined. Please contact me if you need any further clarification about the details of my appeal.
Sincerely,
Graham Williams