Academic Plan
Academic Plan 2020-2022
Alex Strang
10062495
Course of Study
Upon my successful return to studies I intend to utilize the school year to repair my GPA and retake courses I performed poorly in prior to my requirement to withdraw. My current degree plan is a General Arts in Philosophy, however I plan to change into a General Arts in Psychology degree plan by the end of Winter term 2021. I will reduce the amount of courses I take down to three in the first semester. One of which, PSYC 100, will be a two-semester course, the other two, WRIT 125 and LAW 201 will both be 3.0 units and will also be repeated courses that I either failed in the past or achieved a poor mark in. This gives me the semester to assess where I stand in regards to the workload of the three courses and gives me the chance to repair my GPA. In the second semester I intend to continue with PSYC 100B and take on two 200-level PSYC courses with the permission of the Psychology Department, given the fact that I have already completed PSYC 100. So long as I achieve a B or higher in all 5 courses throughout the school year I will be able to repair my GPA from 0.950 to 1.6 and be removed from Academic Probation. By utilizing ArtSci¿¿s GPA calculator I was able to confirm that this is possible with a cumulative total of 18 units throughout the academic year. On the off chance I find myself having difficulties with the course load, I plan to reduce my course load to 2 courses in the Winter semester. This will help prevent me from running into the same issue I ran into before; where I had a cumulative total of 18 units completed by the assessment period and was not able to raise my GPA to 1.6. I do not foresee myself running into the same issues however, due to the tactics for success I have in place this time around, all of which will be listed below. One additional method for success that I plan to implement if I do find myself struggling with the work load of these courses is to enrol myself into a time management seminar or other related workshop.
In Summer 2021 I intend to continue with my academics and obtain 9 additional units, preferably at the PSYC 200 level. This will provide me with a total of 51 passed units towards my degree by the end of the Summer 2021 term. By Fall 2021 I will be free to enrol in a full course load, having removed myself from academic probation and continued with an upward trend of increasing my GPA. This will allow me to acquire 30 units by the end of term in 2022. My plan for the first semester is to enrol into 200-level PSYC courses. A full course load in the Fall semester will give me the chance to utilize 9 credits to enrol into PSYC 200-level courses, thereby completing the PSYC-G-BA Plan requirement of 24.0 units from the PSYC 200-level. The other 6 credits allotted to me will be utilized to help satisfy the 60 elective credits PSYC-G-BA requires to graduate. In January 2022, having fulfilled the PSYC-G-BA¿¿s core and option requirements, I will utilize the 15 units that make up a full term course load to bring me to 51 elective credits by April 2022. After another Summer of completing 3 courses, netting me 9 Credits total, I will have successfully completed all requirements to be eligible to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology by August 2022. I have utilized a table below to help illustrate my academic plan.
Subject: Psychology ¿¿ General (Arts) ¿¿ Bachelor of Arts (PSYC-G-BA)
Plan: Consists of 30.0 units from PSYC (6.0 PSYC 100; 24.0 PSYC-200 level)
Program: The Plan, with sufficient electives to total 90.0 units, will lead to a Bachelor of Arts Degree
Year Core Units Option Units Elective Credits
2020-2021
PSYC 100 (6.0)
Winter: 2x PSYC 200 (3.0x2)
Summer: 3x PSYC 200 (3.0x3) LAW 201 (3.0)
2021-2022 Fall: 3x PSYC 200 (3.0x3) Fall: 2x Elective Credits (3.0x2)
Winter: 5x Elective Credits (3.0x5)
Summer: 3x Elective Credits (3.0x3)
Previous Years: 27.0 Elective Credits
Total: 6.0 24.0 60.0
Currently, I have 27.0 credits that would be considered elective credits for a PSYC-G-BA. With the completion of LAW 201 by December 2020, I will have 30.0 credits that will be considered elective credits. Following my completion of the 24.0 required units of PSYC 200-level courses by December 2021, I will be free to pursue the required amount of elective credits in the following two semesters. By the end of Winter semester I will have a total of 51 elective credits, leaving me the Summer term of 2022 to finish off the remaining 9.0 credits, bringing me to a total of 90 completed units for the degree.
Full Time vs. Part Time Status
If I am granted permission to return to my studies at Queen¿¿s University, I intend to continue with full time studies. However, as I have previously stated, I do intend to reduce my course load down to three courses from the maximum of five. I believe this will be paramount in making sure that I¿¿m not biting off more than I can chew this time around. This will relieve me of some of the added pressure of trying to repair my GPA and maintain a B average in each class, so that I am no longer under academic probation come the assessment period at the end of Winter term. I do concede however, that if I am finding myself struggling with the course load during the first semester, I plan to reduce my course load down to two courses in the second semester of the academic year. Again, I do not believe this will be the case and I think that three courses for each semester in my first year back at Queen¿¿s will be a very manageable amount of work to take on. But, I do want to try and illustrate that I have considered all possibilities and am doing whatever I can to make sure that regardless of the situation, I am able to manage the work afforded to me from studying at Queen¿¿s.
Strategies for Success
In the four years that have elapsed since my requirement to withdraw from Queen¿¿s University, I¿¿ve asked myself the question time and time again, ¿¿what could I have done differently to produce a different result, a better result¿ The obvious and easy answer is that I could have managed my time better, sought out mental health and counselling services sooner, or even done more to recognize when I was feeling depressed and unmotivated towards life in general. But the truth is, I don¿¿t know that I could have done anything differently at the time. In the end, I think I needed this mandated time away from Queen¿¿s, so that I could reflect, gain life experience, and better understand my place in the world. When I first came to Queen¿¿s in 2013, I was a naïve 19-year-old who didn¿¿t know what he was doing or who he was. Now, at 26 years old, I¿¿ve come to better understand who I am and where my strengths and weaknesses lie. More importantly, I¿¿m comfortable in my own skin. I think a driving factor of why I would find myself having these episodes of acute mental illness was because of the overwhelming anxiety I had towards how I perceived myself in comparison to my peers. Looking back, I do believe that this was an unaddressed issue for most of my young adult and teenage life. I¿¿ve grown and become more grounded with who I am as a result of being required to withdraw. It forced me to assess where I was failing and how I could improve. How I could make my life better. Since my withdrawal from Queen¿¿s, I have continued to work towards maintaining a strong mental health and have developed a strong passion for learning more about psychology. Specifically positive psychology and motivation psychology. I am driven to finish my degree in psychology so that I may learn more about how to maintain my own mental health and educate others who seek the same personal support. Additionally, I have instilled in myself skills that will help me succeed in my efforts. Time management skills, maintaining a proper schedule, keeping myself organized, and taking pride in the work that I do have all become important details in my everyday life. My life experience in the time since May 2016 has shown me how important maintaining proper mental health is. It¿¿s given me a reason to have a personal stake in this matter and an inclination to want to help others who may be suffering from depression, addiction, or any other mental disorder which may be making their lives less manageable. I have documentation from my family doctor that I will be attaching to my appeal in support of my claim that my mental health is being continuously maintained.
Initially, I intended to appeal my requirement to withdraw immediately after the three years had lapsed. However, in April 2019 I lost my younger sister to an accidental drug overdose. I decided to hold off on submitting my appeal so that I could properly grieve and stay close to my family. While it is still a sad reality to contend with, the grief has developed into a strong familial bond and personal motivator more than anything. My sister and I were very close, having been only two years apart. After moving to Toronto to pursue an education through OCAD University she got in with the wrong crowd and developed an addiction to heroin. My parents sent her to two rehabs in the span of eight months. In the second rehab she met a dealer who was sent there under a court-mandated order. A month later, after she was released, she acquired heroin laced with Carfentanil from that same dealer and subsequently overdosed due to the Carfentanil. My siblings and I come from a good upbringing with successful parents who instilled in us the importance of getting an education. The point I¿¿m trying to make here is that these types of mental health issues affect everyone. But they don¿¿t have to be so tragic for everyone. I was too late to anything to save my sister, but that doesn¿¿t mean that I can¿¿t try and help other people in honour of her. If I am successful in my appeal and am able to return to my studies that¿¿s what I intend to do.
My end-goal in regards to finishing a degree in Psychology is to utilize what I¿¿ve learned either in a therapeutic, educational, or clinical way, to help people who are suffering from these types of issues. I do believe that with the realistic academic plan I have in place, the overall growth and development I have experienced in the time since, and the personal stake I have in the matter will all be crucial factors in my success at Queen¿¿s. The support system I surround myself with and the strides I take towards maintaining my own mental and physical health with medication, exercise, and an overall balanced lifestyle will also ensure my ability to complete this degree program. I intend to utilize this Academic Plan throughout the remainder of my undergraduate degree as a guide and reference point for how far I¿¿ve gotten and how much more I need to do.
Alex Strang
10062495
Course of Study
Upon my successful return to studies I intend to utilize the school year to repair my GPA and retake courses I performed poorly in prior to my requirement to withdraw. My current degree plan is a General Arts in Philosophy, however I plan to change into a General Arts in Psychology degree plan by the end of Winter term 2021. I will reduce the amount of courses I take down to three in the first semester. One of which, PSYC 100, will be a two-semester course, the other two, WRIT 125 and LAW 201 will both be 3.0 units and will also be repeated courses that I either failed in the past or achieved a poor mark in. This gives me the semester to assess where I stand in regards to the workload of the three courses and gives me the chance to repair my GPA. In the second semester I intend to continue with PSYC 100B and take on two 200-level PSYC courses with the permission of the Psychology Department, given the fact that I have already completed PSYC 100. So long as I achieve a B or higher in all 5 courses throughout the school year I will be able to repair my GPA from 0.950 to 1.6 and be removed from Academic Probation. By utilizing ArtSci¿¿s GPA calculator I was able to confirm that this is possible with a cumulative total of 18 units throughout the academic year. On the off chance I find myself having difficulties with the course load, I plan to reduce my course load to 2 courses in the Winter semester. This will help prevent me from running into the same issue I ran into before; where I had a cumulative total of 18 units completed by the assessment period and was not able to raise my GPA to 1.6. I do not foresee myself running into the same issues however, due to the tactics for success I have in place this time around, all of which will be listed below. One additional method for success that I plan to implement if I do find myself struggling with the work load of these courses is to enrol myself into a time management seminar or other related workshop.
In Summer 2021 I intend to continue with my academics and obtain 9 additional units, preferably at the PSYC 200 level. This will provide me with a total of 51 passed units towards my degree by the end of the Summer 2021 term. By Fall 2021 I will be free to enrol in a full course load, having removed myself from academic probation and continued with an upward trend of increasing my GPA. This will allow me to acquire 30 units by the end of term in 2022. My plan for the first semester is to enrol into 200-level PSYC courses. A full course load in the Fall semester will give me the chance to utilize 9 credits to enrol into PSYC 200-level courses, thereby completing the PSYC-G-BA Plan requirement of 24.0 units from the PSYC 200-level. The other 6 credits allotted to me will be utilized to help satisfy the 60 elective credits PSYC-G-BA requires to graduate. In January 2022, having fulfilled the PSYC-G-BA¿¿s core and option requirements, I will utilize the 15 units that make up a full term course load to bring me to 51 elective credits by April 2022. After another Summer of completing 3 courses, netting me 9 Credits total, I will have successfully completed all requirements to be eligible to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology by August 2022. I have utilized a table below to help illustrate my academic plan.
Subject: Psychology ¿¿ General (Arts) ¿¿ Bachelor of Arts (PSYC-G-BA)
Plan: Consists of 30.0 units from PSYC (6.0 PSYC 100; 24.0 PSYC-200 level)
Program: The Plan, with sufficient electives to total 90.0 units, will lead to a Bachelor of Arts Degree
Year Core Units Option Units Elective Credits
2020-2021
PSYC 100 (6.0)
Winter: 2x PSYC 200 (3.0x2)
Summer: 3x PSYC 200 (3.0x3) LAW 201 (3.0)
2021-2022 Fall: 3x PSYC 200 (3.0x3) Fall: 2x Elective Credits (3.0x2)
Winter: 5x Elective Credits (3.0x5)
Summer: 3x Elective Credits (3.0x3)
Previous Years: 27.0 Elective Credits
Total: 6.0 24.0 60.0
Currently, I have 27.0 credits that would be considered elective credits for a PSYC-G-BA. With the completion of LAW 201 by December 2020, I will have 30.0 credits that will be considered elective credits. Following my completion of the 24.0 required units of PSYC 200-level courses by December 2021, I will be free to pursue the required amount of elective credits in the following two semesters. By the end of Winter semester I will have a total of 51 elective credits, leaving me the Summer term of 2022 to finish off the remaining 9.0 credits, bringing me to a total of 90 completed units for the degree.
Full Time vs. Part Time Status
If I am granted permission to return to my studies at Queen¿¿s University, I intend to continue with full time studies. However, as I have previously stated, I do intend to reduce my course load down to three courses from the maximum of five. I believe this will be paramount in making sure that I¿¿m not biting off more than I can chew this time around. This will relieve me of some of the added pressure of trying to repair my GPA and maintain a B average in each class, so that I am no longer under academic probation come the assessment period at the end of Winter term. I do concede however, that if I am finding myself struggling with the course load during the first semester, I plan to reduce my course load down to two courses in the second semester of the academic year. Again, I do not believe this will be the case and I think that three courses for each semester in my first year back at Queen¿¿s will be a very manageable amount of work to take on. But, I do want to try and illustrate that I have considered all possibilities and am doing whatever I can to make sure that regardless of the situation, I am able to manage the work afforded to me from studying at Queen¿¿s.
Strategies for Success
In the four years that have elapsed since my requirement to withdraw from Queen¿¿s University, I¿¿ve asked myself the question time and time again, ¿¿what could I have done differently to produce a different result, a better result¿ The obvious and easy answer is that I could have managed my time better, sought out mental health and counselling services sooner, or even done more to recognize when I was feeling depressed and unmotivated towards life in general. But the truth is, I don¿¿t know that I could have done anything differently at the time. In the end, I think I needed this mandated time away from Queen¿¿s, so that I could reflect, gain life experience, and better understand my place in the world. When I first came to Queen¿¿s in 2013, I was a naïve 19-year-old who didn¿¿t know what he was doing or who he was. Now, at 26 years old, I¿¿ve come to better understand who I am and where my strengths and weaknesses lie. More importantly, I¿¿m comfortable in my own skin. I think a driving factor of why I would find myself having these episodes of acute mental illness was because of the overwhelming anxiety I had towards how I perceived myself in comparison to my peers. Looking back, I do believe that this was an unaddressed issue for most of my young adult and teenage life. I¿¿ve grown and become more grounded with who I am as a result of being required to withdraw. It forced me to assess where I was failing and how I could improve. How I could make my life better. Since my withdrawal from Queen¿¿s, I have continued to work towards maintaining a strong mental health and have developed a strong passion for learning more about psychology. Specifically positive psychology and motivation psychology. I am driven to finish my degree in psychology so that I may learn more about how to maintain my own mental health and educate others who seek the same personal support. Additionally, I have instilled in myself skills that will help me succeed in my efforts. Time management skills, maintaining a proper schedule, keeping myself organized, and taking pride in the work that I do have all become important details in my everyday life. My life experience in the time since May 2016 has shown me how important maintaining proper mental health is. It¿¿s given me a reason to have a personal stake in this matter and an inclination to want to help others who may be suffering from depression, addiction, or any other mental disorder which may be making their lives less manageable. I have documentation from my family doctor that I will be attaching to my appeal in support of my claim that my mental health is being continuously maintained.
Initially, I intended to appeal my requirement to withdraw immediately after the three years had lapsed. However, in April 2019 I lost my younger sister to an accidental drug overdose. I decided to hold off on submitting my appeal so that I could properly grieve and stay close to my family. While it is still a sad reality to contend with, the grief has developed into a strong familial bond and personal motivator more than anything. My sister and I were very close, having been only two years apart. After moving to Toronto to pursue an education through OCAD University she got in with the wrong crowd and developed an addiction to heroin. My parents sent her to two rehabs in the span of eight months. In the second rehab she met a dealer who was sent there under a court-mandated order. A month later, after she was released, she acquired heroin laced with Carfentanil from that same dealer and subsequently overdosed due to the Carfentanil. My siblings and I come from a good upbringing with successful parents who instilled in us the importance of getting an education. The point I¿¿m trying to make here is that these types of mental health issues affect everyone. But they don¿¿t have to be so tragic for everyone. I was too late to anything to save my sister, but that doesn¿¿t mean that I can¿¿t try and help other people in honour of her. If I am successful in my appeal and am able to return to my studies that¿¿s what I intend to do.
My end-goal in regards to finishing a degree in Psychology is to utilize what I¿¿ve learned either in a therapeutic, educational, or clinical way, to help people who are suffering from these types of issues. I do believe that with the realistic academic plan I have in place, the overall growth and development I have experienced in the time since, and the personal stake I have in the matter will all be crucial factors in my success at Queen¿¿s. The support system I surround myself with and the strides I take towards maintaining my own mental and physical health with medication, exercise, and an overall balanced lifestyle will also ensure my ability to complete this degree program. I intend to utilize this Academic Plan throughout the remainder of my undergraduate degree as a guide and reference point for how far I¿¿ve gotten and how much more I need to do.