Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean, My name is Shen Qiao, and my student id is 20224313.
First, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to explain my
circumstance, and I apologize for having a CGPA lower than the required level by the
end of winter 2021.
I want to appeal the Faculty of Arts and Science's decision that I must withdraw from
Queen's for one year, effective May 25, 2021. As a first-year international student, when Coronavirus spreads in my home country, I
cannot attend in-class courses, communicate with teachers face to face, and learn with
classmates to adapt to the new teaching mode.
To begin with, I took online classes at night and went to bed during the day due to time¿zone difference, which completely violated the human biological clock and disrupted
my long-term work and rest habits. As a result, I had insomnia and was unable to
concentrate on my studies.
When I discovered the sleeping problem in the first semester, I adjusted my schedules
and attended psychological counseling, so that in the second semester, I devoted myself
to study more deeply, and got an A in CISC102. In addition, I cannot directly access to international websites, due to the unique network
restrictions in China. Therefore, I need to use VPN to open my learning website. As a
freshman, I did not know these things. For example, for Gphy105, I did not keep up
with the progress of my first assignment due to VPN problems. After realizing this, I
actively searched for a suitable VPN. However, while doing my homework, I was still
sometimes interrupted by the unstable internet connection. This delayed the whole
process of my homework, also led to tight study schedules near the deadline.
The third point is that I failed to communicate clearly with my professors via emails.
Through online classes, I have fewer opportunities to communicate with my classmates
and can only ask professors questions by emails when I am not clear with their
instructions. For example, I tried multiple times to communicate with professors and teaching
assistants in MATH 110 and 120 and was still confused after their detailed responses. I
was embarrassed to bother the teaching assistant more, so I stopped asking. As a result,
more and more problems remain unsolved. For some courses such as CISC101, the question was too complicated to be answered
by text and through emails. When I just started learning Python, I was not able to
overcome some technical issues though asked for professor¿¿s instruction via emails
since it was difficult for me to explain all my questions clearly in text. I was not able to
fix all problems before retaking the class, so I failed to pass the course again.
The fourth reason is that I did not make a manageable course schedule in the first
semester, because of my lack of understanding of the Canadian educational system as
a Chinese student. In the first term, I selected several challenging courses. As a result,
to lighten my course load, I had to drop MATH 120 in the hopes of passing the other
courses. In the winter semester, I began to change my learning methods and improved
my grade for MATH 110. However, the annual class MATH 110 grade was low in the
fall semester, affecting the entire school year's grades and causing the course to fail.
As a result, those factors harmed my studies in general. Nonetheless, I improved my
grade average from 0 to 0.94 near the end of my second semester.
For the fall semester of 2021, to avoid the problems I had last year. I will take a lighter
course load and check the class syllabus daily. I intend to continue my study and attend
the school in person. So, I can meet with my professor and advisor every week to
discuss my progress and create a study plan for the following week to keep me on track.
In addition, I can adjust my sleep patterns and no longer suffer from insomnia, allowing
me to better keep up with my classes without VPN, concentrate on my studies and
ensure that I do not miss any assignments. For the summer term 2021, the school granted my request to drop both CISC 101 and
CISC 121, which let me better prepare for the ongoing exams. I will continue the study
in MATH 121 from May 10 to July 30th and demonstrate that my circumstance has
improved significantly. So far, I have attended all the quizzes on time and got good
results.
If my appeal is successful and I am given a second chance to continue my studies at
Queen's, I am confident that I will perform better next semester.
First, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to explain my
circumstance, and I apologize for having a CGPA lower than the required level by the
end of winter 2021.
I want to appeal the Faculty of Arts and Science's decision that I must withdraw from
Queen's for one year, effective May 25, 2021. As a first-year international student, when Coronavirus spreads in my home country, I
cannot attend in-class courses, communicate with teachers face to face, and learn with
classmates to adapt to the new teaching mode.
To begin with, I took online classes at night and went to bed during the day due to time¿zone difference, which completely violated the human biological clock and disrupted
my long-term work and rest habits. As a result, I had insomnia and was unable to
concentrate on my studies.
When I discovered the sleeping problem in the first semester, I adjusted my schedules
and attended psychological counseling, so that in the second semester, I devoted myself
to study more deeply, and got an A in CISC102. In addition, I cannot directly access to international websites, due to the unique network
restrictions in China. Therefore, I need to use VPN to open my learning website. As a
freshman, I did not know these things. For example, for Gphy105, I did not keep up
with the progress of my first assignment due to VPN problems. After realizing this, I
actively searched for a suitable VPN. However, while doing my homework, I was still
sometimes interrupted by the unstable internet connection. This delayed the whole
process of my homework, also led to tight study schedules near the deadline.
The third point is that I failed to communicate clearly with my professors via emails.
Through online classes, I have fewer opportunities to communicate with my classmates
and can only ask professors questions by emails when I am not clear with their
instructions. For example, I tried multiple times to communicate with professors and teaching
assistants in MATH 110 and 120 and was still confused after their detailed responses. I
was embarrassed to bother the teaching assistant more, so I stopped asking. As a result,
more and more problems remain unsolved. For some courses such as CISC101, the question was too complicated to be answered
by text and through emails. When I just started learning Python, I was not able to
overcome some technical issues though asked for professor¿¿s instruction via emails
since it was difficult for me to explain all my questions clearly in text. I was not able to
fix all problems before retaking the class, so I failed to pass the course again.
The fourth reason is that I did not make a manageable course schedule in the first
semester, because of my lack of understanding of the Canadian educational system as
a Chinese student. In the first term, I selected several challenging courses. As a result,
to lighten my course load, I had to drop MATH 120 in the hopes of passing the other
courses. In the winter semester, I began to change my learning methods and improved
my grade for MATH 110. However, the annual class MATH 110 grade was low in the
fall semester, affecting the entire school year's grades and causing the course to fail.
As a result, those factors harmed my studies in general. Nonetheless, I improved my
grade average from 0 to 0.94 near the end of my second semester.
For the fall semester of 2021, to avoid the problems I had last year. I will take a lighter
course load and check the class syllabus daily. I intend to continue my study and attend
the school in person. So, I can meet with my professor and advisor every week to
discuss my progress and create a study plan for the following week to keep me on track.
In addition, I can adjust my sleep patterns and no longer suffer from insomnia, allowing
me to better keep up with my classes without VPN, concentrate on my studies and
ensure that I do not miss any assignments. For the summer term 2021, the school granted my request to drop both CISC 101 and
CISC 121, which let me better prepare for the ongoing exams. I will continue the study
in MATH 121 from May 10 to July 30th and demonstrate that my circumstance has
improved significantly. So far, I have attended all the quizzes on time and got good
results.
If my appeal is successful and I am given a second chance to continue my studies at
Queen's, I am confident that I will perform better next semester.