Petition Letter
I've been very anxious everyday, with the added pressure of looking for internships & having to study over 500 latin words for a medical terminology course that has no relevance to my major.
I truly struggle with memorization, and it's been that way since a young age; hence why I chose to major in Computer Science. The entire premise of CLST 204 is memorization, and it brings me an insane amount of anxiety. I've literally never had any experiences with anxiety to this degree until I took a course that was entirely based on memorization.
After taking the midterm last week, I went back home and sat by the bathroom as I puked and shrivelled for hours. The anxiety was too much to handle, I had spent 8 hours everyday in that week preparing for the midterm & yet I know I performed terribly; my brain doesn't do well with the content along with the reoccuring themes of Cardiophobia. Often, when I wake up in the morning I stay in my bed for 4 hours till it's past the afternoon just to avoid working on the course content. The anxiety, stress, and depression that I've been facing from my brain's reluctance with the intense memorization in this course has been too much to endure.
A major reason I took this course was to overcome my fear of heart palpitations / heart attacks, which was a terrible idea on my part and I'm sorry you have to read through this appeal due to a mistake that I made; a choice I thought would help me overcome one of my biggest fears/reasons for anxiety.
I've been enjoying & excelling in literally every other course with the exception of CLST 204.I believe, there's an added degree of stress due to the fact that I haven't seen my family in months (haven't seen my sister in years), and being in an unfamiliar course that is focused on memorization.
I hope that you see my desperation, as this course truly isn't great for my mental health & will only get worse from here. I've talked with friends & closed ones, and they agree with my sentiment, I hope you do too.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM STUDENT:
Hi,
I'm sorry for the late response, a friend of mine at Carleton had passed away & I stayed away from my emails for a bit.
I'm an international student who grew up in the Middle East, where there weren't many resources for mental health, so I've never spoken to a doctor or anything of the sort.
In my current mental state, and after my friend's passing; I truly don't think I'll be able to complete the course. If it's necessary, I could try speaking to a doctor now to see if they think I need a letter.
I truly struggle with memorization, and it's been that way since a young age; hence why I chose to major in Computer Science. The entire premise of CLST 204 is memorization, and it brings me an insane amount of anxiety. I've literally never had any experiences with anxiety to this degree until I took a course that was entirely based on memorization.
After taking the midterm last week, I went back home and sat by the bathroom as I puked and shrivelled for hours. The anxiety was too much to handle, I had spent 8 hours everyday in that week preparing for the midterm & yet I know I performed terribly; my brain doesn't do well with the content along with the reoccuring themes of Cardiophobia. Often, when I wake up in the morning I stay in my bed for 4 hours till it's past the afternoon just to avoid working on the course content. The anxiety, stress, and depression that I've been facing from my brain's reluctance with the intense memorization in this course has been too much to endure.
A major reason I took this course was to overcome my fear of heart palpitations / heart attacks, which was a terrible idea on my part and I'm sorry you have to read through this appeal due to a mistake that I made; a choice I thought would help me overcome one of my biggest fears/reasons for anxiety.
I've been enjoying & excelling in literally every other course with the exception of CLST 204.I believe, there's an added degree of stress due to the fact that I haven't seen my family in months (haven't seen my sister in years), and being in an unfamiliar course that is focused on memorization.
I hope that you see my desperation, as this course truly isn't great for my mental health & will only get worse from here. I've talked with friends & closed ones, and they agree with my sentiment, I hope you do too.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM STUDENT:
Hi,
I'm sorry for the late response, a friend of mine at Carleton had passed away & I stayed away from my emails for a bit.
I'm an international student who grew up in the Middle East, where there weren't many resources for mental health, so I've never spoken to a doctor or anything of the sort.
In my current mental state, and after my friend's passing; I truly don't think I'll be able to complete the course. If it's necessary, I could try speaking to a doctor now to see if they think I need a letter.