Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,



I am petitioning to drop PSYC 271 (Fall, 2023). The reason for my petition is that of extenuating circumstances aggravating anxiety prevalent even before these circumstances. I had planned to already write this petition prior to when these circumstances arose due to issues with my mental health because of my ADHD and had reached out to QSAS even before this. This was even before an incident in which my housemates and I had to leave our house for our own safety. This exacerbated already existing anxiety and personal issue, as the incident was a very stressful process which involved the police and resulted in a temporary stay in residence. There were threats to our lives from one of our housemates which had been stress inducing in the days leading up to police involvement. As of writing this letter we are currently looking into a No Contact Order as it is called by Queens. It is currently being dealt with by the ACT team at Queens. The reason I had not dropped this course (PSYC 271) prior to the deadline is that I had thought prior to this incident that I could still do well in it. This course is one of two choices of courses for my intended specialization in computer science which I intend to pursue. If I had known more about the course’s content I would not have taken it to begin with. I would have taken the other choice PSYC 203. PSYC 271 was the worse option out of the two considering my strengths, but I had no knowledge about this. I had never been strong in classes focusing on biology; however, I did believe that I could somehow at the very least pass the class upon finding out what it was about. I did not account for the deterioration of my mental health over the course of the school year and even furthermore the recent incident which harmed this even more. The reason I am petitioning to drop this course is because in order to perform well I would have to put more time into it than other courses which would subsequently lead less time put in to needed classes for my planned specialization. To perform in this class I would have to put much more effort into it than other courses and it would lead to me being unable to perform as well in computing courses which have a direct impact on my academic plan going forward especially with the now increased difficulty given the recent circumstances. My future plan is that of taking the other needed prerequisite for my plan PSYC 203 since it falls more in line with my strengths compared to that of PSYC 271. Given my circumstances I am not confident in my ability to do well in a heavily exam weighted course when I historically have not done as well on examinations, and even furthermore with subject matter that I know I am weak in. I am thus petitioning to drop this class in favour of a different course fulfilling the same requirements as this one but one that is more in line with my academic strengths. Due to the nature of the course and it’s content as well as grading scheme I am not confident anymore in my ability to do well in it and as such I am petitioning to drop it. I plan to take PSYC 203 either this winter or next fall depending on scheduling.



Thanks,

Caelin Webster