Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am petitioning to drop BIOL 404 (Summer 2024). This is due to the extenuating circumstances I experienced while taking the course. Before the course began, I was feeling slightly anxious - but I dismissed these feelings as I anticipated this feeling would subside as the course progressed. However, on days 1-3 of the course I found myself experiencing much greater anxiety symptoms than before. I had trouble sleeping, getting only 2-3 hours per night despite lying in bed with the intention to sleep for 8+ hours a night. During the night and morning before class I would experience an abnormally fast heartbeat and would be breathing heavily, in-part why I struggled with sleep. Furthermore, when consciously thinking about the course, I could physically feel these symptoms enhance temporarily. The mornings before class were also accompanied by severe feelings of nausea, so much so that I could not eat before class. I pushed through these feelings for the first three days, but on the morning of day four (Thursday, May 2) I believed the symptoms became too much to handle. After another night of little to no sleep, I woke up yet again with a rapidly beating heart and heavy breathing, and was feeling extremely nauseous to the point where vomiting occurred. At this point I decided to check myself in for an appointment at the student wellness center, which ultimately led me to decide I need to drop this course for two reasons. The first is that my lack of sleep and poor appetite before class was seriously hindering my ability to complete the coursework. Days were spent extremely tired, and I could tell I was not working near 100% of my capability. Further, experiencing these extenuating symptoms for 7 more days (how many days of the course remained) did not seem feasible as I did not believe I could handle it mentally. The reason I did not drop it beforehand (the deadline was the day class began) is I was not aware I would experience the feelings and symptoms of anxiety that I did, and could only figure this out after a few days had passed. Although these symptoms are quite serious, I am confident they will not affect my future academic success for two reasons. The first of which is quite simple - this course has made me realize that I am not suited for lab work, and I no longer wish to pursue a career in research. Therefore I will avoid similar courses, which will help ensure these feelings do not arise again. Second, I am now in contact with a counselor at the student wellness center who has equipped me with strategies to handle feelings of anxiety when they arrive. They have also offered to connect me with a doctor should I wish to go down that route. These strategies will ensure I avoid situations/courses that may elevate feelings of anxiety in the future, and ensure I am able to handle/regulate these symptoms should they happen to occur.