Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom this may concern,

I am writing to appeal my recent academic standing I received which requires me to withdraw prior to this upcoming school year. I believe that this year I was faced with many hardships and difficult situations that have impacted my ability to perform consistently and successfully during this past school year.

I have always been a very anxious person, however I never believed that I actually suffered from anxiety and depression. During this school year, I dealt with a lot of extenuating circumstances in my personal life which lead me to believe I may be suffering with some mental health issues. During the first semester I believed that suppressing it would make it disappear and attempted to keep pushing through, but continuing into the second semester it only made my situation worse and more overwhelming. My anxiety had gotten so bad that it felt as if there were days that I could not even get out of bed. It was challenging to admit needing help, especially when peers around me were succeeding easily without. This really made me feel as if I would never be able to accomplish what they were doing and it put me into an even deeper depressive mindset. Everyone around me could sense something was off but I felt humiliated by it and I didn’t want to tell anyone the way I was feeling. I felt it was best to suffer in silence and just hope for the best academically, however, that did not work out well for me. It was a tough and long realization to accept and I had to overcome my reluctance for the need of help. By the end of this academic year, I went to speak with a doctor about everything I had been experiencing and I was prescribed medication to help with everything I was going through. I started on the medication and have noticed a change with minimizing the anxiety attacks and depressive episodes I’ve been experiencing. In addition, I’m now seeing a therapist in hopes to seek some relief to help me deal with the personal issues I have currently happening in my life. Since beginning to see my therapist, I’ve been able to be more vocal about the way I was feeling and express to my friends about the struggles I was facing internally.

This year I also lost someone close to me. The situation that occurred was very unexpected which made the loss that much more difficult to mourn over. During the school year I found myself in a very dark place and struggling to adapt to life without this person. They have played a crucial role in my life, so the loss of them is something that took a massive toll on myself and my mental health. In my family, it is difficult to express our feelings as we tend to all keep things to ourselves. Coming home during the breaks made everything more difficult as I was reminded of the loss of that person with no one to speak to about it. As everyone copes with grief in a different way, I did not know how to process and accept my emotions.
Since seeing a therapist, I began to discuss this loss, as well as other situations that have contributed to the decline in my mental health.

Through the hardships discussed above, I believe these circumstances caused my academic performance to suffer during this past school year. While my academic performance may not have reflected it, I do hold my education in high regard.
Despite my struggles, I do believe now I am taking steps in the right direction to ensure I can be better mentally as well as be able to focus on my academics. I am aware of what a privilege it is to be a student here at Queen’s University. I understand and appreciate that you value your students and their success. I would love nothing more than the opportunity to re-enroll for this upcoming school year and be able to prove that I have taken all the necessary steps towards achieving my academic goals for the upcoming fall semester and ensure my academic performance will greatly improve.

Academic Plan

In the upcoming academic session I plan to register as a full time student in some courses related to sciences like biology and switch my program into it as it is a passion of mine. In the past, I was dealing with extreme anxiety as well as depression which contributed to my academics in a poor manner. I was unmotivated and overwhelmed almost all the time leading to difficulties completing work and studying. To mitigate these problems I have been prescribed medication which has been helping, but plan to continue to monitor my mental health appropriately and seek help if I feel a negative change. I will proceed with my therapy sessions to ensure I get the proper help with any of my troubles that surface. As well, I will make the persistent effort to use the campus resources (like SASS) this school has to offer for their students, follow up with academic advisors and look into tutors for aid to ensure I have a successful academic year.