Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Stephenson, my name is Carson Wang, I am petitioning to drop the courses “Math 126 Diff. & Integral Calculus” and “Cogs 100 Intro to Cognitive Science”.

My parents moved to Canada from China long before I was born, along with my sister, they tried out many ways to support themselves before settling into a small business in Vancouver. Everything was going relatively smoothly until the pandemic hit and put Canada into a lockdown, impacting our family business severely. It had gotten to the point that my father's physical health had declined, even suffering from a panic attack. Recovery has been a slow and unstable process, four years later, we are still feeling much, if not more, of the damage caused by the disease. It was manageable while I was still studying in Vancouver as I was nearby and able to help out, sometimes even taking shifts up to thirteen hours in length. However, to study at Queens, I had to move to Kingston. Leaving my family back in Vancouver. While at Queens, the ongoing struggles at home began to significantly affect my ability to focus on my studies. Powerless to do anything other than wait until I was able to return, I quickly lost motivation to maintain a constant level of effort. After the first semester finished, I was able to help out once more. Yet, the break came and went. Returning to Queens, I became more demotivated than ever, causing me to struggle immensely academically. My plummeting GPA and the pressure from my families financial situation became a massive mental wall that I couldn’t overcome. This caused my grades to fall even further in the second semester. My weakest subjects, math and cognitive science, suffered the most. For me, these courses required a high level of concentration and consistent effort, which I was unable to apply at the time. Consequently, my grades in these courses fell below the passing mark. Which is why I am only hoping to have these two courses dropped. I realize now that I should have dropped these courses much earlier. Though, at the time, I didn’t think that dropping the course would have helped me at all and that I should simply tough it out.

Recently, I’ve taken some time to think and talk about the situation we are facing with my family. They have helped me to refocus and regain my motivation to continue my studies properly. I still wish to maintain my status as a full-time student, though I understand that I cannot advance to the second year due to a lack of credits. Thus, I wish to retake Math 126 or an equivalent course this academic year. I will strive to achieve and conserve a good academic standing this semester. Should I become derailed from my goals, I will seek the proper help and do my best to get back on track. Thank you for taking the time to consider my petition.