Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Scott MacDonald
20261313
Academic Petition for Credit Standing in ECON111
November 7th, 2024

Dear Associate Dean Dr. Jenn Stephenson,

I am writing to respectfully petition for Credit Standing in ECON 111 which I took during the Summer 2024 term. I experienced extenuating circumstances during this course because I ran out of my ADHD medication 2 weeks prior to the final exam in the course, which was worth 40% of my grade. Unfortunately, the grade I received in this course does not reflect my overall performance and commitment to academics due to these challenges I faced in the final few weeks of the term.

Due to the fact that my medication ran out in the weeks leading up to the exam, I was unable to perform well on the final exam, which was worth 40% of the overall grade. This disruption in my usual medication severely impacted my ability to focus and perform at my usual standard. In my prescription, which is attached to this petition, it is indicated that I received 200 40mg pills of Vyvanse for my exchange. Due to the fact that I raise my dose during time periods when my condition is particularly severe and that I had 6.5 months’ worth of medication, it resulted in a situation where I ran out of my medication 2 weeks before the exam. During this time leading up to the exam, I was still living in Leiden, the Netherlands after the completion of my exam because I had signed an expensive lease that ran until the end of August, and wished to put my money to use by living out the duration of my lease. Unfortunately, my efforts to find a Doctor in the country who would take me in for anything other than an emergency were unsuccessful due to the fact that I was on a student VISA and lacked permanent residency.

Prior to this final exam, I had completed all aspects of the course sufficiently and on time. I did not make any petition to my Instructor about this situation leading up to the exam because I hoped that I could persevere and succeed on the exam without my medication, though I did try to get medication unsuccessfully from Dutch doctors. During this 2-week time period leading up to and during my exam, my judgement and focus were severely impacted and altered from their normal state as a direct result of the absence of my medication. Additionally, I was unaware of the option to designate the course as a Personal Interest Credit because up until this point, I had never been concerned with receiving a poor grade in a course, as I believe is evident from my transcript over the past 3 years.

When I initially received my grade in ECON111, I immediately contacted my instructor, Kaveh Sanjabi Malayeri but never received a response. I have attached a copy of this email to my petition indicating that I emailed him on August 27th asking what I could do to remedy my grade in the course. It is also worthwhile to note that I never received an actual mark on my final exam, nor did I receive any feedback on my performance detailing what I did wrong. Rather, my grade in the course was simply updated to a D+ on SOLUS. I have also attached an image of my grades in the ECON111 OnQ course which shows the other grades I received in the course and the absence of a final exam grade.

I have been a committed and academically strong student at Queen’s University, and am also committed to the university life and community, chairing one ComSoc club, being a director on another, and a coordinator for a conference as well.

In light of the above circumstances, I kindly request that my grade in ECON111 be converted to Credit Standing on my transcript, minimizing the impact of this grade on my overall academic record. I appreciate your support throughout this process and I hope that you take my petition into consideration. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help facilitate this request.

Sincerely,
Scott MacDonald
20261313