Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: During the period of the winter semester, I had a period of severe depression and mood irregularity following the breakup of my long term relationship throughout October through December and with regards to my mothers ongoing cancer treatment.

In the period following my law school applications I began to have extreme anxiety doing simple tasks like checking my email, or reading announcements, and submitting assignments. Although I was still doing my work I would spend hours revising assignments far past their due dates from November onward, and I began having occasional panic attacks. I was extremely demotivated in the second semester and unable to complete assignments with any efficiency, oscillating between total mental detachment from my work and stress induced days long studying binges where I would make little progress. I began having insomnia, which was worsened when I felt like I could not leave my computer to go get groceries and I began compulsively ordering fast food.

Eventually, I exhausted my financial reserves and began rationing food excessively, leading to malnutrition and anemia. For the broad majority of the semester, I had spent the vast majority of my time sleeping through the day and awake, usually by a nightmare, and attempt to do work, but most often fading into maladaptive day dreams. I became increasingly neurotic, losing my belongings and repeatedly locking myself out of my apartment and becoming increasingly reclusive. I had not shared this with anyone at the time, and I would not for months. I would occasionally have energy to attend class and participate erratically, but I missed the vast majority through several extended periods of absence. At some point in the winter semester, I had managed to book a triage appointment and was referred to a therapist, however, I had forgotten about the meeting and missed it.

By the end of the semester, I had compiled a stack of bloated documents on all of my assignments which were long since overdue and I had convinced myself that I would still be able to submit them if they were good enough. I was so stressed and dysfunctional at this time I had continuously procrastinated this beyond the date of my graduation in May, although I did make several attempts to receive marks for late submissions. Through the summer and spending time back home I was able to receive a psychological assessment and I was referred to a therapist who I have met with twice. I was diagnosed with ADHD and put on stimulant medication and provided behavioural and emotional coaching. So far, my motivation and focus has improved since then and I was accepted to the Law school at the University of Windsor over the summer where I now attend and receive academic accommodation, which I did not have through out my time at Queens.

I am seeking to have these courses dropped late because this period was sudden and harder than any other in my life and I am concerned that their representation on my transcript will colour future employers opinions of me as I begin applying to law firms. I worry that this will paint a bleak picture of my time at Queens and hurt my job outcomes for the rest of my life.