Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the associate dean who will review my case,

My name is Niki and I have just finished my first year at Queens in honours science. I¿¿ve had a very difficult year for a number of reasons. I will address them in this letter with the hope that I can get a credit standing appealed for my Math121, Phys117 and Chem112 grades.
I had mono during the fall exam season and needed to get two of my exams deferred until January, Chem112 and Psyc100. I had been diagnosed by a doctor at HCDS and had a note and declaration of extenuating circumstances sent to my professor and lab coordinator. I had still written my 3 other exams, despite being ill because I did not want to leave such a big load of exams for myself after the break when I needed to begin studying new units in my courses. I was unable to perform to the best of my abilities due to my illness. When I came back to school for the winter semester I had felt rushed and was falling behind as I was still studying for my deferred exams. On Saturday February 7th I got the tragic news that my dear grandmother had passed away whom I was very close with. I immediately went out of the country where my grandparents lived to help out my family in organizing her funeral. On the morning of my grandmother¿¿s funeral, Monday February 9th, my sick grandfather had passed away as well. I had only hours to process it until we held both of their funerals that afternoon together. This was a very emotionally tolling time for me and it was difficult for me to keep up with school work once I was back at Queen¿¿s. I tried to seek help by getting tutors in the courses I was struggling with the most and attending meetings with a mentor from the Bounce Back program. Unfortunately I still did not complete the winter semester with grades that would allow me to stay in BSH program or get the dream major of my choice, Biology.
I strongly believe that I was unable to perform to the best of my abilities due to my extenuating circumstances this year. I am a very motivated student and would like to succeed academically and get into grad school. With my current first year GPA on my transcript I would not even be considered for admission at any graduate schools that I¿¿ve researched. If given a second chance in the form of a credit standing appeal, I know that I will be able to earn much better grades starting September 2015. I¿¿ve decided to spend my summer catching up on the knowledge of my first year courses by studying from my textbooks before and after work shifts so that when school starts in the fall I will not still feel behind.

Thank you for your time,

Niki Bayat-Fard