Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am writing to appeal to drop a course(phys118) after the academic deadline. I have been experiencing a really bad anxiety attack for almost four days now, I have been having trouble falling asleep, and even sitting down for morn that 20 minutes. PHYS118 is a rather challenging course for me because although I am interested in physics, I did not have any background in it. During this summer term, I tried my best to study along and be as active as possible. I did not choose to drop this course any earlier because I thought I would have the strength to finish the exam, but at this very last moment of this semester, I decided to drop it because the situation has not become better and I think I can not write the exam. I have been suffering from depression and anxiety for more than four years, and this situation caused me to voluntarily withdraw from winter-term 2014. During summer 2014, I had my anti-anxiety medication (TEVA-VENLAFAXINE) dosage increased, and it helped to maintain a passable academic performance since then. In April 2015, I went to HCDS and had the dosage increased again because I had been very worried since December 2014, and most importantly, I thought the increase would help me to attain a better grade in summer-term 2015. I have been taking it for four months now but I am still very worried and anxiety attack happens more often than last year.

Yingyu Lan
July 30, 2015