Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am writing to formally petition the recent decision made regarding my requirement to withdraw, requesting it be waived and that I be permitted to continue my studies for the next academic year on a reduced course load or probationary status. Per the recommendation of my academic advisor, I am also formally requesting that the courses I failed throughout the last academic year due to my untreated medical problems be retroactively dropped. I completely recognize that my current GPA and past GPA does not reflect the standards of the institution. However, my academic performance was the result of a compounding medical issue that has affected me over my university period.


My academic struggles began in my first semester at the university during the Fall 2024 term when I failed three courses, two of which were electives which are considered to be on the lighter side of academics (IDIS 173 and EMPR 100). The course material was within my academic capabilities, but my problem was that I could not start nor finish the assignments no matter how hard I tried as as result of executive dysfunction, which directly led to failing them. Throughout the 2024 winter break, I went to my family doctor who told me I needed to see a psychologist but warned me that there was a 2-3 year wait list and that it costed thousands in fees. In March 2025, I discovered an assessment through an online clinic and was formally diagnosed with ADHD. Following the diagnosis, I was prescribed on a low dosage of medication for one month. However, my family could not afford the clinics ongoing monthly payments, appointment fees and prescription fees. Because the student insurance plan would not cover these specific costs for me either, I was left entirely without any treatment and I experienced a severe decline in mental health as a result.

Throughout the Summer 2025 period, my mental health decline had gotten worse to where I had isolated myself to my room for days on end and only leaving for food. For the summer, I had retaken the same and similar courses (IDIS 173 and EMPR 110) to the ones I had taken during my 2024 Fall period as I had believed that by retaking the courses, I had a greater chance of increasing my GPA, and that my symptoms would not have affected me much during the summer. But unfortunately, the same executive dysfunction I had suffered during the 2024 year as a result of the untreated ADHD affected my Summer 2025 courses, but to greater depths as I realized that my symptoms were constantly getting worse the longer my physical and mental health declined as a result of stress and depression.

By the fall 2025 term, I tried to manage my workload by dropping three courses (ANAT 100, CISC 121, and STAT 161). However for STAT 263, as the final was weighted higher, my untreated ADHD caused constant cycles of me convincing myself that I would somehow secure medication in time to save my grade. For MATH 121, as it was a full-year course, I had assumed that I could stabilize my health by the second semester, but the constant lack of physical structure in my head led to constant task avoidance. By March and April of 2026, the endless struggle became overwhelming and I got into deeper depression. I reached out to Ventus and they helped grant me academic accommodations. While these accommodations helped, they did not solve the core issue which was my ADHD, and came too late to overcome the assignments piling.

A major turning point came after the end of my 2nd year, at the start of May 2026, when I finally found myself a new family doctor. He immediately diagnosed the ADHD too, and put me on ADHD medication. He had also found an underlying serotonin issue, and prescribed me with antidepressants. The serotonin issue mixing with the ADHD issue, was the true root of my academic paralysis. For the first time in years, I feel as if my health is actively stabilizing. I have my OSAP disability documentation for my supporting documentation which shows the diagnosis made by the online clinic and the problems I suffered when I first got diagnosed. I am actively working to send the supporting documentation by my new family doctor which will also show my serotonin issue and how it has negatively affected me over the last two years.

Thank you for considering my petition,

Ammaar