Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am a second-year applied economics student at Queen's. In the fall semester of 2015, I received a C- in ECON 212, or Microeconomic Theory. I would like to appeal this grade due to the fact that I have been struggling with my mental and emotional health this term, which has significantly inhibited my ability to perform academically.

For a few years now, I have been struggling with depression. I have experienced episodes, lasting anywhere between weeks and months, where I begin to feel apathetic about everything. I tend to cut myself off from daily life, lose contact with my friends, and drift away into thoughts of frustration, inadequacy, and hopelessness. I stop doing the things I love, such as music and volunteer work, and my classes seem to become pointless. I would spend days at a time in my room and rarely left my house. On the few occasions I did see my friends, I would abuse alcohol to a level of near self-harm as a method of escape. While these episodes come and go, by the time I get through them there is often significant damage done to my day-to-day life, whether it be social, academic, or in my extra-curricular endeavors.

Since October, I have been struggling to find the drive in my life to get back on track. I received a poor mark on my ECON 212 midterm and have struggled to maintain my composure since. I gave up mentally and was no longer invested in making the most out of this course. The stress from this mark built up, and I became worried about my academic standing beyond this course, and I began to worry if I would be able to attain the GPA necessary to move further in graduate studies. Small problems became overwhelming and led me to a defeatist mindset that I was unable to overcome before it was too late.

While I am still struggling with these feelings, I am trying to turn myself around before I lose more than I already have. I have stopped drinking until I am confident that I can control myself. I have been seeking professional help at the Queen's Student Wellness Centre. I am in the process of applying for a peer mentor to get my study habits back on track. In every facet I can, I am trying to save myself from going past the point of no redemption.

What I would like to illustrate is that the grade I received in ECON 212 is an anomaly and a poor indicator of my academic potential. I love economics, and I understand economics. The rest of my grades indicate that this mark is a clear outlier, and it would be extremely unfortunate for this one blotch on my transcript to bar me from continuing in my program.

Sincerely,

Evan Sambasivam