Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Saturday, March 26, 2016

Dear Associate Dean,


I am a first year science student writing this letter to appeal to drop MATH 110 past the deadline. This is due to severe anxiety, which affected me from Week 1 of the Fall 2015 semester to approximately Week 10 of the Winter 2016 semester. This anxiety affected all three courses I am currently enrolled in (MATH 110, MATH 120, CHIN 100) in addition to the course I was enrolled in and completed during the Fall 2015 semester (GPHY 104). However, due to the higher difficulty level of MATH 110, this course was most affected by my anxiety in addition to contributing to my anxiety. As a result, I believe MATH 110 has gotten in the way of my other two courses. By dropping this course, I will be more likely to succeed in CHIN 100 and MATH 120. As a result of my anxiety, I am behind in these courses and will be unable to catch up and succeed in all three.

I have suffered from anxiety since I was young and it is something that affected me throughout elementary school and secondary school. I was diagnosed with both Asperger's Disorder and a Generalized Anxiety Disorder. This is the first time, however, that it has greatly affected my academic performance, and as a result I was unaware of how to cope in this regard. I am currently registered with Queen's Student Accessibility Services (QSAS). However, despite supporting documentation, I learned late in the Fall 2015 semester that anxiety was not part of my accommodation plan and I therefore was unable to receive accommodation for this specific ailment. I have documentation from my psychiatrist outlining both diagnoses and also will be providing this documentation to QSAS. I hope that this will help me if this problem reoccurs in future years. The documentation being attached to my appeal is a year old, but I can provide updated documentation if necessary.

My anxiety was originally triggered by my transition to university life and learning to cope with the stresses university brings that did not occur in secondary school. This affected my ability to perform well during the first few weeks of school, as it tainted my ability to focus on schoolwork, absorb information and study efficiently. As a result, I quickly fell behind, which brought on a new wave of debilitating anxiety. Even when I put innumerable hours into attempting to study, most of these hours were spent in a daze, simply trying to calm myself and avert my problems so I could focus on the course material. Due to the abstract concepts demonstrated in MATH 110, studying in this daze was especially difficult when it came to this course, as full attention is required to understand the concepts presented in this course, more so than in any other course I have ever taken.

During the Winter 2016 semester, I signed up for the Bounce Back program and received a mentor to help me with my academic situation. The help I received from my mentor regarding coping with anxiety and perfecting study habits greatly improved my situation and by Week 10 I was finally able to study efficiently. However, it later became clear that due to the amount of coursework missed earlier in the semester and during the Fall semester, my situation with MATH 110 is essentially irreversible. As a result, the anxiety I suffered during the Fall 2015 semester and a majority of the Winter 2016 semester destroyed my chance at succeeding in MATH 110, and as a result, under these extenuating circumstances, I would like to drop this course past the deadline to avoid academic penalty arising from a situation I was unable to control. I believe that in second year, since I will not be re-enduring the transition from secondary school to university, in addition to possible accommodation from QSAS for my anxiety, this will not affect my performance. Furthermore, I am working with my parents to put in place and pay for further counseling and academic supports to help prevent a recurrence next year. However, due to a difficult transition to university and the events that followed as a result, it has affected my academic performance this year, and my performance in MATH 110 more than any other course.

I appreciate you taking the time to read my letter and hope it helps in the appeal process.

Sincerely,
Kristen Caldwell