Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies),

I appreciate you taking the time to consider my academic appeal. I am appealing to drop BIOL 102 (Online ¿¿ Winter, 2016) due to circumstances that impeded my ability to succeed in the course.

The extenuating circumstance that has lead me to this appeal is my experience with mental health. Depression is something that I have battled throughout my university career; and up until this semester it was something that I believed I could handle on my own. You will see that during my time at Queen¿¿s my grades have suffered as a result of how I have been dealing with my depression ¿¿ namely, on my own and without much professional assistance. There are some semesters that were better than others, and semesters where I performed poorly in only a couple of classes. These periods of successful academics reflect times where I was better at coping with my moods. Strategies that I have used while at university include: reducing my course load, and focusing on a few courses that I knew I could do well in, while letting others fall by the wayside. These strategies were used in an attempt to reduce stress and other negative emotions. Dealing with depression has felt like a full time job and most days it was a struggle to take care of myself; as a result, my motivation and focus for my academics was reduced, making it very hard to attend class, and to keep up with readings and assignments. The 2015 Fall semester went quite well for me and I was feeling, and functioning, much better. However, at the beginning of the Winter 2016 semester I entered another Major Depressive Episode and saw a decline in my academic function. I believed that I could work through this semester as I had done in the past and make it to graduation; I was in denial about the magnitude of the effects that my mental health was having on my academics and I neglected to drop my biology course. By ignoring my mental health, the problem grew worse and I was unable to do the things I needed to do to succeed in BIOL 102. Because I lacked the motivation, interest, and focus to succeed I was unable to keep up with course readings, I missed deadlines for assignments, and did not participant in class discussions - resulting in a mark I am not proud of.

During the first few weeks of March, it became clear to me that I was no longer able to deal with my mental health on my own ¿¿ this is when I made an appointment to see a doctor to get the resources I needed to get better. Seeing a medical professional for treatment was the first step in my plans to improve my emotional and academic life. In order to be successful in the future I am committed to keeping up regular meetings with medical and mental health professionals, to keep my treatment on track. I have also disclosed my struggles to my family; allowing me to get the support I need, as well as a way to prevent me from being able to push my mental health under the rug again. I will also be taking measures in future academic endeavours to reduce stress in a more positive way; for example, reducing course loads where I can, and coming up with better studying/work strategies to reduce procrastination and stress. I have learned that sometimes a problem is bigger than the person dealing with it, but that doesn¿¿t mean you have to tackle it alone, or will be unable to overcome it. I have learned to ask for help and to take advantage of the many resources Queen¿¿s, the community, and my family and friends have to offer.

Again, I thank you for taking the time to consider my appeal. I hope that you will agree that there were extenuating circumstances that support my decision to appeal to drop BIOL 102 (Online ¿¿ Winter, 2016) and that you believe I have learned from these circumstances and have the ability to make positive changes to succeed in the future. Please feel free to contact me for more information, or clarification.

Sincerely,
Victoria Shields