Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to you today to request an appeal from MATH 124. My name is Mercedes Mak-Sanders and I have transferred from the University of Toronto for the 2015-2016 school year. I transferred to Queen's to be closer to my family because during the 2014-2015 school year I was diagnosed with severe depression and did not take a full time course load. As proof of my illness I have attached a copy of a illness verification form from my psychiatrist from November 2014. This form indicates that my condition was indeed severe. Since being at Queen's I have resumed taking a full course load of three courses per semester.

Seeing as this was my first year at Queen's I was unaware of how to navigate student help outlets implemented by the school. I didn't know where to look or who to ask for help and information, and I did not know about the Student Wellness Center. If I had known and used these resources this may have been prevented.

Additionally, when coming to Queen's my transfer credit report provided me with 3.0 units of a first year math course and I still had to fulfill the other 3.0 units by taking MATH 124. I thought I could handle taking only the second half of the MATH 121 course however the material was more advanced than anticipated. As you can see from the attached document from the University of Toronto I haven't taken a university math course since spring of 2014. Since I hadn't taken math in nearly two years I had a very difficult time keeping up with the concepts. I continued to not drop the course with hopes of eventually catching up with the help of a tutor but these efforts proved to be not enough.

I hope you can accept my appeal from MATH 124. I am now aware that Queen's of the mental health outlets on campus, which I will be utilizing to the best of my ability, as well as other resources to keep my studies on track. My hope from this appeal is that I can drop this course and fulfill my credit during the summer by taking MATH 121 which is a 6.0 unit course where is can learn all the required calculus skills with the basic fundamentals. I am currently enrolled in MATH 121 for the summer and I know I have the ability to do very well in this course.

Thank you for you time and consideration,
Mercedes Mak-Sanders