Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whomever it may concern:

Hi my name is Sydney Wong and I am currently completing my 2nd year in Religious Studies. Since I have begun my studies here at Queen's I have been struggling with mental health challenges/illnesses. 1st year was okay and I came out of it somewhat successful however I have found 2nd year extremely difficult with dealing with a whole new set of difficulties. First semester went okay as I only dropped 1 course. Through first semester, I learned that I am better off with only taking 3-4 courses so I decided that for second semester that I would drop a course. However 2nd semester was extremely difficult. I experienced new challenges with my mental illnesses that were triggered by conflict I faced while participating in a club. This conflict made me extremely anxious and unable to leave my room or sleep, both making it extremely difficult for me to make it to class. The heads of the club addressed this conflict however I still had to work with those that there was conflict. This definitely worsened my condition to a point where I was afraid to leave my room let alone my house making it pretty much impossible to make it to class. This also made it hard for me to keep up with weekly readings and assignments. On top of this conflict, I was changing my medications, as the ones I was on were no longer effective. This also greatly affected my mood, sleep, and motivation. Once the conflict was mostly resolved and I was able to go to academic advising, the drop date had passed. I saw an academic advisor who assisted me in creating a plan. We decided that it was in my best interest to attempt to drop at least 2 if not all my courses for the semester. I definitely agreed however I was not sure how many to drop due to the fact that I rely entirely on OSAP to fund my schooling as of now. Dropping more than 2 courses would affect my OSAP funding. After this meeting I emailed my Professor and got responses I decided that dropping at least 2 would definitely be the best decision. However I really wanted to drop all 4. Although I use OSAP to fund my schooling I still discussed this issue with my family, which created some conflict, which then further worsened my already significant mental illness. I continued to work with my health care professional to try and improve so that I could work on my academics however that proved to be very difficult. I am hoping that I can be granted this appeal because if I do not I feel that my GPA will lower to a point where I may have to withdraw from Queen's for a year. I do not feel this would be the best, as it would affect my OSAP standing and would also be very hard for me to bounce back from. I believe that with the steps I am planning to take for my next semester at Queen's (discussed in my Academic Plan) that I can turn around and bounce back from this difficult semester. I believe this academic plan I have provided will greatly increase my success here at Queen's and prevent this situation from reaching this stage.

Thank you for reading my appeal and taking everything into consideration.
Sincerely,

Sydney Wong