Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to extend the exam for ECON 351 (FALL 2015) and ECON 255 (FALL 2015) to be extended to September 2016. These are currently in Incomplete Grading standing. I have spoken to the instructors who are in charge of the courses for Winter semester and they have enquired me to provide a medical note in detail to allow deferrals for final exams in April if I wish to defer the exams. The professors that agreed to grant my request for deferral at this point and mentioned that the exams need to be written prior to September 15th.

I have been having a long-term mental illness for few years and I spoke to the faculty of Arts and Science if it possible to write the final exam off-campus while seeing a family doctor back in my home country. The front staff named spoke to the academic advisor and told me to speak to professors for their approval. After that, I emailed professors if it is possible to write the final exams in my home country due to my medical status is severe at the moment.

After few days, I received letters from the undergraduate chair of the economics department that the department cannot allow my request and asked me to drop the courses instead. The department mentioned that it is possible to defer the courses taken this semester, but the courses, ECON255 and 351 need to be appealed to the faculty of Arts and Science in order to be deferred since these courses have been deferred last semester. This case has made my decision to appeal to the faculty of Arts and Science.

I was away from Queen¿¿s university for 3 years since I was placed on academic probation and I had to serve my military duty from 2013 January to the end of October in 2014 back in South Korea. Despite my severe status, I was not exempt from my duty since the system is extremely strict on an individual basis. I strongly believe that the two years of the military experiences, apart from my role as a student, but as a soldier, has made myself better individual physically and mentally. Although I relied myself on the treatment and prescription while serving the military duty and after I was discharged from the service, I believe that I have shown an improvement in academic achievement since 2015 summer.

After I came back to Queen¿¿s university in September, in order to deal with my several types of medical illness such as depression, insomnia, obsessive compulsive disorder and suicidal thoughts, besides an academic goal, I set up personal goals to improve myself better in every aspect. I quit drinking alcohol during semesters I tried to be more outgoing and interpersonal by joining charity fashion show as a member and spent time on exercising to maintain physical and mental health. In addition to these, due to doctors said it is always important to consult my case with doctors overseas, I found a doctor who can manage myself more frequently to avoid the worst case scenario. I was introduced to CDK clinic in downtown instead of the wellness center at Queen¿¿s campus for the fact that it was too busy to make an appointment on a frequent basis.

Although I have put reasonable efforts into managing and taking care of myself, starting from the middle of October, I started struggling with the illness during the semester when the given tasks were beyond my control. Of course, there were times that everything was manageable and my mind was in a peaceful setting. On the other hand, there were usual times that I have become weak mentally. Sometimes, I found injuring myself when staying up late and could not control my mood. Recently, I usually have myopia that I have never had, that causes extreme difficulties when doing any work. Whenever these symptoms were noticed, I was able to see doctors every two to three weeks. He prescribed me with appropriate medicine as required. These have worked for me sometimes, but it was not effective.

As mentioned in my previous appeal letters, the one of my greatest weaknesses is that my mother who is only a member of my family is distant from where I am at. I believe the most distracted and unbearable moments were when she was not in a good condition. What I am thinking for the next term is to try to bring her to Canada and stay together if possible. I believe these will mentally help calm myself and give me a joy. I believe these will be one of greatest remedies in my case. Once I go back home, my primary intention is to visit the family doctor and devote myself to medical treatment till I feel relieved and to focus on my work. I strongly wish to provide a further documentation after I go back home. I sincerely hope my appeal letter to be granted. I appreciate your time and consideration.

Sincerely,