Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this appeal to drop ANAT 316 past the drop date. I have previously requested and received approval for an appeal after my first year of studies in 2012 due to my struggles with mental health. I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety in the Winter semester of my first year of studies and after receiving medication and therapy I made a drastic improvement in my academics. However, as anyone with mental health issues can tell you, the struggle to maintain my mental health can be a roller coaster that is influenced by a great deal of factors. My primary doctor quit her practice in December of 2015 requiring me to seek a new doctor. In order to receive another prescription for my medication I had to meet my new doctor, I was only able to get an appointment in February of 2016 and at that time I had been off my medication for a month. My doctor wanted to reduce my dosage to see how I was able to cope. Unfortunately, I did not do as well on this reduced dose as we had hoped. Without going into too much detail, this reduction of medication was coupled with the sudden loss of my fiancé¿¿s Grandfather, whom I had become close with during our 5-year relationship. In addition, my Brother who struggles with substance abuse issues was arrested. This placed incredible stress on my family and myself as we continually seek ways to help him.
While I have struggled this Winter semester, I feel like I have greatly improved in my coping abilities and academic strategies as I completed 4 other courses with decent grades. This was only possible with the cooperation of my Professors. ANAT 316 was more difficult as the structure of the course not only included vastly more material but also did not allow for the same accommodation I was able to get from the other courses. I did not previously drop the course as I had a great interest in the material and hoped that I could handle my personal and academic stresses since my other courses were progressing well. The final exam for this course was the last one I was to take in April and by this point my emotional state was such that I did not complete the final exam after consulting with academic council from the Arts and Science department.
I have large goals for myself that I will complete and I do not want this course to prevent me from continuing to live a successful life with a mental illness. I want to attend Veterinary School at the Ontario Veterinary College and I want to complete my Bachelor¿¿s degree in Biology. While I continue to find strategies to prevent poor academic performance and complete my goals, I hope that these circumstances grant my appeal and allow me to continue a future with success at Queen¿¿s.
At this point, I am awaiting a letter from my current doctor to provide additional documentation to these struggles. Her office told me that after my previous doctor quit, all of those patients were transferred to my new doctor and in addition she must also attend to her original patients. Therefore, the documentation may take longer to receive than I would like and I must have patience. I hope this will not interfere with my appeal process.

If there are additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Kaitlin Wallis
10028860