Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to you in an appeal to drop PHGY214 for summer 2016 after the Academic Deadline of June 24. Due to acquiring a new work position with rigorous work hours and commute requirements, I will not have the ability to complete the course with success. Given the workload of the course and the timing of the assignments and evaluations, I will not be able to contribute to the course effectively and fear for significant consequences towards my GPA.

My new position is a salaried full-time position with 40 hours of work each week with an additional 2 hour commute each way (4 hours total per day). This is an approximate commitment of 60 hours per week for work. This is in addition to other time constraints due to family circumstances (illness in the family). PHGY214 is a workload heavy course that requires 15-20 hours of work per week. In addition, the course has many assignments and evaluations that fall within my work week and during hours where I will be commuting or will be at work. I had been performing academically well until the start of my work this week where I missed a midterm worth 8 and will miss a tutorial worth 3 later in the week due to commute times and work times. In addition, I will not have enough time to study for the final examination of the course (worth 50) because of my new time constraints.

I did not drop the course before June 24 because I believed, falsely I may add, that I would be able to successfully complete both the course and work full-time. Given my strong academic performance in the past year, I took this course post-degree to improve my GPA and improve my academic future. Due to my family's financial circumstances, I have to work at this position. I fear for negative consequences towards my GPA because I know that I will be able to successfully complete the workload of the course and I will not have sufficient time to study for evaluations in the course.

I thank you for your consideration and hope that you consider my appeal. If I cannot drop this course, my GPA will be severely affected and my academic future will be in jeopardy.

Yours Truly,

Sahand Pashazadeh