Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I am appealing to drop two courses (BIOL 103 & DEVS 100, both Summer 2016) past the academic deadline.

Two months ago I was granted an appeal to the decision that I withdraw for one year from the Faculty of Arts and Science. In that appeal I described how my case of Major Depressive Disorder made a significant impact on my academic performance, and the actions I would take in to remedy the present situation. One of those actions was to take summer courses to raise my GPA and to allow for some extra flexibility in adjusting my academic plan.

Though at the present moment my negative symptoms of depression have lowered in severity, I underestimated the impact it would have on the nine units of study I m currently taking. I took these courses as a so called test to see if I should continue my studies in Queens University. In hindsight, I now believe that to be a silly decision, because I could only pass such a test without depression. A smarter decision would have been to simply stick to my current part time job, allowing me to meet other people and improve myself emotionally, than to give myself additional pressure through summer courses.

Now the heavy demands I placed on myself have worsened my health and prevented me from truly recovering from my depression, which was already severe enough before my final exams last semester. This has also resulted in less than satisfactory grades in my summer assignments, and with 70 of my course grades already decided, I personally believe that rather than risk damaging my GPA even further, it will be a better idea for me to drop my courses and focus my efforts this coming month on getting healthier. This coming August I will leave my job and also return to my hometown in China (Im an international student) to meet my family after a year without seeing them, and to explain my current situation to them. I believe that having a frank conversation with my parents and reassuring them that I still have the dedication to work hard will do much to alleviate the stress on me.

In addition, with more taken units it will be harder for me to improve my GPA, as any subsequent courses I take will have a lesser impact on GPA calculations. This is obviously undesirable as I have a clear need to raise my GPA above 1.6 by May 2017. What I wish to show others who read my transcript is a trend of improvement, and I do not think having barely passable grades will help that (though, my previous year was not any better).

Lastly, my psychiatrist has lowered the dosage of my medication since I have been improving recently, and I have been getting some significant side effects from this change in dosage. The most significant of these side effects is insomnia, which has sharply lowered my productivity. As I finally come off the medication in the coming few months, I m confident the side effects will largely disappear.

Taking the above into consideration, I hope that you can grant my request to drop the two summer courses past the academic deadline.

Yours Sincerely,

Nathan Cheung