Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Ryan Reynolds and I would like to submit an appeal to drop the summer online course ASTR 101 from my transcript. The reason I am applying for an appeal is due to a car accident I was involved in on July 22nd prior to my July 26th final examination. I was the driver of the vehicle and had my younger brother in the car with me. The accident totaled my car and while there were only minor physical injuries, the psychological effects were much greater. I was having issues sleeping with the thoughts of what could have happened to my brother and I, as well as greatly increased stress and anxiety from the whole ordeal. The timing of this caused me to be unable to put any real focused effort towards my course and while I wasn't doing well in the course prior to the exam, a good mark on my final would have allowed me to meet the conditions of my admission.

Also on the day before my exam, July 25th, the Queen's Moodle site where all the information for the course was available was down for maintenance for 5 hours (11am to 4pm) so when I checked to see my standing before the exam I was unable to. This also added on the already present stress and anxiety caused by the car accident as I didn't know where I stood in the course and couldn't do any studying.

This was my last course to complete the 18.0 units as per my admission requirements for part time probationary studies and have done well in all my other courses, but this last one is the only course holding me back. My original degree plan was to complete the last 9.0 units required for my degree and graduate in January 2017. If this appeal were to be successful I would hope to add a course for the fall 2016 semester and finish off my final three courses (9.0 credits) in the winter semester and graduate in April 2017. My GPA is also so close to the required 1.6 for admission (1.57) that if I can put this course behind me, I am confident I will graduate without any more issues. Furthermore, I have put in so much work and dedication to try and get this GPHY degree as I took a full year off to be able to apply to the Arts and Science Department from the Faculty of Engineering when I realized Engineering was not the correct path for me.

I hope this letter demonstrates the mental state I was in prior to writing my final exam and I wish thank you for considering my appeal to provide a second chance to finish off the last little bit of my degree.

Best Regards,

Ryan Reynolds
06237143