Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

The purpose of my letter is to inquire if it would be possible to have my MICR 221 mark waived or adjusted in some manner to reflect my medical condition during the exam period.
My name is Victoria Donovan, I am entering my 4th year at Queen¿¿s as a Biology major this Fall. This past semester I suffered a concussion on Tuesday February 11th playing intramural indoor soccer. I wrote my BIOL 303 midterm the next morning and later that day went to the KGH emergency room as I was experiencing severe headaches and dizziness. The doctors there diagnosed my concussion and put me on bed rest for one week. This was my third concussion, and because of this my symptoms were more severe than before. I had to have four out of five of my midterms postponed to after reading week. I visited a doctor at a walk in clinic at home over reading week as well as my family doctor, Dr. M. Damus, because I was still experiencing symptoms. Both doctors confirmed I had a concussion and provided me with the necessary documents to be excused from school work/sports.

All of my professors were more than accommodating in allowing me to write at a later date. Some even gave me the option to not write, but due to my nature, and the given circumstances, I chose to write them all, a decision I am greatly regretting now. My microbiology professor, Dr. K. Jarrell, made it clear to me that I should not write his midterm until I was completely ready for it as it would be counted regardless of the outcome. However, I feel that I was not fully recovered when I decided to attempt my midterms and was unable to execute proper judgement in making that decision; along with not being able to perform to the best of my abilities, as none of my marks on them were above 68, which is an uncommonly low mark for me.

Due to the mark breakdown of this class, and the unfortunate timing of my concussion, I was unable to perform well on a large component of the course. I recognize the fact that you have likely had a similar plea, post marking, brought to your attention before, and usually do not revisit grades after they have been issued; however, I would be very grateful if you would review my case in the light of the fact that I was not medically fit enough to sit my exam, nor fit enough at that time to make a decision as to when I would be well enough to sit the exam. I have never been a student to ask for any extensions or exceptions to be made as I have always had a very organized schedule and been able to manage my deadlines. My final mark in this class was a D, and my other four classes were all above a B, but they all had several other components for grading that enabled me to pull my mark back up. This mark alone is greatly impacting my hopes of being accepted to Guelph for veterinary medicine next year or to a Master¿¿s program at Queen¿¿s and I am writing this letter now as I realise the severity of the combination of events of the past semester.

Yours sincerely,
Victoria Donovan
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