Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard

I am appealing to drop all courses I am currently enrolled in for the Fall 2016 semester. This includes GEOL-200, GEOL-221, GEOL-107, and GEOL-232.
The reason why I am currently studying at Queen¿¿s is because my partner received a substantial scholarship for a graduate program offered to him by Queen¿¿s. We both grew up in and were living in Winnipeg before coming here. He had just finished a BA at the University of Winnipeg and I was working on an Engineering degree at the University of Manitoba. At the time he was offered the scholarship, I was not interested in Engineering and decided to go with him to Queen¿¿s and switch into the Geology department here.
Since moving here, two things have happened. First, I decided that I wanted to switch back into Engineering. Second, my partner decided to withdraw from graduate studies due to some untreated mental health issues and a lack of interest in his field. As a result of these two things, it seemed best to move back to Winnipeg.
Without the scholarship and teaching assistant position held by my partner, we no longer have the financial means to remain in Kingston. Also, if I were to switch into engineering here, my tuition would increase significantly, adding to our financial burden. Tuition at the University of Manitoba is comparatively only roughly one third of the price of tuition for Engineering students at Queen¿¿s. Finding a well-paying job would also be easier for him back in Winnipeg and being surrounded by family and friends would help his recovery.
While I was originally going to pursue a Geological Engineering degree at Queen¿¿s, the program I would be returning to at the University of Manitoba is Biosystems Engineering. I plan on graduating in that, and then doing a graduate program in Biomedical Engineering. The courses I am currently in have no guarantee of transferring back to my old university, and even if they did, they would not be required in my field of study. I would not even be able to use them as electives as I already have taken the maximum allowed. For these reasons, these courses are pointless for me to complete and I wish to drop them. I do not plan on coming back to Queen¿¿s, choosing to instead finish my degree at the University of Manitoba.

Sincerely,
Zachary Birch