Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to take 3.0 units more than the maximum 6.0 units (restriction placed on fourth year honor students) in transfer credit for the 2016-2017 academic term.

In order to graduate this Spring 2017 term, I must receive permission to have the additional 3.0 units transfer credit count towards my degree. The letter of permission for this course (COMP 266 ¿¿ ¿¿Introduction to Web Programming¿) has already been accepted. I have paid and began the course on November 2016 from Athabasca University. First and foremost, I want to apologize for misunderstanding the maximum 6.0 unit restriction. I have attached an email exchange with a representative from Queen¿¿s University during the summer holidays. In this email exchange, she stated ¿¿Actually, those are two different policies that act independently of one another. You are permitted to take a maximum of 6.0 units outside of the Arts and Science Faculty. But you are permitted to take a maximum of 54.0 credits at a different school with a letter of permission, so potentially half of your degree.¿ I mistook this information as being able to take as many transfer credits even though the letter of permission indicates ¿¿A STUDENT IN LEVEL 3 OR 4 OF AN HONOURS DEGREE MAY RECEIVE A MAXIMUM OF 6.0 UNITS IN TRANSFER CREDIT DURING FALL/WINTER TERMS VIA A LETTER OF PERMISSION¿.

I am taking 9.0 units transfer credits from Athabasca University because 6.0 units (COMP 456 and CMNS 321) are required courses for me to graduate. Due to a scheduling change, computing courses usually offered during the fall have switched to the winter term. This has caused several Cognitive Science (BCMPH) students, including myself to take COMP 456 (Artificial Intelligence) instead of taking the course equivalent at Queen¿¿s University. This is because the artificial intelligence course is a prerequisite for another mandatory course offered in the winter term. Furthermore, I had to take CMNS 321 online, instead of the Queen¿¿s course equivalent, because it has the exact same schedule as another mandatory class for my degree. More importantly, the reason why I decided to take COMP 266 ¿¿ Introduction to Web Programming is because the course equivalent from Queen¿¿s University (CISC 282 Fundamentals of Web Development) is offered during the winter term. I did not want to take six courses during the winter term, especially since my work load would be too strenuous from the undergraduate thesis project. In addition, I wanted to use my last elective on a course that would be equip me with skills essential to a post-graduate career. As a cognitive science student, knowing how to program websites is a competitive and fundamental skill to have. Being able to program websites would open the door to many more opportunities, since many employers look for this skill. Therefore, I decided to take the additional 3.0 units transfer credits because it would be the most effective use of my last elective course by preparing me for a career after graduation.