Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean of Studies,


I am appealing to drop BIOL 102 (Fall 2014), BIOL 103 (Winter 2015), CHEM 112 (Fall 2014-Winter 2015), MATH 121 (Fall 2014-Winter 2015), and PHYS 117 (Fall 2014-Winter 2015) from my 2014-2015 year.


During the 2014-2015 academic year, I was overwhelmed with stress and struggling with my mental health, which had a severe impact on my social life, my overall health, and most of all, my academic performance. I quickly found myself unable to deal with the amount of work and self-regulation that was required of me, partly because I was in a program for which I was inadequately prepared and did not enjoy, and partly because of several other small, personal factors that affected my mental state at the time, including undiagnosed clinical depression. My social life, including friends and general school community involvement, had taken a nosedive into near nonexistence compared to my time in high school, leaving me with little to no social support, and leaving me feeling like I had no one to talk to or go to for help. As the first term progressed, it became more and more apparent that I was in over my head, but instead of feeling like I could reach out and get help, I felt trapped and isolated, leading me to shut down and ignore the problem rather than trying to confront and deal with it. As a result, I stopped turning in assignments, stopped going to classes, and stopped making an effort in most of my courses because it felt useless when it seemed I was destined to fail and when the effort seemed like a waste of what little energy I had. The issue only worsened after the winter break, between losing some very close friends of mine and experiencing what I now recognize as worsening symptoms of depression. I was losing interest in things that previously made me happy, I experienced severe weight loss and insomnia, and nothing- including my academics- seemed worth the effort they cost me. Everything that was going on resulted in a lot of stress building up and making me feel incapable of working through the issue. I believe that these extenuating circumstances caused an extreme decrease in my academic performance. It wasn't until I started speaking to Vicky Andrews and Sarah Horsford about my circumstances near the end of the school year- around February or March 2015- that I started back towards being on the right track. I ended up needing to withdraw for the 2015-2016 year, since I was not in the right mental state to appeal at the time, but after some time off and some rethinking of my academic future, I believe that my situation has substantially improved, and that I will be able to move forward with less hindrance now.


If my appeal is granted, I will be able to continue with my academic career at Queen's without being held back by the failures I received in my first year due to these extenuating circumstances. I have switched to a program more suited to my talents and preferences, and am having much more success than I did in the 2014-2015 year. I am also taking a lighter course load to avoid becoming overwhelmed again, and have been speaking to Sarah Horsford on a more regular basis to help find myself a constructive direction forward, and to help keep myself in a healthier mental state. I hope to find success here at Queen's, and the granting of this appeal will help me immeasurably moving forward.


Thank you for your consideration.


Alexandra Marchand