Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I am writing to you today for an appeal to drop the course, COGS 201 (Winter, 2017) past the course-drop deadline. Thus, removing the course from my official Queen's transcript, if not a DR notation.

It was my fourth year when I decided to apply for my minor program, and in order to be able to graduate with both my major and my minor, I had to take one more course on top of the full year JAPN 200. While consulting with my academic advisor, I found several courses that could fulfill the requirement for my minor; however, only one course, COGS 201 did not have a conflicting time schedule with JAPN 200. Although only taking two courses is not a heavy burden, I had no previous knowledge in computing before entering COGS 201; thus, I had a very hard time following the lectures. In addition, I am working full time outside of school at my family restaurant, Sushi Ya Zen, which takes away a large portion of my day. Although as a student I have a duty to put my academics first, my parents are not as healthy as they used to be - and searching for employees has become more difficult year after year. Therefore, I have spent the majority of my time outside of classes to help my family instead. After writing the COGS 201 midterm the Monday after reading-week, I became less confident in my ability to pass this course. Furthermore, starting from August 2017, I have a job offer in Japan; however, I need to graduate by the end of the 2016 - 2017 school year in order to guarantee my employment. If I were to fail COGS 201 this would mean that I would not be able to graduate with my major and minor. Due to this reason, I have determined that it would be better to graduate with just my major, rather than to graduate later with both my major and minor and forfeit the job offer in Japan.

If this appeal is granted and I am able to drop COGS 201, I plan to graduate with just my major, as was my plan before my fourth year, and continue through with my plan to work in Japan. I would greatly appreciate if you would consider my request to drop COGS 201. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Beom Mo Kim