Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Jia Rui Zhang and I am requesting an appeal to drop POLS264 from my winter 2017 term after the academic deadline.

I have struggled with academic performance throughout my undergraduate career, however this year I am finding it to be more difficult than ever. In the third year of Politics, POLS385 is a mandatory course. It is a statistics/math based politics course, and I have taken it and have failed once already last year. This year, I am taking it again, and devoting all of my time on it. This time has taken away from my ability to keep up with other courses, but most notably POLS264, the course that I am seeking to drop. The constant inability to do well in POLS385 despite the external help that I recieved has left me feeling frustrated every single day, and has impacted the quality of work that I put out in other courses.

The due date for the major assignment in POLS385, was to be submitted on April 7th, the due date for the term essay in POLS264. I had to take extra time to complete the POLS385 assignment, and could not get around to completing the term essay for POLS264. The constant feeling of failure, stemming from an inability to understand concepts in POLS385 has further compounded my procrastination and fear of completing my work in POLS264. It has taken a serious toll on my mental health, as my friends are graduating whereas I will have to remain an extra year because of my failed courses. I often times feel as though I do not belong with other students who seem to be handling their work fine, and I always feel as though I may never achieve my degree.

I am writing in the hopes that my inevitable failing grade in POLS264 can be omitted. From this year the lesson that I learned is that I am incapable of taking a 5 course workload while juggling other aspects of life at Queens. I would be incredibly grateful if this appeal would be considered.