Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing to appeal my request to withdraw for one year due to a GPA below 0.7, and to appeal CR on three of my courses.

Circumstance 1: November 24th 2016 I had to receive surgery to remove my gull bladder. This meant that I had to be off campus for that week, as well as bed ridden for the following few weeks. I was also prescribed pain killers. All of this meant that in my week gone I was unable to hand in any work for my five classes. This included a calculus assignment, linear algebra assignment, and some physics work which I was excused of. It also meant that in the following weeks I was in no condition to prepare for my exams properly. Bed ridden meant I couldn't use resources or go anywhere to study, eat, or work. Pain killers also meant my ability to study effectively was essentially non existent. This led to extremely poor exam scores and an even worse set up for my second semester (all of my courses were full year)

Circumstance 2: January 24th 2017 my best friend passed away. This was my first experience with death. It was very sudden and extremely devastating. Again I left campus for a week. In this week I was unable to hand in an economics assignment, prepare properly for a philosophy essay, hand in any homework in my math or physics courses, and most importantly I missed a week of class leading up to my linear algebra mid year exam. Moving forward I had not taken the proper actions or used any given resources to deal with things and I became very depressed. I stopped eating, sleeping, lost all motivation to work and my health went into a downward spiral. I had no motivation to get out of bed and often found myself giving up and not handing things in. There were several bad days which led to me not handing in fully finished assignments in economics or linear algebra. Eventually I had a major breakdown about everything. This was right before second semester exams. I ended up going to the emergency room for mental health issues regarding my depression. It was very clear that something was wrong. I was able to talk to a professional and I was actually diagnosed with depression. Feeling somewhat relieved my mental safety took priority over my academics and I was again extremely unprepared for my final examinations. Although I had finally gotten help it was a poor end to a poor semester. I take responsibility for not reaching out. I needed help and was too proud to ask for any. It cost my year and potentially my schooling. After everything I contacted a professor I was comfortable with and he told me how shocked he was by my marks. He knew me as a well rounded good student. In high school I was a 90's student, national athlete, and valedictorian for my class... I never expected to struggle and I was embarrassed that I was. That being my issue, I spent my whole year hiding my struggles rather than seeking the help I needed. Thank you for your time.