Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies):
I am writing to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s University for three years. The reason for issuing this order is my failure to reach the 1.6 GPA mark after being reinstated for school this past school year. I was not surprised, but very upset to receive a letter earlier this week informing me of my dismissal because I knew I had not done enough to improve my GPA this school year. I would like to urge you to reinstate me for the upcoming semester.
I don¿¿t mean to make excuses for my poor academic performance, but I would like to explain the circumstances. I admit, I had a very difficult time adjusting the first year in university, due to developing depression in the fall when I first started school at Queen¿¿s, thus my grades suffered as a result. I was required to withdraw for a year, however I appealed and came back to Queen¿¿s the following year. After I was reinstated this year, I¿¿ve been in constant contact with my psychiatrist regarding my depression. Due to extenuating circumstances, beyond my control, along with my depression, I started having sleep disorders last semester (psychiatrist says sleep disorders are a common occurrence with people with depression) that would cause me to not have much energy as I hoped during classes and impacted the quality of my assignments and exams. After I came home for the summer, I have continued to go seek help from my psychiatrist and have already made huge progress in helping me cope. My psychiatrist and I have also developed a system of how I should go about dealing with the difficulties so it won¿¿t affect my academics, which I plan to utilize for the upcoming school year.
Although my grades this school year were significantly better than what I achieved during my first year at Queen¿¿s, I know I have the ability to do better than what I achieved this year. Please take into account the amount of improvement (although not the best) from the grades I obtained this year compared to my grades in first year. There is still a lot of room for improvement, and I know I can definitely do better. I wish to state that the low grades were not due to lack of interest in studies. Neither was it some kind of procrastination of studying.
I am aware of the rule that I must raise my grade to a 1.6 before assessment and know that I am eligible for academic dismissal, as I only raised my GPA to a 1.26. I have been working extremely hard the entire semester, trying my best at every assignment to surpass the 1.6 GPA assessment, when the results came out that I only had a 1.26, I was very disappointed. I realize that the responsibility of my performance was solely mine in which I have proved myself a failure.
I am very much determined to succeed despite having a rough start during my first year of university. This past school year, through my peers, I found where my interest truly lies, computer science. I am striving to major in computer science at Queen¿¿s. This is why this summer, I¿¿ve registered to take several computer science courses and additionally retaking a first year math course that I failed first year.
I apologize for my unsatisfactory performance this semester and request you to grant me one more opportunity to prove my worth. I assure you that if given the opportunity, I will take hold of this chance and continue to do my best to improve on my schoolwork and work towards my goals. I love Queen¿¿s University and it would mean the world to me to be able to graduate with a degree from this school. I sincerely hope that this appeal shows that I am dedicated to being a successful student here at Queen¿¿s University. Please do not use only my past as a barometer for my success in the future. There have been many steps done over the last year to ensure my success going forward and I firmly believe that I am truly deserving of the lifting of the withdrawal for three years.

Yours sincerely,
Joanna Tzuu-Yun Chien