Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am appealing to drop 2 courses from my transcript from my 2016/ 2017 academic year, which are GEOL 104, and PSYC 100. Unfortunately, I was unable to pass these courses and this has resulted in me being placed on Academic probation. Having these 2 failed courses on my transcript also makes it more difficult to gain acceptance into the Film Program which I plan to apply to after this Academic year.

Shortly after I arrived in Kingston, I began to start going to bed much later than when I actually wanted to sleep. After about a month of living in res, I was consistently going to bed after 5 am, and many nights I would fail to even fall asleep before I had to go to my first class in the morning. With no sleep, concentrating in class was extremely difficult, especially for these two classes in particular. My psychology lecture was at 8:30 in the morning, and geology lab was at 9 in the morning.

Another reason why I was not able to keep up with my studies was because my overall mood went from being a happy and funny person, to being very anti-social and depressed. I think what started the sadness and depression was just me feeling homesick, and missing all my friends and family. It was also hard moving to a completely different city for the first time in my life. Coming from a big city, I really missed going various places and living in Kingston where I pretty much didn¿¿t even leave campus made me feel trapped wondering what I was doing with my life. Then I felt like my depression turned to some sort of anxiety, because I would just be constantly worrying about something, whether it be an assignment, an interaction that I had with someone, or something else that I couldn¿¿t get off my mind.

During the course of my first year at Queen's I faced a series of extenuating circumstances that unfavourably affected my ability to pass these courses. These mostly concern the living conditions in the residence where I stayed. I had a difficult time adjusting to living by myself in Kingston and I found the noise and commotion in the residence very difficult to handle. The noise frequently made it quite difficult to sleep and study. One occasion in particular, on march 17th resulted in the sprinklers being set off right outside of my room, leaving my room and much of the 3rd floor at the Watts Residence building flooded. This was an ongoing issue for the remainder of the school year that damaged the carpets and turned our residence floor into a construction site. Drywall work was still not completed at the end of the school year. This made it extremely difficult to concentrate on my studies because I was unable to even study in my room. When I was trying to study for final exams I was hearing them fix the wall, and it was so loud it sounded as if there was a jackhammer right outside of my room.

I now understand that it would have been in my best interest to drop these courses prior to the drop deadline if I thought there was a chance that I would not pass. This was my first year at University and I had not received any feedback regarding my performance or options prior to the drop deadline.

I have taken steps to ensure that I have a more successful year this year. I am living off campus in a quiet environment that will help me concentrate on my studies better. I have spoken with an Academic advisor and have a good understanding of what it will take to gain acceptance to the Film program. I have communicated with this faculty and asked them to allow me to take Film 250, which is generally reserved for Film students. I also plan to get a tutor to help me with my studies, and I hope that he can keep me on track for staying up to date on my studies. I am very committed to having a successful year at Queens and hope that the extenuating circumstances that contributed to my poor results will enable you to accept my appeal.



Regards,

Charlie Harris