Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern:

After this sunmer holiday of reflecting upon my poor academic performance this past year, I am writing to appeal my one-year suspension. I was not surprised by the bad grades I got at the end of last semester, but I was really upset that I will have to leave Queen¿¿s University for one year. I did not mean to make excuses for my grades, but I have concluded what factors led to my academic failure this semester.

1. Language Barrier and pool time management
When I came to Queens University from China for the first time, I struggled with the transition from a Chinese high school to a Canadian university. During the first a few weeks, I found out I could understand most of my lessons, but It turned to be very difficult to finish all the reading. I was always spending much time playing a PC game Dota2 in high and It didn¿¿t affect my school work when I was in high school. In Canada, I got to know some friends and joined a team to attend some offline tournament during the semaster and the training costed a lot of time.However, university cources require much more time than high school and I failed to balance the time for my hobby and my cources work. As a student I am really regretful that I didn¿¿t concentrate more on my academic career. I should realize the difference between high school and university ,and study always comes first.

2. Lack of hard working and awareness of seeking help from school
I admit 2016 fall term is the worst term I have ever had in my entire student life and I almost failed every course I had. I was so desperate and panic that I had to comfort my-self that I still had chances to pass in next term. However, when troubles come, self-paralysis is never the way out. In retrospect, I was so ridiculous to keep spending time on Dota2 instead of hard working to catch up. I have to say Queen¿¿s University absolutely has offered so many services to help students like me to overcome their difficulties, but I was embarrassed to use them. I admitted I used to feel awkward to ask for help because back in China I grew up in a environment that to solve problems by ourselves is more generally preferred .However, I can see it is important to seek for help in University life .Now when I am thinking back how Queen¿¿s stuff emphasized their willingness of helping students, I fell so regretful and angry about my ignorance.

I was born in countryside which gave me many chances to get along with wild and homebred animals. I had such passion to observe them and recorded some of their strange behaviors, and exploration of farmland became a part of my childhood. I was amazed by their variety and ability to adapt environment. Therefor I chose biology as my future area and went to Queen¿¿s University which owns an outstanding department of Biology.

I knew the result was mainly caused by my personal mistakes rather than extenuating circumstances, but I would like to seek any chance that a reconsideration can be made. I have learned so much in this turning point in my life. I believe whether RTW1 will be waived or not, reflection and lessons from my failures benefits the rest of my life.

Thanks for your time¿

Sincerely,
Zhang Xu