Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

My name is Jasnit Pabla and I am a student in my second year of studies at Queen¿¿s with a declared Political Studies Major and minor in History. I am appealing to you today to request entrance into the Fall Term courses HIST 263, POLS 261 and POLS 243.

The circumstances I experienced this semester, for which I am making this appeal, are that I chose to switch my major before classes began in September. I was in only Computer Science and Math courses during the first six weeks of the semester, and believed that it would be beneficial for me to pursue this degree as compared to a Politics degree. I planned to complete the first year prerequisites during this year and switch into the School of Computing.

Despite finding the Math courses difficult, coming from a humanities and social sciences background, I took three different Math courses while seeking regular TA and Professor help. I believed if I studied enough I would be able to achieve the same level of success as my peers. While my grades weren¿¿t below average, it tended to take me twice as long to reach the same level of knowledge as my peers, and understanding mathematical concepts was difficult as well. I hadn¿¿t taken a math course for three years up to this point, but had substantial experience as a programmer.

This, in turn, made me very stressed out while completing homework. While studying, I chose to not exercise and have any personal time because I felt overwhelmed with school work. I slept less than regularly, beginning my homework around eight in the morning and going to bed at three or four past midnight.

The workload itself was never a problem for me, rather, despite the hours I spent working on practice problems or attempting to teach myself high-school mathematical concepts, I was unable to grasp what was being taught.

I am aware that the courses mentioned above are only fall term courses, and are well over halfway completed. I also acknowledge that ensuring success in the course will require lots of time and dedication on my part. I have contacted the instructors of all three courses for permission and have received it. I have explained my situation to them and expressed that I have both the work ethic and determination to complete the course affectively and with a competitive grade.

My grades, following first year, averaged a 3.8+ GPA and I earned the History distinction. I am a student who is dedicated to her studies and willing to work as hard as it takes to ensure I can remain up to speed with my peers and the course material.

If granted permission, I will only be taking three courses for the rest of the semester. This will allow me to focus entirely on the course material that I have missed and the upcoming assessments. As a proactive student, I will ensure that any participation marks that may have been missed will be accounted for however a TA sees fit, or through continual participation once allowed in.

I hope that I have convinced you that you can be assured I will complete the courses successfully. My experiences this semester have taught me to understand my limits, and I know that this challenge ahead of me is something I can work towards conquering. Should you request any more information from myself, please do not hesitate to contact me.


Sincerely,

Jasnit Pabla