Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Deans at Queen¿¿s University,

I am writing to kindly ask to drop (ANAT 101, KNPE 125, KNPE 167, PACT P01, PSYCH 100B, BIOL 102, CHEM 113, ANAT 315, BIOL 243, KNPE 237, KNPE 254, ANAT 316, HLTH 237, KNPE 265, and PHAR 100) due to my extenuating circumstances. If you do not believe the late drops are warranted, I am asking that at minimal you waive the requirement to withdraw for three years.

The last four years have been extremely difficult for me. I have paid a very heavy price for my mistakes personally, emotionally, and financially. I have learned a big lesson and I am ready to make up for everything that has gone wrong in my life. This is a commitment I am making to myself, my family and to Queen¿¿s University.

Please allow me to explain my case.

My first year in the Physical Health and Education program was a very rocky one. I made many mistakes from day one. I abused the freedom of having no parents around to supervise me. I was unsure about my program selection and did not think twice about doing something about it. My immaturity and stubbornness forced me to pay a heavy price. My second year ended up being the worst year in my educational and personal career. I suffered from severe depression and psychological distress that carried over from the year before, and drowned me until 2017. I was quite unaware of who I was. I was making unwise decisions which ended up costing me my education, my friends and family savings. I completely flunked the second year. I was in the darkest place of my life. I now realize how stubborn I was and am still paying for all my mistakes.

I had no choice but to take the following year off, which turned out to be very therapeutic for me. I kept myself busy by working as a sales associate, coached a local basketball team, volunteered around my community, and practically tried to regain my depleted confidence. My goal was to learn something every day and slowly become a better person every week.

I returned to Queen¿¿s University in the fall of 2017, looking to have a fresh start. However, with the massive hole I had dug myself during the second year, I really had no choice but to completely retake all my second-year courses plus some other electives. At this point, I had just started to understand how to properly study for my courses and develop my thoughts in order to provide sufficient arguments in my papers. Hoping to boost my GPA, I had to retake many courses which I was not passionate about. My passion for Sciences had slowly fallen apart given vague and diminishing goals I had set for myself. It was clear, I wasn¿¿t meant for sciences and those courses started becoming more of a chore than a desire.

I understand my strengths and weaknesses a lot better now. I now know I do not want a career in Sciences, and I am sure that my future lies within Social Sciences. This became more evident with the few electives I took throughout the year, which I truly enjoyed to the point where it didn¿¿t feel like school work. These courses and the outcomes were as follows; Global and Population Health (B), Media and Design Thinking (A), and Physical Activity for Children (B). All three of these courses focused on developing my thoughts to better understand society and improve health within populations, users, and student experiences, along with showing empathy. It became clear I had to shift my studies to global development, where I could focus on developmental theories, policies, cultural norms, and understanding society to better improve communities.

My new goal is to transfer into the faculty of Global Developmental Studies and create a new future in international development, with interests in public health and human rights. In order to be proactive with my future endeavors, I recently obtained my First Aid & CPR certification. I¿¿ve also enrolled myself into DEVS 100 to familiarize myself with the learning outcomes and topics, in hopes of finishing the course this summer to complete my first-year requirements for Global Development Studies.
In addition, I¿¿m also attending weekly writing courses this summer to better improve the quality of my writing, as my proposed program entails I have the proper skills to express my thoughts and opinions. To improve my mental health, I¿¿m attending weekly therapy sessions with a psychologist to help me relieve my past and learn how to move forward. If given the opportunity to return, I will be attending academic success services at Queen¿¿s to continue developing my skills with the resources provided, along with finding the right tutors through ASUS for courses I struggle with.
If given the chance to return, I want to have the right tools to apply my thoughts to really make a difference in my educational career. If the passion, tools, and direction are there, then I really see no problems forthcoming. Everyone fails in life, but I¿¿ve found that it¿¿s never a setback until you make it seem that way. I¿¿m ready to shift my educational career in the direction I desire, and start creating a new path I¿¿m proud and excited about.

Thank you for your time and consideration in advance.

Kindest of regards,

Hazhar Atthari