Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),

I am appealing to drop CISC 101 (Fall, 2017), CISC 102 (Fall, 2017), MATH 121A (Fall, 2017), PSYC 100A (Fall, 2017) WRIT 125 (Fall, 2017), CISC 121 (Winter, 2018), MATH 112 (Winter, 2018), MATH 121B (Winter, 2018) and STAT 263 (Winter, 2018). Also, I am appealing the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queen's for one year. I sincerely hope that the requirement to withdraw can be waived.

I sincerely want to apologize for my poor academic performances this year. There is an extenuating circumstance which caused failures on my academics. During these two semesters, I struggled so much to overcome the depression which has serious impacts on my academic performances. I did well at the first two weeks in 2017 Fall term. I went to classes and finished the assignment on time. But after that, I started to feel anxious and tried to do anything because of having a hard time to finish so many tasks at the same time. I felt so overwhelm back then. Also, I had a very hard time going to class. I felt so depressed that I even didn't want to go to the dining hall. At that time, I thought maybe I didn't have enough sleep. So, I didn't go to class for about 3 days. However, the anxiety became worse and worse. I couldn't concentrate on my homework and I was afraid of telling the friends my situation. I locked myself at my own dorm and didn't talked to anyone for about 4 weeks. When it came to November (2017), I realized that I couldn't solve this problem by myself, and I had to at least do something to stop this. I reached out to a counselor at Student wellness services. Her name is Marry Green. We talked a lot about how to deal with depression and how to get me back to the track. She helped me a lot and my situation became a little bit better. But after one week, I started to feel exhausted again. I failed to complete assignments and go to class. When I was trying to catch up with the classes, I found it was nearly impossible to do so. The more classes and assignments I missed, the more depressed I was. It's like a vicious circle that I couldn't jump out of. Therefore, I missed all the exams due to my special psychological condition. During the final week, I nearly couldn't sleep. I even couldn't remember what I did in my dorm during that time. And this kind of situation, which beyond my control, repeats again and again during the 2018 winter term. After the final week (at the end of the April 2018), I knew I had failed all courses. The reason why I didn't drop my courses is that I was too depressed that I couldn't normally finish daily activities like taking a bath. I was so hopeless at that time. I really wanted to do very well in first year. I didn't expect that I could face this kind of challenge. Before telling my parents my situations, I have thought a lot about how to explain to them and how to cope with depression and anxiety. However, even my parents felt shocked firstly, they understood my situation and tell me to talk to an academic advisor to figure out a solution according to my academic problem. With my parents' support, I feel much better and I start to make new friends. Meanwhile, I usually do some exercise at ARC at every afternoon. Also, I moved into a house which has great environment. As a result, that kind of anxiety and depression starts to disappear in my daily life. Most importantly, I really want to continue my study next term (Fall, 2018). To avoid the depression and anxiety happen on me, I plan to talk to a counselor once a month to keep tracking my mental health situation next semester. Then, I will go to the QSAS to develop some skills about time and stress management. Also, I will learn to deal with procrastination problem. I'm also going to join several clubs at Queens like sailing club to make more friends to develop my social skills so that I will not feel lonely. It is also important to have a balanced diet and exercise. One of the reason that I suffered the depression is I didn't have a balanced diet like eating more vegetables and fruits. In the next term, I will get ample sleep and manage the time effectively. I strongly believe that I can do much better in the next term.