Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I would like to appeal the requirement to withdraw for a minimum of three years on the grounds that I have been unable to achieve academic success for a variety of reasons out of my control that I am currently seeking help for.

Mental health problems are the main reason for my inability to succeed academically. I have had serious anxiety since I started high school and depression shortly followed. It was very difficult to get help for these issues as I did not want to be branded by the stigma associated with mental health issues; for this reason I suffered for years without seeking help. These factors caused me to skip class and abuse alcohol in order to find a release which seriously affected my grades for the past few years. Most notably, this past winter term I completely gave up as I believed that I had no reason to live anymore, this was reflected in my grades. However, I am finally starting to see a positive change as I have started seeing a therapist who is helping me deal with my mental health problems.

To add on top of this, my family has been going through a serious rough patch recently as my parents are in the process of getting divorced. This has put a lot of stress on myself and my siblings and it has been hard to focus on school as a result. My parents separated last year but they have been in an ugly legal battle ever since. Whenever I talk with either of them they are bitter and incredibly difficult to deal with, using me as a go-between for their affairs. My home life has changed completely over the course of the past few months and it has been difficult to cope with what has happened to my family, causing me to fall behind in my courses and to fall deeper into depression. This was especially difficult for me after the winter break as I realized how different and broken my home life had become due to a terrible Christmas (which used to be my favourite time of the year).

These two factors together caused me serious distress and made it difficult to achieve academic success this past year. However, since I am now seeking help, I believe that I would be able to succeed in the coming academic year.