Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean, or to whom it may concern,

My name is Katelyn McAulay and I am a second-year student here at Queens. I am appealing for late drop of PSYC 271 Brain and Behavior (Fall, 2018). This appeal would change my current failing mark to a late drop on my transcript.
The extenuating circumstances that I have faced during this past year would be the state of my mental health. My health issues and the treatment of these through various medications over the past months has made it hard to attend the tests I was scheduled for. After receiving my first diagnosis for my condition this past summer I registered my disability with QSAS and also began treatment for said disability. Starting my treatment in mid-July and continuing it throughout my first semester I transitioned on and off two separate antidepressants to no avail. This made my circumstances more challenging, having to start new medications and attempting to handle the adjustment and withdrawal period while at the same time balancing school proved to be difficult. Specifically, for my PSYC 271 class, the course was split in to three parts; two midterms and a final. I missed both midterms due to my circumstances with the adjustment phase of drug. I had a very open relationship with my professor and he knew that I had missed these tests due to extenuating circumstances, and we had set up a time to write them at the end of the semester. Unfortunately, my mental state did not improve and I ended up switching to another antidepressant that had a more detrimental affect (constant stomach ache, insomnia, loss of appetite, vomiting). Trying to manage my other courses both me, my professor, and my QSAS advisor decided that the best thing I could do was to focus on the remaining courses I had left. Although I was also behind in my other courses, the specific lay out of this particular course made it difficult to catch up as easily in comparison to my other courses.

I know that we are now significantly in to this second semester and this letter is long overdue, but due to my own current circumstances and availability of my doctor this was the soonest I was able to submit this form. The waiting period to see the doctor that has been treating me in first semester took longer than expected and made it so that the first time I was able to see her was the 12th of March. I have tried my very best to stay on top of things and keep on track with my courses, but it has been a constant battle this year. To succeed in the future, I have continued to see my doctor regularly and we are currently switching around medications to find something that improves my circumstances. I have also began seeing a therapist since January and have registered to retake this same course online during the summer. I love this school and part of the reason I want to continue attending Queens is because of the vast amount of help and resources that are available to me, something that is harder for me to access at home. I truly believe this is where I am meant to be, and even though I have been struggling this is where I need to be if I want to keep having available treatment and finally find something that works. These resources will hopefully aid me in forming a plan that will allow me to succeed academically and achieve great success here at Queens.