Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am appealing to drop PHIL 271 for the Winter 2019 semester, past the eight-week deadline, under the guidance of academic advisor Spring Forsberg and at the recommendation of Professor Deborah Knight.

My extenuating circumstances, due to the deterioration of my mental health, has led me to finally take this step. My struggle with mental health has been one that precedes my time at Queen¿¿s University and is intrinsically tied to my life circumstances. In the interest of being succinct - but to also give due to the severity - I have continually struggled with depression and its various symptoms as a result of the passing away of a sibling (2007), my mother¿¿s mental illness and occasional hospitalization (thrice during my academic career at Queen¿¿s starting in 2016), the loss of a friend to suicide (2017) and the passing away of a beloved pet (summer of 2018). Throughout my personal struggle I have been firm in my commitment to work hard and prioritize my academic growth and success - and passion for my degree - and have been successful thus far; but my grades do not accurately represent the difficulty I experienced nor the amount of energy that I sacrificed to be able to accomplish what I did. I often struggled with missing deadlines and either resorted to requesting extensions on my assignments or accepting late penalties as meeting deadlines was continuously a challenge, given my lack of focus, mental fatigue/breakdowns, and the development of anxiety-like symptoms. Last semester, i.e. Fall 2018, was when I reached my breaking point; a full course-load plus my increasing difficulty to cope resulted in utter exhaustion and almost failing one class (PHIL 361).

This leads me into my present circumstances: I began this semester rather warily, yet I enrolled in a full course-load, again, only to drop courses one by one until I was enrolled in the minimum to retain my status as a full-time student. However, my wellbeing suffered and accomplishing even the smallest task seemed to drain all of my energy; my disheartenment led me to see my doctor (from whom I received the Verification of Personal Health Condition form) and receive academic consideration. Still, I ended up falling very behind on assignments and it was then suggested to me by my professor that I drop one more course to ease my burden, and this was past the March 1st deadline.

By appealing to drop one more course, I will be able to better balance the improvement of my own wellbeing and my academic success, for I fear that otherwise, my health will suffer as will my grades. Looking ahead, if I am granted the appeal, I plan to drop PHIL 271 and then enroll in it again when it is offered next, and I also (regardless of the appeal being granted or not) intend to take spring-summer courses to for credits I had not completed during the Fall-Winter sessions. Health-wise, I intend to spend more time looking after my health - which I believe I have neglected - by regularly visiting a counselor and going to my doctor to discuss treatment, and potentially starting grief-counseling. I admit that these are things I should have done when I struggled in the past, yet presently the profundity of my difficulty has finally caught up to me. I am optimistic that with reducing my courses and spending time focusing on my mental betterment and wellbeing, I will be ready to increase my course load, feel passionate about my degree again, and be successful in future academic terms.

In Sincerity,

Sana Towheed