Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: When I was in the process of applying to Graduate school, I met with the Computing Undergraduate and Graduate Assistants in July, who recommended that I mark CISC 499 as 'Incomplete' until December, 2014 as I was hoping to be accepted into Queen's Computing Graduate Studies for January, 2015. As the semester progressed, I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder after suffering debilitating panic attacks and have been trying different combinations of medicine. This process has included my family doctor, all three departments in HCDS to get diagnosed, receive treatment and arrange academic accommodations for tests and classes, as well as a private psychologist and most recently, a psychiatrist. The only way to treat anxiety medicinally is by trial and error with different medications. I have tried many combinations of medication this semester that have not helped and sometimes have made the situation worse and although I am currently am on several medications, I am still symptomatic. It became increasingly clear as time went on, having still not found the combination of treatment that works for me, with the panic attacks continuing throughout the semester that I would need to defer my acceptance to Graduate Studies until the summer semester.

Due to the circumstances that have led to me deferring my Graduate acceptance, I wish to extend the IN for CISC 499 until the first summer term as well. This is necessary to maintain my current acceptance status in the the School of Computing Graduate program. My supervisor for this class (Professor James Stewart) is the same as my supervisor for Graduate Studies and is currently on a research sabbatical in New Zealand. Dr. Stewart supports my deferral of Graduate studies and the extension of my CISC 499 IN. It was not possible to make this decision within 21 days of my IN being initially set for December, 2014 as I was not as symptomatic in the Summer term and September.

My symptoms significantly impact my performance in school, I need to work closely with my psychiatrist in the coming months to come up with a treatment plan that will allow me to pursue my academic and research goals. I am still regularly meeting with my psychiatrist to develop a medication plan and to discuss behavioural treatments.