Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Stephenson,

I am appealing to drop CISC110 (Fall, 2019) with Wendy Powley.

Extenuating circumstances, beyond my control, have been affecting my ability to perform in my studies. Due to my mental illness, obtaining both the energy and focus to start and complete the work has been extremely difficult; my mental illness has become detrimental to my education. Mental health started affecting my school work around the middle of September and has progressively gotten worse since then. Because of these circumstances, I have slept through class and have been unable to complete assignments. In order to combat these circumstances, I have visited both a health-care professional and counselor to find the correct medications, rule out any physical illness, and speak to someone about the issues.

I am deciding to appeal for this course as it was taken as an elective, has no relevance to my program, and is pulling down my GPA. I truly believe that if I was not suffering from a mental illness, I would have been able to balance my course load and showcase my ability to push through difficult courses. I was aware of the penalty-free course drop period, but I did not act on it earlier as I did not want to just quit. Even though this was my mindset, my counselor told me that I should seriously consider applying for this appeal. After doing so, I realized that my GPA should not suffer due to a mental illness I have no control over and that has influenced my ability to perform academically. Moreover, I have not submitted any appeals before and I do not take this matter lightly.

In the future, I will be taking a lighter course load in the Winter 2020 semester in order to focus on my mental health. I will also be continuing my consultations with both a health-care professional and counselor until I am back on my feet.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my appeal.


Kindest regards,

Kamrin Ward