Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean:

(Please waive the one term deadline for my appeal for a Credit Standing in Math 110. I was not aware of this administrative process until about 2 weeks ago when I had an appointment with an academic counselor. Thank you)

I am currently a 5th year student attempting to complete a BAH in applied economics and BCMP in fundamental computation by 2021. This appeal letter is for a Credit Standing (CR) in the Math 110 course, taught by Professor Ivan Dimitrov, that I took over the 2018/19 school year. My final grade for the course is a D+, which unfortunately means that I do not meet the C- pre-requisite for CISC 203, a requirement for the computing degree. This grade is not reflective of my abilities as a student, and I would like to highlight some personal difficulties I had been struggling with that restricted me from performing as well as I could have in the course.

Anxiety has been a part of my experience as an undergraduate student. Starting in second year, I had attempted to see a counsellor on many occasions to figure out the root of my anxieties. Appointments were hard to come by and unfortunately I did not find the sessions helpful. I learned to cope with anxiety rather than manage it.

When I was in fourth year, the anxieties I experienced felt magnitudes worse. I had been having second doubts about doing a degree in economics for a while and decided coming in to fourth year to do a second degree in computing. Instead of looking at it as an exciting new venture in my life, the anxious thoughts in my head tainted it as a failure for taking so long to be decisive with my life, and that I was being a waste of time and money. At that time, I found it hard to open up to my friends and family about the anxieties that were eating at me.

Having not taken any mathematics course other than MATH 121 in first year, I felt rusty and out of the loop coming into MATH 110, a course designed for mathematics and statistics majors. Throughout the course, there were a fair amount of concepts that students were assumed to have known coming into the course, the major ones being proofs, imaginary numbers and number sets. Looking back at it again, these concepts are not tough to grasp. With sincere effort, I know I could have filled in the gaps in my mathematical knowledge.

The issue I faced was the unchecked anxiety that was plaguing me at the time. Being a fourth-year student in a first year course, every class I went to felt like a reminder that I had failed my parents and myself. Every concept that I had difficulty understanding, fed the internal belittling cycle going through my head: that I was not good enough to succeed at anything. I could have asked for help and I should have asked for help early on. I did not want to admit how lost I felt and for a semester, I tried to find my own way out of it, all by myself. Assignments were missed, certain concepts that I struggled with felt that much harder to understand and I paid the price when it came to test time. Professor Dimitrov for his part was always reachable and accommodating, which I have to give him credit for.

I only started taking my mental health seriously around the turn of the year when I visited Dr. Klein from Student Wellness Services. Dr. Klein prescribed anxiety medication and was instrumental in setting me up for appointments with Dr. Sylvester, a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. I now have weekly appointments with Dr. Sylvester, which I utilize as a safe place and time to explore the anxieties that ran through my head over the week. I am less afraid of the anxious thoughts and with Dr. Sylvester¿¿s help, I feel empowered to challenge this negative thought loop.

So much so, that I managed to muster up the courage to write you this letter. A year ago, there was no way that I would have been able to do something like this. However, following my sessions with Dr. Sylvester, I now see the value in confronting my issues in a healthy manner. This appeal is a significant part of this process. I should have done far better in Math 110. Looking back, I am more than capable of understanding the concepts that I once struggled with. If one glances at my transcript, they will see that through the courses I have taken in the past, I have the sufficient knowledge to achieve this. With the help of the lessons I have learned with Dr. Sylvester, I am confident that if given the opportunity, I will be able to move forwards in a happy and healthy way.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain my circumstance.

Vinesh Prathap Das