Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Following the recognition of my ability to submit an appeal as a Queen's University student, I have become very relieved to submit this appeal towards my PSYC 100 (Principles of Psychology) final grade, to transform this unreflective mark into a Credit Standing. During the course of my PSYC 100 experience, I suffered heavily from both mental and physical health issues. To begin, in 2013, I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder. Following this diagnosis, I was prescribed Fluoxetine (Prozac, 20 mg daily) by my family doctor at the time - Dr. Mitri. In September of 2013, I began my journey of self discovery and independence at Queen's University, moving into a loft double dorm room in Victoria Hall to compensate for my lack of financial resources. I was advised by my doctor to slowly decrease my dosage of Fluoxetine form 20 mg, to 0 mg over the course of July and August 2013 before my started at Queen's University. The prescription was working fairly well - leading me to believe that I no longer needed it. While the adjustment from being in the comfort of one's home to a new town and University that they have never experienced is difficult for the average individual, the challenges that I experienced over the course of my adjustment period was detrimental to my grades in my first year. Firstly, as a first generation University attendee in my family, I came to Queen's with extreme financial stress as my whole education is being paid for on my own. I come from a single parent household in a cooperative housing community within the GTA, and my mother cannot afford to send me to University. On top of this, I came to this school without any friends, family, with no idea of the academic pressure that I would endure in comparison to high school, and minimal space to complete my work (loft double) compared to other students. Throughout this shift, I found that the symptoms I felt when I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder were once again creeping up on me, taking over my ability to complete tasks at an average pace and level. To begin, I slept very often because I felt as though I could not get out of bed, which affected my ability to attend lectures and complete course work. Secondly, I began to over indulge in food, leading me to gain a large amount of weight and feel physically ill, distracting me from completing my work. My thoughts became very negative, and I began to experience suicidal thoughts as I did before coming to Queen's. I compared myself to others who were dealing with this change in a better manner than I was. My negative thoughts made it difficult for me to concentrate when trying to complete my readings (specifically in PSYC 100, since it was the largest course load out of all of my first year classes). My inability to leave my room lead me to have difficulty understanding the material, my constant fatigue and despair left my memory very foggy, and my comprehension at a lower level than usual. The stress of doing poorly academically, feeling poorly mentally and physically, on top of the financial burden that I was and am still dealing with disallowed me to perform my best work and participate at a high level within the PSYC 100 course. Following this, I decided to seek help and get a new prescription of Fluoxetine in order to take control of my mental illness once again, that I thought I had overcome. I made an appointment at the Lasalle building, and visited a doctor who helped me get another prescription. Unfortunately, with Fluoxetine, it takes about 6 - 8 weeks to see improvement, inhibiting my ability to rescue my plummeting grades within PSYC 100 before the year - end. On top of this, I broke my left foot in October of 2013, making it extremely difficult for me to physically attend class for about 2 months. The excruciating pain I was in from my foot prevented me from being able to seek help early on within the PSYC 100 course, and climbing up my bunk bed in my loft double room extended my healing process to 3 months. This physical burden, on top of my state of mental distress, took a huge toll on not only my ability to complete PSYC 100 work to my fullest ability - but took a toll on my ability to attend class, comprehend content, focus on content, complete readings, and therefore do well on class assessments. Also taking a toll on my ability to navigate University life, be away from home, and take care of myself (which in return, effected my mental health at a higher level). While I attempted to see a counsellor, it was difficult for me to make the trip to the Lasalle building from Victoria Hall with a broken foot in the winter, and even more difficult to find an appointment that fit into my schedule. As I am now in third year, I have been doing research regarding my life after post secondary school. While I want to attend law school following my time here at Queen's, my GPA simply does not reflect the GPA I need to be admitted into law school. Over the past two years, I have taken my mental wellness into my own hands, have taken my medication, have attended counselling, and have seen extreme improvements in my grades. While I received a C+, a passing grade, in PSYC 100, it has effected my GPA to a great extent. Looking at my transcript, I am averagely an A student and have maintained this for the past two years - it is evident that I care about my academic success and have worked hard to achieve good grades. While I was able to increase my GPA, the struggles I endured during the course of my PSYC 100 experience have left my GPA fairly low, and non reflective of my true academic potential. I am not in the financial position to continue my postsecondary education here at Queen's past my fourth year, and the exclusion of the PSYC 100 course from my GPA would raise my GPA to a 3.6 or 3.5 from my 3.3 GPA - a mark that will allow me to excel in my law school applications next year. It is upsetting that my PSYC 100 mark effects my GPA so greatly, as it is not a true reflection of the type of student I am, but rather a reflection of the difficulties that I had to endure mentally and physically within my first year here at Queen's. The reason why I am submitting this request so late in my post secondary academic career is because I have recently found out about this possibility. I have recently attended career counselling to look into my options regarding a future in law, where I shared my story and how unfortunate my situation is. The counsellor at my appointment told me that I could submit an appeal to the school, and gave me all the tools I needed to do so. Following that, I have submitted a request for the financial funds to complete this request and have received them recently as well. I may not be in control of my past, but I am in control of my future. As an eager student who has finally learnt how to navigate taking care of herself financially, mentally, and physically - it would be so unfortunate for my first year PSYC 100 grade to hinder my future opportunities after everything I have been through to attend Queen's and become successful, and under these circumstances. Thank you so much for you consideration and for this opportunity to redeem myself.