Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom this may concern,

My name is Owen Gray and I am a third year psychology student here at Queen¿¿s University. I¿¿m appealing the mark of PSYC 202 from the Fall of 2018 because I don¿¿t believe it reflects my knowledge of the course at the time due to extenuating circumstances.

Overall, the semester of Fall 2018 is one I¿¿d like to forget as I was mainly focused on my health rather than school. It started when I was extremely sick for weeks leading up to November 9th with no known cause. When I was seen, it turned out I had a Urinary tract infection (UTI) which made it very painful to urinate and explained some of the other symptoms I had been experiencing due to my lowered immune system.

I had experienced the same problem 2 years earlier in high school however; it took many rounds of antibiotics and additional testing to cure. Then it came back in 2nd year but this time the pain was much worse and I experienced many more fevers than previously. To make matters worse, the antibiotics I had been on were not working and I went through multiple prescriptions as I would still experience fevers in addition to other symptoms. I was so anxious and worried about my health that it began to impact my studying and class attendance as well. For the first time in my life I had to ask for a doctor¿¿s note for an assignment because the fevers were so intense I could not leave my bed. Not to mention going through multiple rounds of antibiotics throughout the semester, and for the most part that entire year; took an enormous toll on my body. My doctor even tried me on a different type of medication, however; the side effects would completely drain my energy and I found myself not being able to study or focus for very long.

Leading up to exams, I would have to schedule time out of my studying to go to ultrasounds, being referred to a urologist and numerous doctor¿¿s appointments where nobody could figure out what was going on with me. My medical file is so big from all the visits and tests that I had to go through. Although tests were coming back negative, there was no explanation for my recurrent infections and it was scaring me as I immediately would think of the worst. Even after I finished a course of antibiotics, I would go to bed before exams scared that I would awake by a fever and that I would not be able to write my exams. This was because the infection would never seem to fully go away and would come back usually within a couple weeks with constant fevers.

Not only did it take a huge toll on my physical health but it also affected my mental health. I generally don¿¿t like to talk about my OCD because I was diagnosed in elementary school and I like to think that I beat it for the most part. That being said, every once and awhile, events such as this will greatly impact my mental health as I can¿¿t help but overthink everything. The mystery of these recurrent infections would bother me so much I wasn¿¿t sure if I had serious underlying issues. Upon further testing this year, everything has been good but at the time no doctor could give me a straight answer and I would constantly think about it.

I would have appealed this much earlier within the 21-day frame and/or semester time frame, however; I was more focused on my health than marks. In fact, although it¿¿s gotten better, my ability to apply was still affected as I have had this issue going on up until the last time I was on antibiotics for the issue which was the beginning of the Fall semester 2019 and I even needed a cystoscopy throughout the semester. I figured once I was healthy I could leave it in my past, which is what I did. As seen on my transcript, my marks were much better after that one semester and I even did much better in the follow-up stats course in third year as I received a B+ and found the material much easier once I could focus on my grades and not have to worry so much on my health. The reason I am appealing is because that grade is bringing down my GPA and the ability for me to apply for a thesis option right now for 4th year. This is something I¿¿ve always wanted to do since choosing Psychology as a major and I feel horrible that I may not get the chance to do it because I didn¿¿t speak up. That one semester is an underlier compared to the rest of my grades and without this class, I meet the requirements and I just want the chance to apply for one. If I had known that semester would impact my future I would have appealed it much earlier but marks were the last thing on my mind at that time. I was constantly tired or in pain and I was not able to focus on school much at all and my grades suffered. I hope you'll read my letter and realize that the version of myself in the Fall of 2018 was not a representation of my intelligence and I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to my story.