Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing this appeal to state my explanation for the necessity of adding a new course to my studies at this point in the semester. I am currently enrolled in a course that I am planning on dropping because I was not prepared to take it on. Although I was thought I met the prerequisites to take this course, extenuating circumstances and the unexpected pace of this course has put me in a position where I am worried to fail the entire course. I have had a very stressful and fast-paced beginning of the semester since I am also writing my thesis this semester and had many deadlines to meet before the add/drop deadline of my courses. My thesis project presentation was on January 17th and I was very pre-occupied that day in preparation and in the week in advance. In this sense, I had not been able to process the intensity of the course I was in. Due to my busy schedule and mental unavailability towards this course, it had certainly started to take a toll on my grades and my mental health. This course is completely computational and would require an overwhelming time commitment for me to be able to reach the level, that is much more developed than beginner, to be able to succeed in it. The course also has a quiz and an assignment every week, and each one has given me a great deal of stress because no matter how much I¿¿ve studied and prepared, even with the help of the professor and TA, I had not been able to pass a single one. The other two courses that I am enrolled in had been very much manageable because I had been well prepared to take them on, whereas this course was like learning a new language and was ramping up faster than I could manage.
Therefore, I had started looking at different courses I could enrol in that would fulfill the same requirement for my program and specifically, one that I would succeed in so that I can graduate on time. This is my last semester of my final year in the Biotechnology specialization and I haven¿¿t been in situation where I genuinely thought I would fail a course or even be unable to graduate, until now. This has added a great amount of stress and worry for me because I still have to keep up with the work I am responsible for in my thesis project and other courses. I had been using all the resources that were available to try to succeed in the course I was in, but I realized that it would be for my opportunity to graduate as well as my mental health, to enrol in a different class.
The course I want to enrol in (BIOL 341) is a much more manageable course for me especially since it is content based, and it involves topics that I am genuinely interested in. I also know that I would be much more comfortable learning BIOL 341 material than trying to learn a completely new and advanced level of computing and continuing in BIOL 432. I have attended a week of class in BIOL 341 and I already feel as though I am significantly more prepared and capable to succeed in this class than in the computational course that I am in.
I would really appreciate the opportunity to be enrolled in this course and am extremely keen on succeeding especially knowing that I have the support of the professor and the experience and confidence to excell in this course.