Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean and Faculty,

I am appealing to drop as many failed courses as possible in my time at Queen's University (2014-2018), to better my GPA. I understand that it has been a while since my time at Queen's but anything that can be done to better my overall GPA would be greatly appreciated.

During my time at Queen's, I was experiencing extenuating circumstances and battled with mental illness. I was diagnosed with severe major depressive disorder and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity during the year that I first came to Queen's. I greatly struggled with my mental health and it had a severe impact on my grades. It got so bad at times that I could not even take care of myself, or do even simple daily tasks, I constantly had high anxiety and at times couldn't go outside my room, much less attend classes. It was really hard for me because I didn't have a support system, my family lived in the U.S. and I came alone to Canada for University. I stayed in school for so long even though I was extremely unwell because I didn't want to worry my parents. However, it slowly built up and I just had to go back home and stay there to recover, leaving school and was not well enough to be able to deal with this earlier. When I was at Queen's I did my best to seek help while dealing with crippling depression that kept me bound to my bed, I saw multiple doctors, psychologists and counselors, some did help momentarily but did not last. The reason that I am only now submitting this appeal letter is because I am trying my best to go back to school, but my past GPA is dragging me down and preventing me from getting into schools. I took time off and got the help that I needed, took some proper medication and was able to slowly get back on my feet. It's been about two years and I have been taking classes at a community college, where I am getting mostly all A's, on the dean's list with a high GPA. However, now that I am trying to transfer into a university, they look at a combined GPA from all previous schools, with my transcript from Queen's, no matter how good my grades are now, the university advisors tell me that it is basically impossible to bring my total average up to be accepted to the school. It makes me immensely dejected that I am unable to move on with my education due to my past grades that are not a true reflection of my abilities as a student. If there is anything that can be done to help me, it would be greatly appreciated.


Best Regards,

Kristy Yin