Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To: The office of The Associate Dean of Studies




I am appealing to the Faculty in order to drop Econ 445 (Fall,2014) after the deadline.



Prior to the start of the 2014 academic year, I came off of academic probation. I was successful in doing so by getting help from academic advisors, the Economics undergraduate advisor, and also by seeking advice from a La Salle counsellor in order to find ways to control my severe anxiety. This gave me a moral boost entering my final year at Queens University with the opportunity to not only take courses which will increase my GPA but also finally be able to graduate with a Bachelors degree from Queen's University. After meticulous academic planning, I made the decision to take a lighter course load in order to ensure greater academic performance. My plan was successful, and I managed to perform well in two of my classes, although I struggled with one of my courses. Unfortunately, I was unable to pass Economics 445 due to a sudden personal problem which occurred a few days prior to the final exam in December.



The economics 445 exam was weighted to be 80 percent of the final grade. This placed tremendous pressure on me and hindered my ability to work hard studying all of the course material thoroughly in order to pass the course. Few days prior to the exam I had found out that my brother had become severely sick. This news made me travel back to Ottawa in order to provide care for him. My brother lives alone in Ottawa, as my parents live across the world in Dubai. Therefore, this placed tremendous stress on me to provide care to my brother and also study for my exam. During this time the added stress caused me to once again have trouble with stress related anxiety. However, being away from Kingston did not give me the opportunity to seek help from a counsellor. Another added obstacle was having an exam on the 15th of December. With the Economics 445 exam being placed on the 17th, this made my studying schedule extremely condensed. While being in Ottawa, I had to study for both exams while providing care to my sick brother. I was able to perform above average on my first exam, which was on the 15th. As my transcript shows, I was not able to perform well on my final exam on the 17th which was Economics 445.The failure was very disappointing, due to the fact that I believe if such events had not occurred I would have been able to perform above my standards on this exam. After finding out about my grade I did contact Professor Ware in order to seek help, although unfortunately he was not able to provide me with any further assistance. My success in my other 400 level Economics course illustrates that I had the capability to grasp the material. However, I was unable to perform as well as I hoped in my final exam, Econ 445, due to unforeseen circumstances. For your consideration I will attach a letter from my brother's doctor, as well there are letters from my counsellor in my student file. These letters address my difficulties over the years.



I plan to drop Economics 445 in order to not only boost my GPA, but also to give myself a better opportunity to graduate while avoiding having any failing grades on my transcript during my final year. I have worked tremendously hard in the past 3 years in order to achieve greater academic success; as illustrated by the gradual increase in my cumulative GPA over the years. I have also met with an academic advisor in the past week in order to finalize my plan. Furthermore, I currently have enough courses to graduate and have decided to take additional courses in order to boost my GPA. By taking a lighter course load this semester, with no additional Economics courses, I am planning to give myself an opportunity to perform beyond my abilities. In addition, after graduating from Queens in the spring this year, I plan on taking additional summer correspondence courses from Queen's in order to further increase my GPA. I am doing this as a means of allowing myself a greater opportunity to further my education after graduation.



Sincerely,
Arya Mobasher