Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to appeal the drop deadline for FILM303, FILM320, and FILM236. Leading up to the deadline of November 2nd, I realized that I would not be able to successfully complete my full five courses and managed to drop two before the deadline. At the time, I intended on using short-term accommodations, as I had done in the past, to limp through the final three courses and continue doing so until graduation.

However, after the deadline came and went, and I was left to fully examine my situation and mental health history at university, as well as consider the year I still had left, I realized that while my poor mental health does often cause me to struggle academically, even when I have managed to complete courses or assignments I have felt no fulfillment for at least two years, so gritting my teeth for another year hoping to get through it was likely going to be unhealthy. I was forced to confront the fact that the program I was in, and perhaps even an academic setting in the first place, was never the place for me to feel progress toward my goal being a writer/director. Yet I continued because I was already in so deep and my parents know of no other career path than the one through university. In other words, I never sought to solve a major material root cause of my mental condition; my academic apathy.

As I considered my options, which at one point included entirely dropping out of academics and returning to the studio equipment workplace I had spent a term off at, where I had felt very motivated and constantly challenged, I noticed an overlap between my writing and my passions, which involved social issues such as innocence, housing, immigration, and labour. I also did research on the LSATs and found the questions very interesting and engaging. Thus, my plan is to entirely drop out of the Fall 2020 term and spend the remainder getting a foothold on LSAT study, return in Winter 2020 with QSAS accommodations allowing for a lighter course load and flexible deadlines, and have a clear path developed with an academic advisor on how to finish my undergrad to a sufficient law school application standard.

Thank you,
Jerry