Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

My appeal here today is being made in regard to dropping the course PHIL 273. My desire to drop this course stems from my inability to complete the requirements needed to pass due to mental health reasons. The course would require me to submit an essay around the length of 20 pages that will dictate 100 of my grade. Unfortunately, I have been struggling with my mental health and completing an assignment like this in the time frame I have is not possible right now. I was unaware that a course with this type of assessment would be difficult for me to complete until it was time for me to write the essay. There was an option of completing two shorter essays with the first due date being around midterms, but I was unable to go with that option as I had an extenuating circumstance at the time and figured the one essay option would be best as I needed to catch up on my other courses. As it stands, I have not been able to complete any work for this course, so I am on track to failing it. With my other exams, an extension would not help as it would not change the amount of work I need to get done and continuing the course past fall exams does not seem like a practical plan. I am currently not in the right mental space to produce a 20 page essay for this class and my top concern is keeping up with my other exams which will be difficult in their own way. I believe the best option is to drop the class as I rather not have a failed course on my transcript. Removing this course would allow me to continue with my studies at Queens without feeling as if I am being held back by a decision to take a course that did not work out in my favour. Overall, this semester has been heavily impacted by my mental health and personal circumstances in my life, so it would be greatly appreciated if I could have the opportunity to start fresh next semester without the burden of this course in the past. As I previously mentioned, earlier on in the semester I had to receive an academic consideration for my classes as a result of a traumatic event in my personal life that impacted my ability to work. The current mental health issue I am dealing with is no longer related to that but a result of pre-existing mental health conditions that have been exacerbated by the stress of remote learning. My plan for moving forward here is to rest and address some of my issues over the holiday break so I can return next semester with my fullest academic potential and healthy coping mechanisms.

Thank you,

Samantha Shivprasad