Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To:
The Associate Dean (Studies)
94 University Avenue
Queen's University
Kingston, ON Canada
K7L 3N6

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter because I am appealing to drop Chem282.
This is my first year at Queen¿¿s and this is my second appeal to drop a course this term. Since the beginning of the winter term, I have been living two different places. The second place was between the ends of November to February. I lived alone in December and some time in January. I found out the people live upstairs of downstairs smoked pods. Occasionally, I heard crying and yelling. It terrified me horribly and I was so scared to walk out of my door. I felt extremely insecure and unsafe and I couldn¿¿t concentrate on my readings. Early February, my host emailed me asking me to leave because I spent too much on heating although we have previously signed a twelve months lease. I was in the situation looking for new place and prepare for the incoming first midterm. I moved again in mid-February. This distracted me from reviewing course materials for the class on a regular bases, since this class is a difficult for me. I am taking two chemistry courses at the same time, both chem112 and chem282. I didn¿¿t take chem281 at Queen¿¿s. Although I was given the credit at the beginning of the year for chem281, I was not confident with my organic chemistry skills. I got into Chem282 without taking 281, I have been struggling in the course. The reason I didn¿¿t drop it was because it is the program requirement for me. I was already behind close to the first midterm. Taking two chemistry courses is almost impossible for my ability. I think I really need to slow down and going steps by steps.
I spent so much time looking for a new place to live before reading week and sometimes I traveled back and forth from Markham because my mom lives there by herself and she doesn¿¿t English quite well. My mom and I are both new immigrants. I just helped her to solve problems such as for the Internet, credit card and etc. Chem282 was definitely a challenging course for me. The second midterm was on the 19th of March. I was in the team representing the school to play at OUAs Badminton, and the game started 20th of March held in Ryerson University. I emailed the prof telling him that the schedule would be stressful for me and I asked whether I could write the test on a different day, but I was told that the make up test day was on the 20th. I had to write the test on the 19th and I was very stressed. I needed to practice with my partner for the tournament as well as studying hard for chem282, because I knew I had to do better in the second midterm since I did poorly on the first midterm. I was extremely in the two weeks before the second midterm, and I almost got no time to eat. I have two to three labs a week. I tried my best for the second midterm and I even went for the prep test section for assistance.
I must say that I was too hurrying to do everything in my life for this term. I must slow down to do better and to calm down. Sometimes I depressed because the conflicts in my life. I really hope I could get an opportunity to retake the course, which is offered online during the summer structure as chem285. Organic chemistry is definitely a challenge for me, but I have the confidence that if I had slowed down myself, it would be better. Also, I need better adaption to the school and the system here. As for the home problem, I moved to a quiet and nice place with people I know. I am attaching the screen shots of from my last host who asked my roommate and I to leave.

Sincerely,

Niki Ziqing Cai (10085514)