Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Appeal Letter: To whom it may concern,

My name is Anna Siju and I am a 5th year student here at Queen's University. I am writing to appeal to pass/fail courses from my 2018 Winter semester at Queens. As you can see from my first level appeal there were extenuating circumstances that were beyond my control that contributed to my low grades, along with the transition to university being extremely difficult for me. As a result, my mental health suffered. I took measures to work on my mental health by speaking to a counsellor at Student Wellness Services in April 2018. The counsellor I had been seeing is no longer working at Queens, however, my current counsellor knows in-depth about my situation and was able to provide information in his letter that I have submitted along with updated documentation. If you require any additional information from him I would be happy to provide it.

In my first appeal, I understand there were some concerns that I would like to address in this letter. Firstly, I am not appealing all my grades from 2017/2018 because as mentioned before my math grades are the ones that are impacting my graduation requirements and GPA for my major. For this reason, even though my other grades suffered due to the same issues I have decided not to appeal them. Another concern I would like to address is my higher grade in PSYCH 100 and Music, this is mainly because these courses were largely memorization and participation-based and the other courses are more application and heavily test-based. Lastly, I understand several years have passed since my first year, but I waited so long to appeal because at the time I did not accept the severity of my own health issues, and because of this I waited until April 2018 to see a counsellor after a recommendation by my academic advisor. I thought my overwhelming stress was a normal thing and although I did see a counsellor but no one knew the severity of the problem. It was not until recently after several sessions with my therapist, he informed me these issues I am describing are caused by ongoing anxiety. This anxiety was heightened in my first year because of the existing external pressures and personal struggle to adjust to university. I am currently seeing my therapist regularly, and I have been referred to get a mental health assessment by a Physician. I am going to continue working with my therapist to develop strategies to manage my health. I have since learned not to wait until I reach a breaking point to seek help, and in future, I will continue to see my therapist regularly and be more proactive.If there are any more concerns about my situation I would be happy to provide more information.

I understand that this request is past the deadline, however, I am appealing now because I was not aware of the harm these grades could cause to my ability to graduate. In more recent years I have tried my best to improve my grades, and as a result, my overall GPA has risen. I am seeing a therapist through student wellness regularly to work on overcoming ongoing issues. I have met all other graduation requirements, and I feel my first-year grades do not reflect my abilities. I will continue to work hard this final semester towards completing my degree. I would appreciate it if you would please consider changing my letter grade to credit standing for the following courses: MATH 121, MATH 111. Thank you for taking the time to review my request.

Sincerely,
Anna Siju