Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 9516
Submitted: August 31, 2022 at 12:49:42 PM
First Name: Jack
Last Name: Hodgins
Student Number: 20307952
Email: 21jwh2@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: ECON
Level of Study: 1
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: I am appealing the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queen's for one year.
At the very start of the first semester last year, I was excited to be moving from the UK to Canada to attend Queens, where both my parents were alumni. However, amidst my excitement, I knew that I was not organised. I was attending classes, but I was not working as hard as I should have been. I told myself that this was fine, as I could catch up if I got myself organised a little way into the first semester. As I got more and more behind in my courses, I quickly realised that I was fooling myself.
Once the initial excitement of being in Canada wore off, I felt very alone. I had no family or social support. I felt like a failure, and I became very depressed. Due to my depression, I stopped talking to my friends and family in the UK which made things even worse. I stopped going to lectures, and I was not leaving my room for anything other than one meal a day.
I was unfamiliar with the Canadian medical system, and I did not have a doctor or therapist to speak to. I certainly was not in any mental state to figure out the health system in another country. This means that I do not have a doctor's note with a diagnosis of depression, but if you can access my student card's information to look at the dining hall usage history it will corroborate my account. I have also included a note from my mother confirming my story.
During this time, my already flawed plan of catching up on work became even more flawed.
Around halfway into the second semester, I managed to pull myself out of my depression, and I decided enough was enough - I needed to sort myself out. I set up a meeting with PASS, and on the 15th March, I explained the situation in full to them, asking for their help to come up with a plan of what I could do now, considering I was on track to fail all of my courses. As a solution, I was offered information about a 24 unit threshold, which I was told was a threshold whereby if I ended the year below it, I would be able to come back undeclared in September. In order to ensure I fully understood, I asked if that meant I could fail all of the courses I was taking, and still come back in September with no problems. I was assured that this was the case, provided I had 24 units or less.
After this call, I spent time figuring out my plan to turn myself around. If possible, I wanted to take summer courses in order to kick start my turnaround. However, I was not sure whether this threshold that I had been told about was to do with attempted units or passed units, and so wanted to know if taking summer courses would put me above this threshold that I had been informed of. I therefore set up another call with PASS on the 6th April, explained my situation again and then asked about this threshold- was it for passed or attempted units? I was told that they were not sure, so would go and speak to a higher up and get back to me. Later that day I received a message on Microsoft teams chat that if I did not pass a course I would not receive the credits for it. I did not feel that this was clear enough so I asked again for absolute clarity- is the 24 unit threshold relevant to passed courses or attempted courses? I was assured again that it was only relevant to passed courses. At no point in either of these interactions was I informed about a requirement to withdraw, but rather was told that all would be fine and I would have no problem coming back in September. I therefore made no attempt to drop any more courses to meet the actual threshold - which I now understand is actually an 18 unit one. I had no reason to doubt what was being said to me by PASS, therefore I did not look at the academic calendar to check that it was all true. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and now I wish I had.
Based on the PASS information, my plan was to stay in Kingston to complete two online summer courses: Computer science and Economics. I wanted to take these courses to prove to myself that I could succeed in them. I did. Even though I knew I would be lonely in Kingston without any housemates, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, and I also wanted to be able to get back in a studious mindset so that come September I would be in a much better place to start. I was determined to turn myself around, and I am on a positive trajectory now.
It was not until I tried to select courses for September, but was blocked from doing so, that I found out that I had a requirement to withdraw. I was shocked by this, as PASS had reassured me I could continue in September 2022 despite failing my courses. I thought I did not have to worry due to the 24 unit threshold.
At the very start of the first semester last year, I was excited to be moving from the UK to Canada to attend Queens, where both my parents were alumni. However, amidst my excitement, I knew that I was not organised. I was attending classes, but I was not working as hard as I should have been. I told myself that this was fine, as I could catch up if I got myself organised a little way into the first semester. As I got more and more behind in my courses, I quickly realised that I was fooling myself.
Once the initial excitement of being in Canada wore off, I felt very alone. I had no family or social support. I felt like a failure, and I became very depressed. Due to my depression, I stopped talking to my friends and family in the UK which made things even worse. I stopped going to lectures, and I was not leaving my room for anything other than one meal a day.
I was unfamiliar with the Canadian medical system, and I did not have a doctor or therapist to speak to. I certainly was not in any mental state to figure out the health system in another country. This means that I do not have a doctor's note with a diagnosis of depression, but if you can access my student card's information to look at the dining hall usage history it will corroborate my account. I have also included a note from my mother confirming my story.
During this time, my already flawed plan of catching up on work became even more flawed.
Around halfway into the second semester, I managed to pull myself out of my depression, and I decided enough was enough - I needed to sort myself out. I set up a meeting with PASS, and on the 15th March, I explained the situation in full to them, asking for their help to come up with a plan of what I could do now, considering I was on track to fail all of my courses. As a solution, I was offered information about a 24 unit threshold, which I was told was a threshold whereby if I ended the year below it, I would be able to come back undeclared in September. In order to ensure I fully understood, I asked if that meant I could fail all of the courses I was taking, and still come back in September with no problems. I was assured that this was the case, provided I had 24 units or less.
After this call, I spent time figuring out my plan to turn myself around. If possible, I wanted to take summer courses in order to kick start my turnaround. However, I was not sure whether this threshold that I had been told about was to do with attempted units or passed units, and so wanted to know if taking summer courses would put me above this threshold that I had been informed of. I therefore set up another call with PASS on the 6th April, explained my situation again and then asked about this threshold- was it for passed or attempted units? I was told that they were not sure, so would go and speak to a higher up and get back to me. Later that day I received a message on Microsoft teams chat that if I did not pass a course I would not receive the credits for it. I did not feel that this was clear enough so I asked again for absolute clarity- is the 24 unit threshold relevant to passed courses or attempted courses? I was assured again that it was only relevant to passed courses. At no point in either of these interactions was I informed about a requirement to withdraw, but rather was told that all would be fine and I would have no problem coming back in September. I therefore made no attempt to drop any more courses to meet the actual threshold - which I now understand is actually an 18 unit one. I had no reason to doubt what was being said to me by PASS, therefore I did not look at the academic calendar to check that it was all true. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and now I wish I had.
Based on the PASS information, my plan was to stay in Kingston to complete two online summer courses: Computer science and Economics. I wanted to take these courses to prove to myself that I could succeed in them. I did. Even though I knew I would be lonely in Kingston without any housemates, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, and I also wanted to be able to get back in a studious mindset so that come September I would be in a much better place to start. I was determined to turn myself around, and I am on a positive trajectory now.
It was not until I tried to select courses for September, but was blocked from doing so, that I found out that I had a requirement to withdraw. I was shocked by this, as PASS had reassured me I could continue in September 2022 despite failing my courses. I thought I did not have to worry due to the 24 unit threshold.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: I am not currently registered with a degree plan, and therefore am shadowing the degree plan for my desired major, which is Economics. I am, and had been before last September, familiar with the plan requirements for first year and so had selected the correct courses. My plan for this year is to retake all the courses that I took previously and failed, as my desired major has not changed, and by doing this I can remove the failures from my transcript. I also intend to complete 30 units across the year, substituting the courses I now have completed over summer for other electives. To ensure I do not fall behind, I will regularly attend office hours and talk to my TAs, I will complete all readings before class so I am as prepared as possible as well as registering for the ASUS mentorship program. I also plan to take summer courses every summer to make up for some lost time where possible. As previously stated, my organisation was not what it should have been at the start of first semester. I have since addressed this with a few strategies employed over my summer courses such as daily to-do lists and visual calendars, which helped to keep me on track. I also started getting up earlier and doing regular exercise which I have found beneficial. These strategies and learning points proved themselves over my summer courses, helping me to pass the computer science course despite spending the entire course as a caregiver for my dangerously mentally ill girlfriend. I missed handing in a few pieces of graded work due to needing to care for her (doctors note included in supporting documentation), and although I have not received the final grade for my Economics course yet, my written assignments average was an A- and I am confident that my final exam result will be around the same grade.
I am confident that these actions I have taken and my desire to succeed at university will lead to a successful year and degree at Queen??s. I have demonstrated that I have the determination and resilience to turn myself around and to achieve my goals next year. I would be grateful if you could give me the opportunity to do so this academic year.
I am confident that these actions I have taken and my desire to succeed at university will lead to a successful year and degree at Queen??s. I have demonstrated that I have the determination and resilience to turn myself around and to achieve my goals next year. I would be grateful if you could give me the opportunity to do so this academic year.
Documentation
Professional Letter: supportingdocMumLetter-0.pdf
Document: supportingdocAmyLetter-0.pdf
Document: supportingdocZoomChat-0.png
Decision Letters
History
Originally submitted August 31, 2022 at 12:49:42 PM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | In Review | Spring Forsberg | 2022-08-31 1:05:41 PM | |
| status | N/A | In Review | Granted | Spring Forsberg | 2022-09-09 3:30:15 PM | |
| associate_dean | N/A | Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D. | Spring Forsberg | 2022-09-09 3:30:15 PM | ||
| decision_letter | N/A | N/A | Decision letter sent | Spring Forsberg | 2022-09-09 3:31:24 PM |