Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Student 10061146
12st3@queensu.ca
April 20, 2015



Appealing to drop CISC 260 and CISC324 (Winter 2015)


Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,


I am writing this letter to ask for appealing to drop the course CISC 260( Programming Paradigms) and CISC324(Operating Systems), held within the winter semester of the 2015 academic year.

Due to very special circumstances, I have been unable to drop these two courses on time and I was unable to function academically since the last three months.

I have a serious mental health condition that has required prescription medications and therapies.
I have been taking Wellbutrin and Zoloft for years. I have made a lot of progress in 2014 fall term that I retook and passed the core course I failed and even got two B. But I had a relapse of depression in the winter term due to sertraline withdrawal and my father's medical condition. My father had a stroke on February 26th and had been in a coma for over a month.I had to get back to China to see him in early April. I planned to visit him again during the exam session but my mother insisted that I should finish my exams first.I have been unable to sleep or eat properly for the past few months and my father's condition had seriously worsened my depression; I was constantly worried about my academic standing and my father since I didn't know if he was ever going to wake up. I forced myself to attend every lecture but I could barely focus. My CISC 260 professor records lecture videos so I watched the videos over and over but I couldn't comprehend anything.I failed my first quiz due to my stress symptom, I did not want to drop it because it's a core course and I believed that I would do better on the next two quizzed but I failed the next two.I spent a week reviewing CISC 260 before the exam but my brain went completely blank when the exam time was approaching and I was too weak to gather the courage and strength to walk to the exam hall. I have an around 26 percent on the CISC324 assignments and midterm, I could have passed this course if I passed the fifty percent exam but I was too stressed and couldn't think during the exam. I didn't even finish the question that I knew how to solve. Doctor Collins thinks that I had developed serious compulsion disorder and anxiety due to the tough situation this spring.
I transferred to general computing from honors computing in second year due to low marks in first year. I have been working hard since then and made a lot of progress last term. I really don't want all these efforts to be wasted because of my mental illness and some uncontrollable factors.

I plan to take CISC 260 next winter. Since I have taken it once and have all the notes, I believe I will do better next time .If I was allowed to drop CISC260 and CISC 324, these two failures will not affect my cumulative GPA and I can finally get into a four- year honor program. Due to my mental condition, I will prolong my graduation to 2016 fall and take lighter course loads from now onwards. I'm also starting to meet with a psychiatrist.
Sincerely,
Student 10061146 (12st3)


Encl:
-Medical note from Dr.Collins and medical record of Gaojun Teng