Petition Letter
Callum Anderson's Appeal Letter to Mandatory One Year Withdrawal From Studies
During my first two years at Queen's University my academic performance and final grades were anything but an accurate representation of my true academic abilities. Coming to university was a very tough decision and a very difficult transition, one that I had ongoing difficulties making. I hope this very brief appeal letter and academic plan will help to restore confidence in my abilities and allow for me to be excused from the mandatory one year withdrawal from studies I am currently facing.
I will be incredibly brief in describing the setting for my first month of university. The summer between grade twelve and first year was a very difficult one for me. The illness and loss of a close family member had me second guessing university at this time. So I enrolled in summer school with every intention of heading back to high school that September. However, I was foolish and enrolled in courses at Queen's for September instead, enrolling fairly late, toward the end of the summer. Upon arriving at Queen's it was very clear from very early on that I was from a very different background than my floor mates and classmates, both economically and socially. Needless to say, I didn't fit in.
Significantly increased workload, social isolation, lingering grief, financial pressure, over commitment, to name a few of the challenges I faced throughout my first year at Queen's. Upon finishing first year I was so certain that I wasn't going to return in September of 2014 that I did not pick a major until August of that year. As I write this, and say it to myself out loud for the first time, it becomes even more clear to me how unprepared I truly was for university at that time. There was a mountain of reasons for me to not come, and many resources on campus I should have reached out to, I was very unprepared.
In this letter I do not want to focus so much on the negative events and past mistakes that lead me to this situation. Rather, I would like to focus on what I have been doing, and what I can do to make it right. I hope I will win your confidence, or at least persuade you enough to give me a final chance to prove myself, academically.
At the beginning of second year I enrolled in psychology courses hoping to transfer into the psychology department despite not performing well in PSYC 100, looking back on this choice, it was another reckless and irresponsible decision. I had new found feelings of optimism regarding the upcoming year, and was careless, and much too over confident. This psychology plan I was so hoping to pursue required me to enroll in a statistics course, math has never been my strong suit. Throughout second year I did learn a lot about what university was really like and what it really took to be a university student, however I feel that that was not the most important thing I took away from those eight months. During second year I got much more involved in my courses and activities and events on campus and in the Queen's community. To summarize, I felt much more integrated into the university community and less isolated. This helped me feel more welcome at Queen's, gave me increased access to information and on campus resources, made me enjoy classes, learning and everything Queen's has to offer, and above all, it made me more mature.
Becoming more mature in the post secondary environment was the most important thing about second year to me and to my future in education. I have realised the value of a post secondary education and become able to set much more realistic goals for myself. I think the real strength of this appeal rests in my academic plan which is already getting me back on track. To quickly summarize, it has been a rough transition into the post secondary world, one that I did not make as easily as I should have and I am not proud of that or of my performance at Queen's University so far. However, all of that is changing, I have set realistic goals and despite working a forty hour work week this summer, am enrolled in a total of five courses (15.0 units) from May to August. I am ready to boost my GPA and get back on track and I hope that you will give me the chance to prove this to you. Thank you very much for your time.
Respectfully yours,
Callum Anderson
During my first two years at Queen's University my academic performance and final grades were anything but an accurate representation of my true academic abilities. Coming to university was a very tough decision and a very difficult transition, one that I had ongoing difficulties making. I hope this very brief appeal letter and academic plan will help to restore confidence in my abilities and allow for me to be excused from the mandatory one year withdrawal from studies I am currently facing.
I will be incredibly brief in describing the setting for my first month of university. The summer between grade twelve and first year was a very difficult one for me. The illness and loss of a close family member had me second guessing university at this time. So I enrolled in summer school with every intention of heading back to high school that September. However, I was foolish and enrolled in courses at Queen's for September instead, enrolling fairly late, toward the end of the summer. Upon arriving at Queen's it was very clear from very early on that I was from a very different background than my floor mates and classmates, both economically and socially. Needless to say, I didn't fit in.
Significantly increased workload, social isolation, lingering grief, financial pressure, over commitment, to name a few of the challenges I faced throughout my first year at Queen's. Upon finishing first year I was so certain that I wasn't going to return in September of 2014 that I did not pick a major until August of that year. As I write this, and say it to myself out loud for the first time, it becomes even more clear to me how unprepared I truly was for university at that time. There was a mountain of reasons for me to not come, and many resources on campus I should have reached out to, I was very unprepared.
In this letter I do not want to focus so much on the negative events and past mistakes that lead me to this situation. Rather, I would like to focus on what I have been doing, and what I can do to make it right. I hope I will win your confidence, or at least persuade you enough to give me a final chance to prove myself, academically.
At the beginning of second year I enrolled in psychology courses hoping to transfer into the psychology department despite not performing well in PSYC 100, looking back on this choice, it was another reckless and irresponsible decision. I had new found feelings of optimism regarding the upcoming year, and was careless, and much too over confident. This psychology plan I was so hoping to pursue required me to enroll in a statistics course, math has never been my strong suit. Throughout second year I did learn a lot about what university was really like and what it really took to be a university student, however I feel that that was not the most important thing I took away from those eight months. During second year I got much more involved in my courses and activities and events on campus and in the Queen's community. To summarize, I felt much more integrated into the university community and less isolated. This helped me feel more welcome at Queen's, gave me increased access to information and on campus resources, made me enjoy classes, learning and everything Queen's has to offer, and above all, it made me more mature.
Becoming more mature in the post secondary environment was the most important thing about second year to me and to my future in education. I have realised the value of a post secondary education and become able to set much more realistic goals for myself. I think the real strength of this appeal rests in my academic plan which is already getting me back on track. To quickly summarize, it has been a rough transition into the post secondary world, one that I did not make as easily as I should have and I am not proud of that or of my performance at Queen's University so far. However, all of that is changing, I have set realistic goals and despite working a forty hour work week this summer, am enrolled in a total of five courses (15.0 units) from May to August. I am ready to boost my GPA and get back on track and I hope that you will give me the chance to prove this to you. Thank you very much for your time.
Respectfully yours,
Callum Anderson