Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean (Studies), Johanne Benard
I am writing to appeal my academic dismissal to withdraw for 1 year from Queens University, Faculty of Arts and Science. I was not completely surprised when I found out the information of my dismissal request, as my marks were borderline, but was very upset that it was a reality. I hope you review my appeal and see that I can benefit from the help at Queens ¿¿Student Wellness services and that I eagerly want to improve my academics going forward.
This past year and a half at Queens University has been a complicated one. In latter first year I started experiencing discomfort and physical pain through my stomach that would come and go. These stomach pains would affect my eating habits severely at times, causing me to skip meals because of the nausea. I did not get things checked out then because it wasn¿¿t always present, and I hoped it would go away. This year however, I would not only have pain and reflux issues, but would throw up when under tremendous stress. Initially, not knowing the cause of these pains worried me more, making me think it was something serious. The combination of stresses at school, health and home life started to really affect my work. I started to develop heightened forms of stress, which lead to anxiety. Throughout, second year, I was seeking medical help for my stomach issues and given a prescription to help heal. It was not getting any better, and I had to see a specialist for a scope. This condition started to noticeably affect my schoolwork and outside of my classes in a negative way. Coming close to the end of the first term I started worsening and felt forms of depression. I didn¿¿t want to see my friends and had let my grades skip because I couldn¿¿t focus. I know I didn¿¿t seek out help earlier, and I should have. I kept it to myself for too long I did seek help from my parents and tried to turn my second semester around. I did so, in a way that I was somewhat pleased with. Sadly this ending effort just missed the mark and resulted in the letter I received on May 24th 2016. I am currently working with a psychotherapist to help me cope with my mental health problems as well as my school stresses and plan to get help from the school as well through the Student Wellness Service Centre in addition to the Writing Centre for my academics.
I love Queens University and I believe that through the help I have received for my physical health in the past few months, and now mental health, it will help me to achieve my academic goals I have set. I believe I can turn my grades around for the better. Before I received this notice of dismissal I was actually planning on taking a semester off from Queens Academics (but possibly taking an online course) and continue with my therapist. My thought was to start back in January. Taking a couple of months to focus on my mental health and try to come back to Queens with new coping methods and a better attitude toward my program. Just as I did in my last term at Queens I plan to reduce my course load to help me focus on certain courses better as I found it worked in this past term. I think it would cause as reduction in anxiety to lower course load and help me focus on my overall health.
As a future plan I am hoping to take the first semester off, focusing on resolving health issues and improving my coping skills before I return if I am allowed to do so. I have letters from my therapist and G.P., however, some letters may have to be submitted at a later date.
Please understand that my low GPA is a reflection of a combination of negative distractions and that I am not a bad student. I plan to turn my university experience around for the better after I help myself. I hope you will give me a second chance. Thank you for considering my appeal.
Sincerely,
Daniel Macgregor ¿¿ 10150535
I am writing to appeal my academic dismissal to withdraw for 1 year from Queens University, Faculty of Arts and Science. I was not completely surprised when I found out the information of my dismissal request, as my marks were borderline, but was very upset that it was a reality. I hope you review my appeal and see that I can benefit from the help at Queens ¿¿Student Wellness services and that I eagerly want to improve my academics going forward.
This past year and a half at Queens University has been a complicated one. In latter first year I started experiencing discomfort and physical pain through my stomach that would come and go. These stomach pains would affect my eating habits severely at times, causing me to skip meals because of the nausea. I did not get things checked out then because it wasn¿¿t always present, and I hoped it would go away. This year however, I would not only have pain and reflux issues, but would throw up when under tremendous stress. Initially, not knowing the cause of these pains worried me more, making me think it was something serious. The combination of stresses at school, health and home life started to really affect my work. I started to develop heightened forms of stress, which lead to anxiety. Throughout, second year, I was seeking medical help for my stomach issues and given a prescription to help heal. It was not getting any better, and I had to see a specialist for a scope. This condition started to noticeably affect my schoolwork and outside of my classes in a negative way. Coming close to the end of the first term I started worsening and felt forms of depression. I didn¿¿t want to see my friends and had let my grades skip because I couldn¿¿t focus. I know I didn¿¿t seek out help earlier, and I should have. I kept it to myself for too long I did seek help from my parents and tried to turn my second semester around. I did so, in a way that I was somewhat pleased with. Sadly this ending effort just missed the mark and resulted in the letter I received on May 24th 2016. I am currently working with a psychotherapist to help me cope with my mental health problems as well as my school stresses and plan to get help from the school as well through the Student Wellness Service Centre in addition to the Writing Centre for my academics.
I love Queens University and I believe that through the help I have received for my physical health in the past few months, and now mental health, it will help me to achieve my academic goals I have set. I believe I can turn my grades around for the better. Before I received this notice of dismissal I was actually planning on taking a semester off from Queens Academics (but possibly taking an online course) and continue with my therapist. My thought was to start back in January. Taking a couple of months to focus on my mental health and try to come back to Queens with new coping methods and a better attitude toward my program. Just as I did in my last term at Queens I plan to reduce my course load to help me focus on certain courses better as I found it worked in this past term. I think it would cause as reduction in anxiety to lower course load and help me focus on my overall health.
As a future plan I am hoping to take the first semester off, focusing on resolving health issues and improving my coping skills before I return if I am allowed to do so. I have letters from my therapist and G.P., however, some letters may have to be submitted at a later date.
Please understand that my low GPA is a reflection of a combination of negative distractions and that I am not a bad student. I plan to turn my university experience around for the better after I help myself. I hope you will give me a second chance. Thank you for considering my appeal.
Sincerely,
Daniel Macgregor ¿¿ 10150535