Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Bénard,
My name is Berenda Sayadof and I am a second-year Biology Major student. Very recently, it was brought to my attention that students who need a credit standing for their courses must appeal for one before they reach the end of the semester that follows. I am appealing to waive this deadline, and should this be granted, I would like to appeal to receive a credit standing for my first-year courses.
For me, first year was definitely a challenge that was out of my control. Coming into university, from meeting new people/living in residence to managing my time with course work, I was extremely overwhelmed. My time in residence was quite an emotionally straining experience for me, with details to be followed in the next appeal. In short, not being able to fit in with my floor and the feeling of being overwhelmed only escalated for me to the point where my grades were getting lower as time went on. I had no sense of academic control and no courage to reach out to academic councillors or friends. I felt embarrassed to admit that I was failing exams and tests and that I was behind in many of my courses. By the end of first year, my GPA was just above a 1.6 but I left everything in the past and started fresh in second year. It had not occurred to me to talk to the school about policies that are set for students with extenuating experiences like me. Up until April of 2017, I had not reached out about my experience or even known about credit standing and what the process was to request for one. It was the end of this school year that my friend briefly told me about someone who requested a credit standing, so with this little information, I promptly made an appointment with the Biology Undergraduate Program Assistant on April 18th to ask questions about this process. She later referred me to an academic councillor who guided me through the steps of an appeal process. If I had even the slightest information in first year about this process, I would have written an appeal right away, with no time to lose. This is the reason why I am sending my appeal now, and not last year.
Since first year, I have made many short term goals for myself to increase my GPA. I made multiple appointments with the Student Academic Success Service councillors and I got into the habit of mindfulness and developing a positive mindset to help with stress and anxiety to focus on my academics clearly. This summer, I have enrolled in a field course to lessen my course load for next year and I am planning on taking two more field courses next summer for the same reason. Additionally, I found great electives for my future years in order to give myself a break from my core courses, and I am even considering taking a fifth year just to make sure I have time to get my GPA to my final goal of around a 3.6/3.7-I am just below a 2.0 right now. I am extremely determined and I know I can do it, however, I just need your help to waive this deadline so I can explain to you in detail about my extenuating circumstance in first year that has been affecting me academically.
Looking at my transcript, especially with this past semester¿¿s grades, it is very clear that I have the skills needed to do well-it is solely last year that is bringing me down. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter; I truly do appreciate your time and consideration. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Berenda Sayadof
My name is Berenda Sayadof and I am a second-year Biology Major student. Very recently, it was brought to my attention that students who need a credit standing for their courses must appeal for one before they reach the end of the semester that follows. I am appealing to waive this deadline, and should this be granted, I would like to appeal to receive a credit standing for my first-year courses.
For me, first year was definitely a challenge that was out of my control. Coming into university, from meeting new people/living in residence to managing my time with course work, I was extremely overwhelmed. My time in residence was quite an emotionally straining experience for me, with details to be followed in the next appeal. In short, not being able to fit in with my floor and the feeling of being overwhelmed only escalated for me to the point where my grades were getting lower as time went on. I had no sense of academic control and no courage to reach out to academic councillors or friends. I felt embarrassed to admit that I was failing exams and tests and that I was behind in many of my courses. By the end of first year, my GPA was just above a 1.6 but I left everything in the past and started fresh in second year. It had not occurred to me to talk to the school about policies that are set for students with extenuating experiences like me. Up until April of 2017, I had not reached out about my experience or even known about credit standing and what the process was to request for one. It was the end of this school year that my friend briefly told me about someone who requested a credit standing, so with this little information, I promptly made an appointment with the Biology Undergraduate Program Assistant on April 18th to ask questions about this process. She later referred me to an academic councillor who guided me through the steps of an appeal process. If I had even the slightest information in first year about this process, I would have written an appeal right away, with no time to lose. This is the reason why I am sending my appeal now, and not last year.
Since first year, I have made many short term goals for myself to increase my GPA. I made multiple appointments with the Student Academic Success Service councillors and I got into the habit of mindfulness and developing a positive mindset to help with stress and anxiety to focus on my academics clearly. This summer, I have enrolled in a field course to lessen my course load for next year and I am planning on taking two more field courses next summer for the same reason. Additionally, I found great electives for my future years in order to give myself a break from my core courses, and I am even considering taking a fifth year just to make sure I have time to get my GPA to my final goal of around a 3.6/3.7-I am just below a 2.0 right now. I am extremely determined and I know I can do it, however, I just need your help to waive this deadline so I can explain to you in detail about my extenuating circumstance in first year that has been affecting me academically.
Looking at my transcript, especially with this past semester¿¿s grades, it is very clear that I have the skills needed to do well-it is solely last year that is bringing me down. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter; I truly do appreciate your time and consideration. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Berenda Sayadof