Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Johanne Benard,
I hope this appeal reaches you well. I am appealing the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a year. It¿¿s been a very tough time these past few weeks waiting to receive my grades to see whether I would get released from Academic Probation or fail to achieve that. Unfortunately, I have come close, but not close enough.
Coming into first year to the faculty of Computing was a difficult transition from high school and it was hard to fully integrate with peers. The past summer before first year, my parents separated and my father moved to Pakistan. This made for a difficult summer as there were many problems that were occurring due to that. This was made even harder due to the fact that I had to move away from home and try my best to ignore those issues. I found it to be hard to cope with the mental stress of family problems while doing my best to socialize with my peers and focus on my academics. Due to that, I did not do well in my first year. I ended first year with a 0.8 cGPA and was placed on academic probation. Computing courses were challenging since I had no prior experience yet I tried my hardest to excel in them, and still am keen on excelling in them. In second year, I managed to do well in most of my courses, raising my cGPA to 1.5. This was evident in getting a D in CISC102(Discrete Math I) and an A- in CISC203(Discrete Math II). Leading up to my second semester exams, I was under a lot of pressure and mental stress. I knew I had to get certain grades to get released from academic probation and that was a lot of pressure. I experienced several bouts of anxiety and had trouble keeping calm enough to focus and study. My 2 exams were on the 20th and 21st. Feeling extremely anxious for my first exam, I knew I had to study a lot to do well. I ended up studying all night, and during the exam, I had an anxiety attack and tried finishing as soon as possible and leaving. I knew I didn¿¿t do well in that exam, and that stress and anxiety transferred over to the next day where again, I didn¿¿t do well in the second exam either. Which leaves me at a 1.5 cGPA, only 0.1 away from getting released from academic probation.
To fix this, I took it upon myself and promised myself that I would raise my GPA to get released from academic probation. I rejected an internship offer, to focus solely and spend full time on my summer courses. I am retaking CHEM112, a 6 unit course that I failed in first year, MUSC171, a 3 unit course that I failed in first year, and COGS100, a 3 unit course that I find to be extremely interesting. I took it upon myself to get tutoring for Chemistry and at the end of this summer, I am certain that my GPA will be higher than 1.6. I just need till the end of this summer, to prove that I am capable of doing well in my program. I will also be retaking 2 other courses that I failed in the fall semester. I am also going to go to regular counselling next year to cope with the anxiety and mental stress, and plan to attend all office hours that my professors offer. My academic plan also highlights exactly how I plan to do much better next year.
Thank you for reading my appeal, and I really hope that I can get another chance to prove that I am capable of studying at Queen¿¿s University.
Thanks,
Raasil Khan
10183626
I hope this appeal reaches you well. I am appealing the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a year. It¿¿s been a very tough time these past few weeks waiting to receive my grades to see whether I would get released from Academic Probation or fail to achieve that. Unfortunately, I have come close, but not close enough.
Coming into first year to the faculty of Computing was a difficult transition from high school and it was hard to fully integrate with peers. The past summer before first year, my parents separated and my father moved to Pakistan. This made for a difficult summer as there were many problems that were occurring due to that. This was made even harder due to the fact that I had to move away from home and try my best to ignore those issues. I found it to be hard to cope with the mental stress of family problems while doing my best to socialize with my peers and focus on my academics. Due to that, I did not do well in my first year. I ended first year with a 0.8 cGPA and was placed on academic probation. Computing courses were challenging since I had no prior experience yet I tried my hardest to excel in them, and still am keen on excelling in them. In second year, I managed to do well in most of my courses, raising my cGPA to 1.5. This was evident in getting a D in CISC102(Discrete Math I) and an A- in CISC203(Discrete Math II). Leading up to my second semester exams, I was under a lot of pressure and mental stress. I knew I had to get certain grades to get released from academic probation and that was a lot of pressure. I experienced several bouts of anxiety and had trouble keeping calm enough to focus and study. My 2 exams were on the 20th and 21st. Feeling extremely anxious for my first exam, I knew I had to study a lot to do well. I ended up studying all night, and during the exam, I had an anxiety attack and tried finishing as soon as possible and leaving. I knew I didn¿¿t do well in that exam, and that stress and anxiety transferred over to the next day where again, I didn¿¿t do well in the second exam either. Which leaves me at a 1.5 cGPA, only 0.1 away from getting released from academic probation.
To fix this, I took it upon myself and promised myself that I would raise my GPA to get released from academic probation. I rejected an internship offer, to focus solely and spend full time on my summer courses. I am retaking CHEM112, a 6 unit course that I failed in first year, MUSC171, a 3 unit course that I failed in first year, and COGS100, a 3 unit course that I find to be extremely interesting. I took it upon myself to get tutoring for Chemistry and at the end of this summer, I am certain that my GPA will be higher than 1.6. I just need till the end of this summer, to prove that I am capable of doing well in my program. I will also be retaking 2 other courses that I failed in the fall semester. I am also going to go to regular counselling next year to cope with the anxiety and mental stress, and plan to attend all office hours that my professors offer. My academic plan also highlights exactly how I plan to do much better next year.
Thank you for reading my appeal, and I really hope that I can get another chance to prove that I am capable of studying at Queen¿¿s University.
Thanks,
Raasil Khan
10183626