Petition Letter
I am writing this appeal to request a drop of a few selected courses (ECON 492, ENIN 301 & ECON 452) from my transcript after the academic deadline as a result of extenuation circumstances that were beyond my control.
I was only diagnosed with ADHD towards the end of the 2017/2018 academic year by a Queens Student Wellness medical professional and this resulted in my best academic performance in that winter semester and the following summer semester. However, during the 2018/2019 academic year, I began experiencing problems with my medication and was unable to find a suitable medication for my ADHD symptoms. After a whole academic year of moving from SWS doctor to doctor and unsuccessfully trying every form of ADHD medication option, I was finally put in contact with a SWS doctor that understood my situation and presented actual possible solutions to this exhausting experience.
During the start of the 2019/2020 academic year, with the assistance of the same doctor, I was able to find a medication that worked for me and I was very excited at the possibility of having a final academic year that I could fully utilize my potential like during the previous 2017/2018 winter semester. However, at the start of the fall semester, I sadly found out that, unlike the previous years when I received this medication for free, this specific brand of medication was no longer covered by my insurance and I was now required monthly to pay over 200 out of pocket for the only brand of medication actually worked for me. I was unable to afford this cost and my doctor and I was unable to find any suitable medication that was covered by my insurance that worked for my ADHD symptoms.
Throughout the 2019/2020 fall semester, without the aid of my medication, I was constantly battling with my symptoms and it was negatively impacting my abilities to complete my academic activities. These events not only largely affected my academics but took a huge toll on my mental health and confidence in my abilities. During this period, I was unable to focus during lectures, had trouble meeting every assignment deadline, had a lot of difficulty balancing weekly workload, missed the dates for online quizzes and tests, and struggled to keep up with most of my course load. This circumstance resulted in me dropping a few classes in an unsuccessful attempt to alleviate the effects of this situation and eventually led to the failure of ENIN 301. Around the middle of the fall semester, I explained my situation to my ECON 492 seminar research professor, and he agreed to give me an INCOMPLETE for the semester to allow me to spread out the workload between the two semesters.
In order to ensure a successful second semester, I made several appointments with Queens Student Wellness personal counsellors, QSAS advisor and health-care professionals towards the end of the fall semester. Through these services, I received useful guidance, received needed help for my mental health and eventually was successfully directed to a SWS staff that was able to give me access to a coupon that wrote off the cost for the medication that I needed. I went into the 2019/2020 winter semester with access to my medication, set plans and goals, and motivations to avoid making any of the same mistakes from the winter semester. I made an appointment with a SASS Student Learning Strategy advisor at the start of the winter semester and created a strict weekly academic and personal schedule for the semester.
On January 26, a friend, neighbour, and fellow queens student, Bethany Yan, took her own life and all this effort and progress were shattered. It has been a very difficult task dealing with the death of a close friend, most especially one that you were with the previous night before her passing. I was unable to make any of my classes, appointments or carry out any one of my academic responsibilities from that day on up until the reading week break. During this period, I had frequent meetings with the SWS crisis and personal counselors. However, as a result of my absence, the ECON 492 professor informed me after the reading week that he had reached out to the undergraduate chair to drop me as a supervisor for my seminar paper.
I have since then met with the Queens Arts & Science academic advisor and together decided that switching from a BAH to a BA and appealing the courses that most affected by these events was the best recourse in this situation. For this reason, I also would like to request a late drop for my winter semester course ECON 452. The reason for this is because ECON 452 was never a required course for my selected economics program focus (only required for Applied Economics program) and I was only taking for the complementary course content that helped me in my ECON 492 seminar research paper. I have missed a large amount of this course content as a result of the unfortunate events of the year and I know that I will be unable to complete the final project of the course. Also, given the switch to a BA, I currently have the required amount of credits for a general degree in economics and the courses I am presently taking now only serve the purpose of improving my final GPA.
I was only diagnosed with ADHD towards the end of the 2017/2018 academic year by a Queens Student Wellness medical professional and this resulted in my best academic performance in that winter semester and the following summer semester. However, during the 2018/2019 academic year, I began experiencing problems with my medication and was unable to find a suitable medication for my ADHD symptoms. After a whole academic year of moving from SWS doctor to doctor and unsuccessfully trying every form of ADHD medication option, I was finally put in contact with a SWS doctor that understood my situation and presented actual possible solutions to this exhausting experience.
During the start of the 2019/2020 academic year, with the assistance of the same doctor, I was able to find a medication that worked for me and I was very excited at the possibility of having a final academic year that I could fully utilize my potential like during the previous 2017/2018 winter semester. However, at the start of the fall semester, I sadly found out that, unlike the previous years when I received this medication for free, this specific brand of medication was no longer covered by my insurance and I was now required monthly to pay over 200 out of pocket for the only brand of medication actually worked for me. I was unable to afford this cost and my doctor and I was unable to find any suitable medication that was covered by my insurance that worked for my ADHD symptoms.
Throughout the 2019/2020 fall semester, without the aid of my medication, I was constantly battling with my symptoms and it was negatively impacting my abilities to complete my academic activities. These events not only largely affected my academics but took a huge toll on my mental health and confidence in my abilities. During this period, I was unable to focus during lectures, had trouble meeting every assignment deadline, had a lot of difficulty balancing weekly workload, missed the dates for online quizzes and tests, and struggled to keep up with most of my course load. This circumstance resulted in me dropping a few classes in an unsuccessful attempt to alleviate the effects of this situation and eventually led to the failure of ENIN 301. Around the middle of the fall semester, I explained my situation to my ECON 492 seminar research professor, and he agreed to give me an INCOMPLETE for the semester to allow me to spread out the workload between the two semesters.
In order to ensure a successful second semester, I made several appointments with Queens Student Wellness personal counsellors, QSAS advisor and health-care professionals towards the end of the fall semester. Through these services, I received useful guidance, received needed help for my mental health and eventually was successfully directed to a SWS staff that was able to give me access to a coupon that wrote off the cost for the medication that I needed. I went into the 2019/2020 winter semester with access to my medication, set plans and goals, and motivations to avoid making any of the same mistakes from the winter semester. I made an appointment with a SASS Student Learning Strategy advisor at the start of the winter semester and created a strict weekly academic and personal schedule for the semester.
On January 26, a friend, neighbour, and fellow queens student, Bethany Yan, took her own life and all this effort and progress were shattered. It has been a very difficult task dealing with the death of a close friend, most especially one that you were with the previous night before her passing. I was unable to make any of my classes, appointments or carry out any one of my academic responsibilities from that day on up until the reading week break. During this period, I had frequent meetings with the SWS crisis and personal counselors. However, as a result of my absence, the ECON 492 professor informed me after the reading week that he had reached out to the undergraduate chair to drop me as a supervisor for my seminar paper.
I have since then met with the Queens Arts & Science academic advisor and together decided that switching from a BAH to a BA and appealing the courses that most affected by these events was the best recourse in this situation. For this reason, I also would like to request a late drop for my winter semester course ECON 452. The reason for this is because ECON 452 was never a required course for my selected economics program focus (only required for Applied Economics program) and I was only taking for the complementary course content that helped me in my ECON 492 seminar research paper. I have missed a large amount of this course content as a result of the unfortunate events of the year and I know that I will be unable to complete the final project of the course. Also, given the switch to a BA, I currently have the required amount of credits for a general degree in economics and the courses I am presently taking now only serve the purpose of improving my final GPA.