Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean (Academic),
I am writing this letter to you today regarding obtaining a credit standing in the course, MATH121. I took this course during my first year at Queens University, which was the 2016-2017 academic year. During that academic year, I had a full course load of 5 full year Arts and Sciences courses in which I performed poorly. The reason behind this is due to the extenuating circumstances which will be explained later in this letter. I have selected this particular course because I felt that it had been impacted the most in comparison to other courses. Also, it was the lowest grade that I was achieved within the 2016-2017 academic year. I had the privilege of being in a rigorous academic program during high school ending grade 12 math with 90. Documentation to support this has been included in my application. My grade in MATH121 (D+) is a complete unfair representation of my math skills which is sourced from my extenuating circumstances. In November 2016, my parents told me that they had decided to separate. This took a toll on me heavily as it caused a rift in my life since we have always been such a tight-knit family. Though I was in Kingston pursuing my first year of undergraduate education, I travelled every weekend after that to be with my family, to understand the situation in detail, as well as ensure that my little sister was doing well since she depended on me. I left on Friday mornings from Kingston and arrived back Sunday night. I had taken Rideshare during my fall semester and I purchased a Via Rail Train season pass to allow me to travel every weekend at a lower rate. I have attached my purchased travel pass in this appeal. Travelling and being at home was important but it was extremely exhausting for my health. The environment at home was extremely toxic, stressful and took an extreme toll on me emotionally. I was not able to study at any time at home because I was not able to focus. When I was in Kingston during the remaining four days, I was emotionally distressed to a point where I had no motivation to do any work at all. As being the elder child, the parental separation took a special hit on me because I had to be a role model for my sibling. At the time, all I wanted to do was be alone. I did not want to be in large classrooms because I just wanted to be isolated from all my surroundings. Unfortunately, this prevented me from going to MATH 121 lectures and asking the professor questions on any clarifications I would have had. My mind was just focused on what was occurring at home. My mind was never focused during MATH 121 tutorials because I did not have the ability to engage with other individuals. This prevented me from understanding the concepts properly. My other courses were more content based, hence reading the required readings helped me to an extent. Since mathematics involved a lot of techniques and skills, it was imperative that I attended class and participated in them to properly comprehend the concepts. Since I wanted to be alone and not associate myself with other individuals, I did not contact my classmates for support. I did not want to overwhelm anyone with my problems which is why I kept all my feelings and emotions to myself. Throughout the academic year, the family situation worsened, and the separation was becoming more official. The academic content did not register in my head as all I could think about was the family situation at home and how I was going to face it. My test scores in MATH121 were always very poor. Due to the ongoing troubles at home, I performed poorly in all 5 of my full-year Arts and Sciences courses. By the end of the summer of 2017, I was able to come to a firm solution regarding my parents separation, and I learned that I needed to move on academically from then on.
To move forward, I decided that I needed to completely change my academic plan for the second, third and fourth years of my undergraduate degree. To elaborate, I have changed from a projected major in biochemistry to global development studies. I have changed my teaching subjects and major so that it required less in-person class hours that would have been used for labs and tutorials. The ability to have fewer classroom hours has helped me lighten my daily workload. Since I have changed from a Bachelor of Sciences (Honours) program to a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) program, I have had consistent meetings with the academic counsellor within the Faculty of Education to monitor my grades and course selections so that it will allow me to graduate on time. These consultations occurred through impromptu phone calls and in-person meetings. I have attached an image consisting of all my in-person appointments with the academic counsellor throughout my undergraduate degree. These meetings and conversations were extremely helpful as it enabled me to change my teaching subjects twice, allowing me to have a decreased workload but still graduate on time. I have spent the summers after my first year (PSYC100, ANAT100), second year (FREN320) and third-year (RELS 131, HTLH101) completing summer courses online or at another university so that it would help me to have a lower course load, allowing me to focus better and succeed in those courses. Due to the changes made in my major, obtaining a credit standing for MATH121 will not impact my degree plan.
Apart from finding a steady plan that will help me to succeed in my academic life, I have made a significant effort to ensure that I have a solution to my health. Prioritizing my health was extremely significant because I wanted to make sure that when I was away from home that I will feel motivated and be surrounded in positive energy. I lived in a house during my upper years filled with many supportive and caring friends who gave me the space to share concerns and worries that I may have had. I enjoy being heard by someone I know rather than communicating my emotions with a stranger. This is the reason why I have not dealt with counselling. Also, I have partaken in a part-time job at the Printing and Copy Centre and volunteered as the Year Representative for the Concurrent Education Students Association. This has helped me to ease stress during my upper years and act as a coping method. These methods have helped me to alleviate my stress and my external pressures. Through the efforts taken to improve my academics and health, I was able to see a remarkable positive trend in the grades that I have obtained during my second, third and fourth years. I am applying to appeal the course now rather than before because I genuinely was not aware that I was able to do so. Though I am a fourth-year student at Queens University, I am still learning about the different facilities and resources offered. Reading through the FAQ page on the Arts and Sciences website, I became aware that I could appeal a course taken a while back. In several majors in the sciences, MATH121 was a prerequisite and recommended the course to take. I felt that dropping the course would put me at a disadvantage at the time during the appropriate academic term. However, I recently learned that it is not too late to appeal a course. As situations at home severed, I realized that I needed to change my degree plan and course load to be a stable student in the forthcoming years.
Thank you so much for reading through my appeal letter. I have attached a signed note from a parent regarding the appeal. I have attached this document because I have not sought a professional health care provider.
Sincerely,
Jathorsan Lingarajan
I am writing this letter to you today regarding obtaining a credit standing in the course, MATH121. I took this course during my first year at Queens University, which was the 2016-2017 academic year. During that academic year, I had a full course load of 5 full year Arts and Sciences courses in which I performed poorly. The reason behind this is due to the extenuating circumstances which will be explained later in this letter. I have selected this particular course because I felt that it had been impacted the most in comparison to other courses. Also, it was the lowest grade that I was achieved within the 2016-2017 academic year. I had the privilege of being in a rigorous academic program during high school ending grade 12 math with 90. Documentation to support this has been included in my application. My grade in MATH121 (D+) is a complete unfair representation of my math skills which is sourced from my extenuating circumstances. In November 2016, my parents told me that they had decided to separate. This took a toll on me heavily as it caused a rift in my life since we have always been such a tight-knit family. Though I was in Kingston pursuing my first year of undergraduate education, I travelled every weekend after that to be with my family, to understand the situation in detail, as well as ensure that my little sister was doing well since she depended on me. I left on Friday mornings from Kingston and arrived back Sunday night. I had taken Rideshare during my fall semester and I purchased a Via Rail Train season pass to allow me to travel every weekend at a lower rate. I have attached my purchased travel pass in this appeal. Travelling and being at home was important but it was extremely exhausting for my health. The environment at home was extremely toxic, stressful and took an extreme toll on me emotionally. I was not able to study at any time at home because I was not able to focus. When I was in Kingston during the remaining four days, I was emotionally distressed to a point where I had no motivation to do any work at all. As being the elder child, the parental separation took a special hit on me because I had to be a role model for my sibling. At the time, all I wanted to do was be alone. I did not want to be in large classrooms because I just wanted to be isolated from all my surroundings. Unfortunately, this prevented me from going to MATH 121 lectures and asking the professor questions on any clarifications I would have had. My mind was just focused on what was occurring at home. My mind was never focused during MATH 121 tutorials because I did not have the ability to engage with other individuals. This prevented me from understanding the concepts properly. My other courses were more content based, hence reading the required readings helped me to an extent. Since mathematics involved a lot of techniques and skills, it was imperative that I attended class and participated in them to properly comprehend the concepts. Since I wanted to be alone and not associate myself with other individuals, I did not contact my classmates for support. I did not want to overwhelm anyone with my problems which is why I kept all my feelings and emotions to myself. Throughout the academic year, the family situation worsened, and the separation was becoming more official. The academic content did not register in my head as all I could think about was the family situation at home and how I was going to face it. My test scores in MATH121 were always very poor. Due to the ongoing troubles at home, I performed poorly in all 5 of my full-year Arts and Sciences courses. By the end of the summer of 2017, I was able to come to a firm solution regarding my parents separation, and I learned that I needed to move on academically from then on.
To move forward, I decided that I needed to completely change my academic plan for the second, third and fourth years of my undergraduate degree. To elaborate, I have changed from a projected major in biochemistry to global development studies. I have changed my teaching subjects and major so that it required less in-person class hours that would have been used for labs and tutorials. The ability to have fewer classroom hours has helped me lighten my daily workload. Since I have changed from a Bachelor of Sciences (Honours) program to a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) program, I have had consistent meetings with the academic counsellor within the Faculty of Education to monitor my grades and course selections so that it will allow me to graduate on time. These consultations occurred through impromptu phone calls and in-person meetings. I have attached an image consisting of all my in-person appointments with the academic counsellor throughout my undergraduate degree. These meetings and conversations were extremely helpful as it enabled me to change my teaching subjects twice, allowing me to have a decreased workload but still graduate on time. I have spent the summers after my first year (PSYC100, ANAT100), second year (FREN320) and third-year (RELS 131, HTLH101) completing summer courses online or at another university so that it would help me to have a lower course load, allowing me to focus better and succeed in those courses. Due to the changes made in my major, obtaining a credit standing for MATH121 will not impact my degree plan.
Apart from finding a steady plan that will help me to succeed in my academic life, I have made a significant effort to ensure that I have a solution to my health. Prioritizing my health was extremely significant because I wanted to make sure that when I was away from home that I will feel motivated and be surrounded in positive energy. I lived in a house during my upper years filled with many supportive and caring friends who gave me the space to share concerns and worries that I may have had. I enjoy being heard by someone I know rather than communicating my emotions with a stranger. This is the reason why I have not dealt with counselling. Also, I have partaken in a part-time job at the Printing and Copy Centre and volunteered as the Year Representative for the Concurrent Education Students Association. This has helped me to ease stress during my upper years and act as a coping method. These methods have helped me to alleviate my stress and my external pressures. Through the efforts taken to improve my academics and health, I was able to see a remarkable positive trend in the grades that I have obtained during my second, third and fourth years. I am applying to appeal the course now rather than before because I genuinely was not aware that I was able to do so. Though I am a fourth-year student at Queens University, I am still learning about the different facilities and resources offered. Reading through the FAQ page on the Arts and Sciences website, I became aware that I could appeal a course taken a while back. In several majors in the sciences, MATH121 was a prerequisite and recommended the course to take. I felt that dropping the course would put me at a disadvantage at the time during the appropriate academic term. However, I recently learned that it is not too late to appeal a course. As situations at home severed, I realized that I needed to change my degree plan and course load to be a stable student in the forthcoming years.
Thank you so much for reading through my appeal letter. I have attached a signed note from a parent regarding the appeal. I have attached this document because I have not sought a professional health care provider.
Sincerely,
Jathorsan Lingarajan