Academic Plan
Matheson Goff Academic Plan
A: Course of Study
I am currently registered in the ECON ¿¿ General (Arts) degree plan. I have also reviewed my Academic Advisement Report in SOLUS to ensure that I understand the remaining degree requirements, which I am working diligently on completing. I have no difficulty understanding the content of the courses demanded in the degree plan, however due to my disability, I do have difficulty keeping up from time to time. To help with this situation, I am registered with QSAS, who provide me with academic accommodations tailored to combat difficulties that arise from my specific disability. I also regularly keep in touch with my professors, to be sure they are fully aware of my current situation. As far as academic interest goes, when I first enrolled at Queen¿¿s University, I had intended on studying political science. However, after taking economics classes in my first year, I became extremely interested, and decided to pursue it as the focus of my degree.
B: Full-time vs Part-time
I currently intend on maintaining a full-time course load moving forward, however, due to the nature of my disability, I sometimes need to extend the due dates of deliverables. In the past this has causes a slight backlog of deliverables due, but I have been able to work through this with the support of QSAS and my professors. Currently, I have no incomplete work from previous academic sessions. I also am not required to work while attending school. My study habits are unique, again due to my disability. There are days where I struggle to meet my goals, and others where I complete more than I initially expected to get done. When I am not experiencing symptoms of my disability, I work through a daily to-do list, and do not find it difficult to manage my time or work through coursework. Due to my disability, I traditionally do find it tricky to manage group assignments, or live-sessions. To work around this, QSAS has included specific wording on my Letter of Accomodation to grant me alternative methods of participation, of which I negotiate with the instructor. I have not had any difficulty with this thus far, and do not expect any moving forward. Once again, due to my disability I can sometimes miss class, but I am very vocal with my instructors at the beginning of each semester about all the potential difficulties of my disability, and have things in place from then on to help work through those situations if the arise.
C: Strategies for Success
I have faced quite a few challenges during my time at Queen¿¿s, and the majority of them were in some regard at least, related to my disability. At the start of my time at Queen¿¿s, I wanted to be ¿¿normal¿ so badly that I refused to reach out to utilize any university resources, and it wasn¿¿t until after being required to withdraw for a year that I finally reached out to QSAS, as well as my family doctor, to get some academic support. Since then, I have had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Instead of trying to explain to instructors my situation, and being quite embarrassed doing so, I now have a QSAS Advisor that I meet with regularly to help me with these situations. My disability is something that will never go away, and I accept that now. Instead of fighting it I have learned to accept it and seek help when needed, and work with my strengths instead of spending all my time trying to deal with it on my own. Moving forward I intend to continue my regular meeting with my QSAS advisor, doctor, and therapist to help build my coping methods, and skillset, to allow me to work through the symptoms of my disability more smoothly and efficiently. Additionally, I have been working with the previously mentioned professionals on a detailed regiment of medication, as well as mental health exercises to help me in some cases, work through my disability related symptoms much faster than I was ever able to on my own. My next steps are to continue to work with my mental health team, as well as my professors, to help meet my academic goals. Additionally, I plan to work at having more things in place in my personal and academic life, so that if unforeseen events do happen, I am not put in a place where I have so few options available to me.
A: Course of Study
I am currently registered in the ECON ¿¿ General (Arts) degree plan. I have also reviewed my Academic Advisement Report in SOLUS to ensure that I understand the remaining degree requirements, which I am working diligently on completing. I have no difficulty understanding the content of the courses demanded in the degree plan, however due to my disability, I do have difficulty keeping up from time to time. To help with this situation, I am registered with QSAS, who provide me with academic accommodations tailored to combat difficulties that arise from my specific disability. I also regularly keep in touch with my professors, to be sure they are fully aware of my current situation. As far as academic interest goes, when I first enrolled at Queen¿¿s University, I had intended on studying political science. However, after taking economics classes in my first year, I became extremely interested, and decided to pursue it as the focus of my degree.
B: Full-time vs Part-time
I currently intend on maintaining a full-time course load moving forward, however, due to the nature of my disability, I sometimes need to extend the due dates of deliverables. In the past this has causes a slight backlog of deliverables due, but I have been able to work through this with the support of QSAS and my professors. Currently, I have no incomplete work from previous academic sessions. I also am not required to work while attending school. My study habits are unique, again due to my disability. There are days where I struggle to meet my goals, and others where I complete more than I initially expected to get done. When I am not experiencing symptoms of my disability, I work through a daily to-do list, and do not find it difficult to manage my time or work through coursework. Due to my disability, I traditionally do find it tricky to manage group assignments, or live-sessions. To work around this, QSAS has included specific wording on my Letter of Accomodation to grant me alternative methods of participation, of which I negotiate with the instructor. I have not had any difficulty with this thus far, and do not expect any moving forward. Once again, due to my disability I can sometimes miss class, but I am very vocal with my instructors at the beginning of each semester about all the potential difficulties of my disability, and have things in place from then on to help work through those situations if the arise.
C: Strategies for Success
I have faced quite a few challenges during my time at Queen¿¿s, and the majority of them were in some regard at least, related to my disability. At the start of my time at Queen¿¿s, I wanted to be ¿¿normal¿ so badly that I refused to reach out to utilize any university resources, and it wasn¿¿t until after being required to withdraw for a year that I finally reached out to QSAS, as well as my family doctor, to get some academic support. Since then, I have had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Instead of trying to explain to instructors my situation, and being quite embarrassed doing so, I now have a QSAS Advisor that I meet with regularly to help me with these situations. My disability is something that will never go away, and I accept that now. Instead of fighting it I have learned to accept it and seek help when needed, and work with my strengths instead of spending all my time trying to deal with it on my own. Moving forward I intend to continue my regular meeting with my QSAS advisor, doctor, and therapist to help build my coping methods, and skillset, to allow me to work through the symptoms of my disability more smoothly and efficiently. Additionally, I have been working with the previously mentioned professionals on a detailed regiment of medication, as well as mental health exercises to help me in some cases, work through my disability related symptoms much faster than I was ever able to on my own. My next steps are to continue to work with my mental health team, as well as my professors, to help meet my academic goals. Additionally, I plan to work at having more things in place in my personal and academic life, so that if unforeseen events do happen, I am not put in a place where I have so few options available to me.