Petition Letter
To Dr. Stephenson,
My name is Layla Haddad (she/they), and I am a Fourth Year Life Science Major Student. I am writing this letter to you regarding an appeal I am putting forth about a letter grade on my transcript. I am appealing to drop the MICR 360 course from my transcript.
I do want to note that it has taken me around a month to sit down and write this letter. Writing about this course and my experiences with it have caused me to have an anxiety attack at almost every instance.
I took the course Microbiology 360: Immunology (MICR 360) in the first semester of third year (Fall 2021). The summer of 2021 was not a particularly joyful summer for me in that I had been struggling every day with my mental health including my generalized anxiety disorder and my depression both being at their peaks. This summer was an all-time low for me, so much so that despite my high school diagnosis of anxiety, I had reached out to my family doctor for an immediate solution. She had advised me that it would take weeks for the anti-depression medication to come into effect and that it would be worse before it would be better. I had begun taking these medications at the beginning of the term which contributed to my struggling in class.
MICR 360 was a course that contributed to my degree plan however the only evaluations in the course were two 20% midterm exams and one 60% final exam, and I ended up receiving an F for this course. As stated in the accommodations I have submitted in all courses since I began at Queen??s, I have severe anxiety when it comes to examinations and tests, which has granted me (while not very helpful) an additional 15 minutes per hour of writing the exams. As soon as I sit down to write exams, I begin to have anxiety attacks resulting in a blank mind, a racing heartbeat, and an inability to think as a Life Sci student should. During all three MICR 360 exams I had written, I had a panic attack resulting in my inability to perform as well as I normally do and also resulting in why I had failed the course. Whenever I would sit down and study for these exams, the abundance of material and my already existing anxiety would cause me to break down and would not allow me to study as I should. You can also see in my transcript that I am a mostly A student with only a handful of grades in the B range, thus this is an outlier in my reflection as a student. Deciding to be a part of a course that was entirely made up of exams was a mistake on my end that I did not know I was making at the time. By reviewing my transcript, you can see that I had done relatively well in my other courses that semester as they were not entirely made up of examinations/tests but were made up of learning assignments which I seem to do better in as I feel less anxious completing them.
I had failed to reach out to my professor for support at this point because I was embarrassed as to how poorly I had been doing. I had also failed to reach out to an advisor because of my poor experiences with them in the past, I had found that my Wellness Service appointed therapist was not very helpful (I have always struggled with finding a therapist) and I had not had many positive experiences with receiving academic support through Student Wellness Services. Following this anxiety-ridden experience, and upon realizing that I had received a mark that poorly, I ensured that I had made a few changes for the next few semesters which also included becoming accustomed to the new medications I was taking (anti-depression meds). Being in my third year (second semester) and transitioning to my fourth year, I had more autonomy over my degree and the courses I could take so I had purposely chosen to take courses that are not exam-based or have more assignments than exams in order to avoid this anxiety when writing exams. While there are so many of courses I would have loved to take, the majority of them have exams that are worth almost the entirely of the grades being weighed. Thus, I decided to do what was better for my mental health and take courses that I knew I was able to handle in terms of assignments. Additionally, I ensured that I made up the course that I had failed in order to continue my degree successfully and graduate after the 4-year period.
I do want to address why it has taken me until now to submit an appeal to drop this course. I had wanted to drop this course as soon as I could in second semester of third year, however approaching this course and the grade that I received in this course resulted in an increase in anxiety on my end that did not allow me to look into my options properly. I did not understand the process of appealing, and frankly did not even know it was an option until very recently. During my second semester, I also had a large role within the AMS that contributed to the lack of time and support I had to look into a potential of removing this letter grade from my transcript. At this point in my fourth year, my mental health has improved as much as it could, and I had decided to reach out to the Academics Commission (around a month or so ago) to support me in exploring my options. I am submitting this letter of appeal because I do not want my poor, unresolved mental health to taint my transcript and to taint my future as a student. My mental illness (previous and current) should not be reflected on my transcript, especially with this outlier.
I hope you can understand my concern with this. I appreciate the time you are putting into this process and want to thank you for your consideration in advance.
Best,
Layla Haddad
My name is Layla Haddad (she/they), and I am a Fourth Year Life Science Major Student. I am writing this letter to you regarding an appeal I am putting forth about a letter grade on my transcript. I am appealing to drop the MICR 360 course from my transcript.
I do want to note that it has taken me around a month to sit down and write this letter. Writing about this course and my experiences with it have caused me to have an anxiety attack at almost every instance.
I took the course Microbiology 360: Immunology (MICR 360) in the first semester of third year (Fall 2021). The summer of 2021 was not a particularly joyful summer for me in that I had been struggling every day with my mental health including my generalized anxiety disorder and my depression both being at their peaks. This summer was an all-time low for me, so much so that despite my high school diagnosis of anxiety, I had reached out to my family doctor for an immediate solution. She had advised me that it would take weeks for the anti-depression medication to come into effect and that it would be worse before it would be better. I had begun taking these medications at the beginning of the term which contributed to my struggling in class.
MICR 360 was a course that contributed to my degree plan however the only evaluations in the course were two 20% midterm exams and one 60% final exam, and I ended up receiving an F for this course. As stated in the accommodations I have submitted in all courses since I began at Queen??s, I have severe anxiety when it comes to examinations and tests, which has granted me (while not very helpful) an additional 15 minutes per hour of writing the exams. As soon as I sit down to write exams, I begin to have anxiety attacks resulting in a blank mind, a racing heartbeat, and an inability to think as a Life Sci student should. During all three MICR 360 exams I had written, I had a panic attack resulting in my inability to perform as well as I normally do and also resulting in why I had failed the course. Whenever I would sit down and study for these exams, the abundance of material and my already existing anxiety would cause me to break down and would not allow me to study as I should. You can also see in my transcript that I am a mostly A student with only a handful of grades in the B range, thus this is an outlier in my reflection as a student. Deciding to be a part of a course that was entirely made up of exams was a mistake on my end that I did not know I was making at the time. By reviewing my transcript, you can see that I had done relatively well in my other courses that semester as they were not entirely made up of examinations/tests but were made up of learning assignments which I seem to do better in as I feel less anxious completing them.
I had failed to reach out to my professor for support at this point because I was embarrassed as to how poorly I had been doing. I had also failed to reach out to an advisor because of my poor experiences with them in the past, I had found that my Wellness Service appointed therapist was not very helpful (I have always struggled with finding a therapist) and I had not had many positive experiences with receiving academic support through Student Wellness Services. Following this anxiety-ridden experience, and upon realizing that I had received a mark that poorly, I ensured that I had made a few changes for the next few semesters which also included becoming accustomed to the new medications I was taking (anti-depression meds). Being in my third year (second semester) and transitioning to my fourth year, I had more autonomy over my degree and the courses I could take so I had purposely chosen to take courses that are not exam-based or have more assignments than exams in order to avoid this anxiety when writing exams. While there are so many of courses I would have loved to take, the majority of them have exams that are worth almost the entirely of the grades being weighed. Thus, I decided to do what was better for my mental health and take courses that I knew I was able to handle in terms of assignments. Additionally, I ensured that I made up the course that I had failed in order to continue my degree successfully and graduate after the 4-year period.
I do want to address why it has taken me until now to submit an appeal to drop this course. I had wanted to drop this course as soon as I could in second semester of third year, however approaching this course and the grade that I received in this course resulted in an increase in anxiety on my end that did not allow me to look into my options properly. I did not understand the process of appealing, and frankly did not even know it was an option until very recently. During my second semester, I also had a large role within the AMS that contributed to the lack of time and support I had to look into a potential of removing this letter grade from my transcript. At this point in my fourth year, my mental health has improved as much as it could, and I had decided to reach out to the Academics Commission (around a month or so ago) to support me in exploring my options. I am submitting this letter of appeal because I do not want my poor, unresolved mental health to taint my transcript and to taint my future as a student. My mental illness (previous and current) should not be reflected on my transcript, especially with this outlier.
I hope you can understand my concern with this. I appreciate the time you are putting into this process and want to thank you for your consideration in advance.
Best,
Layla Haddad