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Selective and Retroactive WE Appeal Process Help

Gel
edited January 2015 in General
Hi y'all,

Can anyone who has been through or know someone who has been through this process comment on how it's done?

In my second and third semester I've failed 4 courses. My grandfather died 2 weeks before the finals of Spring 2013 and I went through a serious cycle of depression in Summer 2013. I've already repeated those course already. Thing is I never actually knew you could WE courses after doing them until my advisor recently told me that.

In Spring 2013 I have 2 As, a C, a C-, and an N. I'm appealing for a selective withdrawal. Those two classes I got an A in did not have final exams, they were mainly group project based. For Summer 2013 I failed both classes.

1) For the supporting documents it ask that "Retroactive appeals must include for example a complete record of grade course activities, their dates and their weighting with respect to the final grades of each course to ensure that students are not able to unfairly benefit from selective erasure of poor grades."
What does this mean and where do I go about getting a complete record of grade course activities almost 2 years after doing these courses? It also states that for retroactive appeals they will contact each professor for an academic progress report so do I even need to worry about the above?

2) For Spring 2013 I have my grandfather's death certificate and funeral recites, should that be enough?

3) Is the N going to do anything negative to my appeal? It was a math course, which I'm usually good at, but I was so stressed out during that period that I just ended up not doing it knowing I was going to fail.

4) I can't use the same excuse for two semesters straight right? If that's true then for my Summer 2013 appeal would be based on my cycle of depression. It states that "Students who did not see a doctor at the time of the accident or illness and cannot provide evidence to back up the explanation will not be awarded a withdrawal." Thing is I never bothered to go to any doctor about it until very recently a few months ago. So how should I go about doing this?

Any other tips are welcomed! Thanks for the help.

Comments

  • Astra92
    I'll be checking in on this post about 1). I'll be applying for WE due to both my parents being hospitalized at the same time a couple of years ago. As for a doctors note, just get the printout off of the SFU website and explain to your gp what happened and why you're appealing the grades. You can use the same reasoning for more than one semester, but I would highly suggest you get a doctors note backing it up. Also, go see student services to talk to them about this further. They were very helpful when I went in this past summer for more info on these applications.
  • Hemoglobin
    A selective withdrawal is much harder to get approved than an entire withdrawal of all courses that semester. Selective withdrawals go to faculty WE boards and they will question "Why are you only withdrawing from a couple courses you did poorly in? How did the situation not affect all your courses?" You'll need to bring the course outlines from that semester that you want to withdraw from. The N shouldn't affect your appeal for other courses, but your excuse of skipping the exam altogether isn't good enough to get that WE'd, especially if you never spoke to the instructor about rescheduling the exam or discussed the situation with them. A doctor can't write "retro" prescriptions based on what had happened 2 years ago. You must be seen during the period of the illness for a doctor's note and other evidence. Go talk to a special advisor at Student Services.
  • Gel
    Thanks for the replies. I'll go see Student Services tomorrow.

    In that semester I took 5 classes. Two of them were ENSC 105W and 106 which had no final exams and instead have a 6 member group project. Plus most of the material was basically review material. My grandfather died two weeks before the finals of the other 3 classes which were the regular type of classes (1-2 midterms, big final, weekly homework). You think that's a good enough reason to selectively withdrawal? 

    I'm not sure if we can use the same explanation for two or more different semesters.

    http://www.sfu.ca/students/appeals/withdrawals/withdrawals-extenuating-faq.html

    The FAQs here state that:

    "    Can I apply for multiple terms of withdrawals?
    Yes, so long as each WE application is based on a different explanation. Each WE application package is considered on its own merit and should be submitted on a separate WE form.  However, multiple terms of WE applications based on one or the same explanation may not be considered."

    It also states this about Partial Withdrawals:

    "I’ve heard it is easier to receive a complete withdrawal rather than a partial one.  Is that true?
    No. Both partial and complete withdrawals are reviewed using the same criteria and standards."
  • Gel
    Btw, is WE's only for fails? In that semester I've gotten 2 As, C, C-, and an N. And where do I get the exact course outlines the professors gave us in class? Online I can only find partial outlines that do not show the grading schemes or dates and some of them are actually missing.

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