| I've helped several people with petitions and all have been approved. I believe a petition will likely be approved so long as:
1. The rules of the petition process (pages 13-14 of the Athlete's Handbook) are carefully followed,
2. the required written statement is respectful, consise, and credible,
3. the reason for not being able to compete is credible, and
4. the fencer's recent competitive results reasonably support the appeal.
1. What kinds of excuses in your experience are allowed? Rejected? Proper?
I've seen the following accepted: SAT test the day of qualifier, documented injury, out of town wedding (immediate family), remoteness of qualifying event (Alaska).
2. What level of proof has been required?
For proof of legitimacy of absence, I'd document it: SAT registration form, letter from doctor, etc.
For proof of competitive results, document that, too: ASKFRED results, NAC results, summary of results against those at the qualifier, etc.
3. How strong does your argument that you would have qualified needed to be?
On the petitions that I've seen the arguments have all been very strong, so I can't tell you where the threshold lies.
4. Have people seen a tendency to weigh severity with chance of qualifying? That is, if you have a more marginal excuse do you have to provide better evidence for likelihood of qualifying?
I would think so, but I don't know.
5. Does the national office/divisions/sections look at petitions skeptically when they are back-to-back or frequent?
From my experience, no. I am aware of two fencers who have successfully petitioned in consecutive years. In both cases, though, both their excuses and results were very convincing. | 
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