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In a grade dispute with a professor. Need advice on what to do next.
It's a shortened, summer term. I missed the 1st 2 classes with a major surgery. I missed the 2nd half of the 2 classes after that (3hr class, still had a drain and catheter in, I could only make it through the 1st half, & with painkillers. Pic related). This was enough attendance loss to ensure that I couldn't get higher than a B overall.
I thought the professor was being nice when he said, "if you make it the rest of the classes and get an A on the 3 papers, I'll ignore the attendance and still give you an A."
I'd already gotten the 1st paper back, graded A. The next paper, however, he gave a B+, with some reasonings that didn't make any sense at all. And it almost felt like he was rubbing my nose in it, haha look how close you got but too bad.
Anyways, his class is an absolute mess. He's completely disorganized, gets about 90 minutes of material done in 3 hrs, everyone in the class openly laughs whenever he steps out; quotes from the rest of the students - "this guy's a joke." "this class is a joke." "I think this guy's on something." "does he have alzheimers?" etc
I asked him about my grade & he double down on the reasons that didn't make sense. I have the right to dispute my *final* grade, if it comes to that, to the department head, then to the provost if need be. I asked a couple classmates about their grades - all of them said they were shocked at how high a grade they'd got. 1 said he specifically praised her for referencing a particular part from class discussion in her paper, but she'd never referenced that part & had no idea what he was talking about. They agreed to send me their papers so I could see for myself. After reading it myself, she's right. Further, another classmate wrote an extremely basic paper in a very short time, and that he outright called her his favorite in his comments and gave her an A as well. Meanwhile, he said he'd been "extremely generous" in the B that got.
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After reading all that I'm sure no one wants to, but I have my paper and the other paper to compare if that helps.
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>>17421882
b-bump
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>>17421914
help
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Grow the fuck up you entitled crybaby
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Normally it wouldn't be a huge deal, but in trying to transfer to a more selective university I don't want to take the GPA hit no matter how small.
>>17421958
thanks for the bump
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>>17421882
Professor (not yours) writing here.
Putting aside how he is as a lecturer, which is not really relevant to your concern, you have a few separate issues here.
Having missed the opening sessions, you might have been wise to drop the course and start over next term.
The tone of your complaint makes it seem like you took his offer to give you an A if you got all As as a guarantee or promise, and the fact that he gave you a B+ as some kind of dirty trick. No. Trust me - professors just don't think like that. We have absolutely nothing to gain (and a lot of hassle to get into) from any personal vendettas against students. So we just don't.
The grade of B+ does NOT mean "Ha ha You didn't get an A". It means "You were a little better than a B"
It can be very hard for students to understand grades on papers, and I can fault him a little for not being clear enough in explaining it. The problem is that classes like math train you to think in terms of subtraction - a math test starts with a theoretical 100, and then loses points for everything wrong.
But papers aren't graded that way. You have to think of it as a quality thermometer. It starts with a theoretical zero, and as he reads it the temperature rises, fluctuates a little, and finally settles at a level which he recognizes as B+. There may be nothing "wrong" in the paper, but it's just not "right" enough to go higher.
"Right enough" might mean clarity of argument, depth of thought, effective use of evidence, etc - all of which you presumably did better than most but not as well as some.
Appealing a grade is difficult because of what are probably university regulations that allow only certain arguments, such as prejudice. "I think I deserve a better grade" is never a basis for appeal.
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Seems like the only thing he did wrong was giving you hopes of making an A when you were set on making a B for all your abcenses, next time drop the course if you know attendance is mandatory and you cant make it, as long as the grading requirements were in the syllabus or he mentioned them in class, then no, you have nothing to fight here
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Time to grow up, kiddo. Take the professor's input and do better next time. He doesn't owe you shit.
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>>17421882
You fucked up by needing surgery
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Ask for extra credit.
-or-
Ask for an Incomplete.
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If you were not physically sound to take the class, then you should not have taken the class. You are better off talking to the registrar and begging for the W.
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