<p>Is it good form to send an email to a prof at the end of the quarter if you know you've done badly in their class? I haven't been doing very well in my calc class and I'm pretty sure i could do better. If i send an email apologizing to my prof saying something along the lines of "sorry about the shoddy work i've been doing," will that be taken to be sucking up? Or maybe i should be saying something else?</p>
<p>Why should you apologize to your professor? He's not the one responsible for your bad performance. You shouldn't feel sorry for him. You study for your own good, and no one else.</p>
<p>for more than a few reasons, that seems like an unwise idea.</p>
<p>He gets paid the same amount whether you fail or get an A.</p>
<p>No, college is not high school. Professors don't care whether you fail their class or not. In most classes, you get whatever grade you earn, end of story. In some classes, the professor will even lower your grade if you try to negotiate your way out of the grade you earned.</p>
<p>The better thing to do would be to show him that you are capable of doing better. Study harder, find some friends to study with-- infinitely more fun than studying alone, and attend some recitations if your school has stuff like that. If all else fails, hire a tutor.</p>
<p>Apologizing for doing badly is like saying you don't care enough to do well...</p>
<p>If you are likely to have this professor again...ie you're a math major, or you're going to be taking a lot more Calc, then maybe, just maybe this is justified. However, it should only be done if the reasons for your poor grade are do to things that could be taken as disrespectful - not showing up to a class where attendance is taken, arguing your (wrong) point, doing the crossword in the paper, failing to turn in a major project, etc. If you just suck at math, then this should not be done.</p>
<p>You're not doing "badly," you're doing poorly. :)</p>
<p>Why should you apologize? That's my question. It's your fault, you were lazy, and now you have to pay. Perhaps you had a good reason at the time, but all decisions have consequences.
Stop wasting your time worrying that your prof's feelings are hurt -you are not that important. Now go get out your calc book and study so you can do better next quarter.</p>
<p>I don't think that would be a wise idea.</p>
<p>is it really badly? can't you do something badly? it's the right part of speech, so if you can do something poorly why can you not do something badly?</p>
<p>sorry, I know that I just stole this board for my own personal use, but this is a far more important question :)</p>
<p>A lot of professors are dicks, he'll probably laugh at your email.</p>
<p>If the idea is to send a sort of "thank you--it was my fault, no reflection on you" note, I think that there's a classy way to do this that won't sound like sucking up. </p>
<p>Just say somethhing like, "I enjoyed your class and teaching, and know that I could have done better on my end. I appreciated your efforts (or humor or presentations or whatever you liked) very much."</p>
<p>If the idea is to say thanks, there's nothing wrong with that. If the idea is to excuse your lack of work, I agree with the majority . . . just let it be.</p>
<p>I thought I read/heard somewhere that "poorly" is the correct word to use. However, I just did a quick google search and it looks like I'm wrong. Perhaps I mixed that up with "good vs. well;" you do something "well" not "good." Or perhaps I should refrain from correcting other people's grammar...
:)</p>
<p>Edit- Yes, I did mix it up. I just did another google search and "well" is an adverb, "good" is an adjective.</p>
<p>never refrain from correcting people's grammar-- for the most part they'll just think you're brilliant and will be so embarrassed that they begin to cower at the sight of you... then there are people like me who can't bear to be wrong, so we make sure we really were wrong in the first place haha...</p>
<p>and I am a grammar freak as well, which is most likely why I questioned your fixing of badly :)</p>
<p>I don't understand why you should apologize. It's not like he gives a rat's ass about your C.</p>