I have a question for some current bruins who have been in a class where attendance accounts for a portion of the final grade.
I am facing a huge dilemma. My favorite band in the world (who I’ve never seen live) rescheduled a concert for October 5th and I wanted to schedule my classes around it, but there was really no convenient way to do so. I just received a syllabus from the professor whose class lecture AND seminar I have that day, and it said that attendance to both lecture and seminar account for 20% of the final grade.
My question is, how do professors take attendance at lecture and discussion, and do they usually stick to this grade policy? If worse comes to worst I will go to lecture and miss the discussion. Will missing lecture or a discussion section once really hurt my grade?
Thanks I’m panicking bc I want to be hours early to this concert so badly :’(
I’d write a personal email to your professor or whoever is taking attendance your situation, and ask if anything can be done. Depends on the professor, some are chill and some are not. You should see how they take attendance and maybe get a friend or someone to sign in for you (try to trick the system if you can find out how it works).
IDK, some professors are really cool. They are so smart, and successful, that they have no insecurities and understand. My hardest professor in the chemical engineering department would definitely make accomodations for an important concert (people like him are sort of rare, you just need to gauge the personality of the professor), but only because he’s so awesome, he’s got tenure, he’s with UCLA forever, he’s too important and a bigshot there, and he even wants students to drink with him (getting to know the students and offer life advice) and have karaoke night for extra credit. It really depends on the professor, bjkmom! Some people are so successful, they have no hangups.
Hey everyone - status update. Hopefully someone will see this and give me a little more advice bc i’m greedy.
So class started and professor does not check attendance for lecture, so I could miss that no problem. It’s only the discussion that checks attendance - and the main hurdle in this whole situation. However, TA says on syllabus that first absence won’t affect grade - just the ones after that. She seems like a reasonable person. Not chill, but not crazy.
My discussion doesn’t end until 4:50, and with the earliest train I can find after that I won’t get to the concert until 7. Doors open at 5:30. So if I went to discussion, I’d be at the back of the concert - BUT since I have GA, I’ll be somewhat “close” no matter what. I just really wanted to be at the front.
Since attendance isn’t the biggest issue, my real concern is a bad impression. Since it’s only the first real week of classes we probably won’t be going over a ton of stuff; I’m just concerned that she’ll notice I’m gone the next week and ask why I was absent - I could just lie and say I was sick, but I’m just worried I’ll fall behind.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN THIS SITUATION??? im cri pls help
more context, I’m not planning on asking for the TA for a letter of rec or anything that requires them liking me a lot, it’s more just that I want an A in the class.