As the title says I received a bad grade which, in this case, is a C- in Calculus I. Leading up to my third exam (20% of grade), my Grandmother and friend from back home passed away. This took a toll on my mental health, my studying habits, and overall performance leading up to the exam. I did extremely poorly on the exam, as I expected. I talked to the dean of students about a grade adjustment (my professor said she would make the score of the 3rd exam the same as how I do on the final) if she received ‘validation’ of the scenario. She (the dean of students) explained that she could not simply validate that I did poorly because of my mental state, but only if I missed the exam for the funeral or something along those lines. I did good on the final, so it would’ve been nice to have that score replaced.
My question is, how do I explain this when applying to transfer schools? I have all A’s for 16.5 credits this semester (couple -'s) besides for the C. The dean of students actually told me that she would help with this statement, but I would like to hear from you guys first. Please let me know how I should word this, or what other suggestions you may have. Thank you and happy holidays.
It seems like there should be more the school should be able to do. Whether grant you a P for the course, maybe an Incomplete or something along those lines. Talk to the professor again and attempt to get her to change it now. Provide validation of their passing itself.
If you don’t like the answer you get and don’t mind potentially p***ing the professor off, you could open an academic dispute regarding the grade. Policies on these vary by school, and you’d be likely to lose so long as the prof kept documentation of the tests, but it’d be worth a last resort shot. Anything to improve the transcript itself is a heck of a lot easier than explaining it in every college app.
What major are you looking for, and are you taking Calc 2? If you’re going into a social science or something of the like, I wouldn’t worry about it much at all, because they won’t require anything past Calc 1, and it can be largely ignored outside the GPA hit… If you’re going into engineering, you’ll have to take Calc 2 I am sure, so make sure you get an A in that course.
If all else fails, and you still want to explain the grade, I think a personal letter from the dean (with contact information) to attach to your applications or to be sent by the dean would suffice, or writing about it in an “additional information” section.
@mjr2013 What is a P? I mean, I could’ve/could (maybe) do a late withdrawal, but would it be worth it?
An academic dispute would not be a bad call if it would work. I just want the grade of my final to replace to grade of my exam 3 like my professor said could be possible.
I am looking to do finance/econ. I am mostly worried about it effecting my transfer chances. I had 5 A’s and this C-, so maybe they can understand.
I also think that a letter from the dean would help. I talked to her for about 2 hours when I went to see about this grade/class, so I think she could write enough. She also seemed to really want to help me out, but I guess didn’t have basis to do since “she couldn’t document something like that”. Let me know if you have any other reccomendations. Thanks
A P is “Pass” and an F is “Fail”. Some colleges have courses that aren’t A-F but are simply pass § or fail (F). It may be like what your high school did if you had a study hall period… A ‘P’ grade doesn’t affect your GPA, but you get credit for the class.
I really doubt an academic dispute would work, only because based on the letter of the law (the syllabus) you did achieve a C-, all be it not representative of the knowledge attained. I would definitely try to work with the professor before going that route. As a last resort though, it may be an option. Look into what the process is at your college, because usually you don’t have long after the semester ends.
A single C- will not affect your academic career at IU Bloomington nor your future job prospects. However from your posting history you have been planning on transferring to an elite university since before you enrolled at IU as a freshman.
By validation I believe they mean documentation that your grandmother and friend did in fact pass away during the semester. You would need to provide that as a starting point.
@TomSrOfBoston Thank you for responding. Yes, I agree, that one C- will not end me, but I was planning on that transfer. I’m hoping that it won’t be the ‘be all end all’ for me and my transfer hopes.
I could provide that validation, and I would’ve at the meeting, but the Dean of Student’s who signs off that validation and provides it to the professor said that because I took the test, it could not be warranted. I guess if I skipped the test then it would? I’m not really sure. It was really kind of bizarre to me too, and I obviously hope I am not in that situation again.
Why was the Dean of Students involved if you were able to provide documentation to your professor? Seems like you just needed to remind your prof of your earlier discussion. Or did you talk to the prof first about the grade change? The prof just needs to submit a form changing the grade. The prof determines the grades and was willing to make an adjustment. Then somehow the Dean got involved, which was unfortunate because that person had stricter rules.
@CheddarcheeseMN I talked to my professor FIRST and then she said IF the dean of students gave ‘validation’ that my scenario was worthy of a grade adjustment, then she would take action. It’s really kind of bogus how it developed. My professor also said that they would be able to make the adjustment after the final if I didn’t talk to the dean of students until later, but now she states that the grade change request would have to go through to the dean of students. It’s ridiculous.