<p>I'm in my 4th year of engineering. In my first year I had some questions about my stream of engineering so I went to ask one of the profs to give me some background on it. During the summer of first year, I was considering transferring to a top university. I went to see this prof about it but he seemed pretty offended.</p>
<p>I ended up going to this top school but due to financial and family reasons I'm back at my original school. I'm not sure if he knows I left but a lot of students seem to (its a really small program). I'm currently taking a class with this prof and I'm worried that he might hate me and give me low marks. I can complain about the midterm but we're not allowed to see the final exam. </p>
<p>I'm indian and there are only a few indian students in my class so he might recognize me. I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid about this. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Heh. That actually happened to me too. I did a Fellowship at my school in Freshman year, and then transfered to a better school. My mentor for the Fellowship said some pretty hurtful things about me leaving for another school. In the end though, I don't think he 'hated' me perse. He was just disappointed, and he got over it. What you do doesn't really have any real effect on your prof. If anything, he's probably apathetic towards you.</p>
<p>Just relax and try to get on his good side. Sometimes pride is worth more than a good mark, so stick it to the professor if you're confident in your work.</p>
<p>He may not exactly adore you (how would you feel if someone wanted you to help them do something, and in the process they conveyed that they didn't think you were good enough?), but it's unlikely that he would do something as unprofessional as mess with your grade. First, most professors wouldn't even if they loathed the student. Second, I doubt an interaction from 3 years ago has left him with enough loathing that, even if he is that kind of person, you would be worth it to him.</p>
<p>If you really think, when you get your final grade, that he has been unfair in his grading, you can always challenge the grade. He may not have to let you see the final, but if you go over his head the department chair or dean could insist on seeing it -- and if he's that kind of guy, and he's been around very long, they probably already know it.</p>
<p>In my experience, most of the time when a student thinks they have been given a bad grade because whoever did the grading "hates" them, the problem is that they don't understand what they're doing well enough to understand why they got the grade they did. If I were you I'd focus on doing excellent work instead of worrying. It's a better way to protect yourself.</p>
<p>Professors usually get offended when students leave their school. For them, it's their loss and their competiton's gain. I speak as a transfer student who got a bit close to husband-wife professors and had to experience several weeks of "laying low" after I told them that I wantede to transfer out.</p>
<p>Eventually, I got over my paranoia and realized that the profs were only looking out for my best interests and just wanted me to be happy. If anything, I emailed one of them last fall looking for a paper and he sounded quite pleasant and happy in his e-mail to hear from me. So even if I went back to them, nothing would've changed.</p>
<p>Just be assured that many, many professors grade objectively and fairly. There are so few out there who are subjective because there ARE some correct answers in the world. Even an English professor can not completely fail a student for a weird essay that was grammatically correct and perfectly spelled. So get over it, focus on yourself. Be your own person in charge of your own destiny. cliche i know...</p>