<p>I am suffering from a major crisis right now:</p>
<p>For my English class, I had to write a final paper that's worth about 30% of my grade. I worked really hard on my final paper, and I gave it to a friend to submit to the professor because I left town early. Although I trusted my friend, he didn't submit it to the professor because, last week, the professor emailed me, and told me that he didn't recieve the paper. I emailed him back and attached the paper to the email. I also faxed him a copy of the paper. Obviously, the professor did not recieve it before he submitted grades because he gave me a D for my final grade. I worked so hard in that class. I want to talk to the professor, but I can't reach him over the summer. Also, he's on leave next semester. This is a nightmare. I am so mad at my friend, but I'm even madder at myself. What do you think I should do? Because of this, my GPA went down from a 3.5 last semester to a 2.7 this semester. Do you think the professor will understand?</p>
<p>Why didn't you submit it to your prof via email? Most of my son's profs prefer email submissions? </p>
<p>But more to the point, I think he will understand provided he does not automatically grade down late submissions or he will accept your friend's vouching for you. </p>
<p>Also check with the Registrar to see if there are any time limits re changing of grades.</p>
<p>Finally try to get the matter cleared up asap while the matter is fresh in your prof's mind.</p>
<p>You may have to chalk it up as lesson learned the hard way because yoru professor is not obligated to take late work.
I have professor s who don't take e-mails because they are afraid of contracting viruses from attachments (I left work to hand deliver a paper on the day it was due).</p>
<p>In addition, they have deadlines by which they must submit grades. If you were having a problem with getting the paper in you should have contacted him/her directly.</p>
<p>I would not hold out hope for getting a grade change because the professor has to give a reason for the change in grade.</p>
<p>Each school has its own criteria for allowing grades to be altered even after they have been filed. Contact the registrar as well as your advisor and dean to check. Contact your prof once you know whether it is possible to change the grade; then beg the prof to please read your emailed paper.</p>
<p>If you should ever get in this situation again, email the prof the paper and alert the prof that a hard copy is coming; then CHECK that the hard copy was actually received. Presumably, the grade was recorded several days after the paper was due; that was the time you should have checked that it actually reached your prof.</p>
<p>Talk to your friend and see if your friend delivered the paper. There's always a chance that the prof lost the paper or that it was delivered to a place that the professor doesn't check.</p>
<p>Also contact the dean of that dept. to see if you can contact the prof. </p>
<p>And have you tried to contact the prof through e-mail? Often profs continue to check their e-mails over the summer. They also may be at home, and their numbers may be listed in the phone book.</p>
<p>I think that you have decent chances of getting your grade revised , perhaps not to the level it would have been if the prof had gotten it on time, but at least up to a higher grade than your current one.</p>
<p>When you contact the prof, be courteous, and ask, don't demand a change. That from your description, you turned in a good paper, that should also help your situation.</p>
<p>The prof doesn't like emailed papers. That's why I asked my "friend" to give him a hard copy. I've sent him like a thousand emails, but he rarely checks his email.</p>
<p>If your professor is nice he will probably change your grade.
I know there are rules to abide by regarding matters such as these, but in my experience most professors are nice enough to consider each case. I had a friend in my calc class who wanted to change the class to Pass/Fail AFTER like 2 midterms (the rules say that you can only change the class to P/F within two weeks of the class starting), and the professor agreed because he was so nice.</p>
<p>I don't understand why you did not hand in the paper yourself ahead of the deadline before you left town, either through the English dept office or to the prof himself. You could then have had an official paper trail to back up your claim, or else personal contact eith the professor. I guess it is a lesson learned. I would not disturb him at home, incidentally--the burden of responsibility to meet your commitment was on you, and it is not fair to hound him at this point. it is unfortunate that your GPa will suffer, but leaving town early is not a great excuse for missing an assignment dealine, especialyl such an importnat assignment, and blaming your friend doesn't sound so good either.</p>
<p>You can ask the Dept. secretary how you could best reach him under the circumstances. If you are lucky, this individual will be a helpful, sympathetic, can-do type.</p>
<p>As a former prof, who has seen students do things like the OP does, I do think she should contact him at home and while doing so, she should gently remind him she's only a freshmen. </p>
<p>She also should contact her friend to find out exactly what the friend did with the paper. Profs do occasionally lose papers. </p>
<p>I think that there's a good chance that the prof will change the grade because most profs don't want to hurt badly a student who really did the work. I also fear that if the OP waits for the prof to return to campus, something might happen and the prof will never return and that grade will never be changed.</p>
<p>The professor just emailed me and told me that he's changing the grade in less than three weeks. WOW, can you say relief? I have surely learned a valuable lesson from this almost-nightmare.</p>
<p>(And make a memo to yourself - drop the friend. Or, if he has other redeeming qualities, at least don't put your academic future in his hands again).</p>