<p>But do any of you students request your grades? I kind of would like to know how my freshman son is doing. He implies that nobody requests their grades. Is that true? -- or does everyone secretly request their grades?</p>
<p>Nope, I’ve never requested them. I think the majority of students actually don’t request them, and I’ve heard tales of alumni who were completely unaware of their GPA until they applied for grad school. I feel like I generally have a decent idea of how I’m doing based on general class dynamics, professor feedback, and/or tests (which is substantiated by the semesterly Satisfactory/ Unsatisfactory “progress reports”) so it’s not really necessary… if I passed and put forth my best effort, who really cares if I got an A or a C? There’s nothing I could do about it now, other than sulk that good isn’t good enough.</p>
<p>He shouldn’t feel bad about requesting his grades if he wants to know, but it doesn’t sound like he really wants to, and I would respect that decision. If he got “Satisfactory” in all his classes, then there’s not really anything to worry about.
Your actual grades/GPA at Reed can be kind of scary due to the lack of grade inflation, and the typical overachieving straight-As high school student might freak out at the presence of some Bs and even Cs, when those used to be dirty words. But at Reed, you should really adjust your expectations down an entire letter grade and realize that a mostly B student is doing a damn fine job. <a href=“http://www.reed.edu/registrar/form_downloads/grades.pdf[/url]”>http://www.reed.edu/registrar/form_downloads/grades.pdf</a></p>
<p>I think there can be many reasons a student or parents might request transcripts. When my D was at Reed, she needed transcripts for scholarships. Some students may request them to alleviate anxiety over their grades. We needed copies to retain the ‘good student’ discount we received on car insurance.</p>
<p>To receive a copy, contact the Registrar’s Office. I believe we had to submit a signed request with our D’s student number and date of birth. It can be sent in the mail or as a PDF file. I believe we also needed our D to sign a release. The copy you receive will not be an official copy, but will be marked ‘parents’ copy’. I hope this can help with your problem.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. Clearly grades do matter for some types of grad schools a lot.</p>
<p>^ Yes, but it’s relative. Grad schools are said to know which schools suffer from grade inflation, and adjust accordingly.</p>
<p>^^^
Yes, my daughter who was a STEM major, didn’t receive grades- however spring term junior year, failed a final- which meant she failed the course. Since she needed it for her major, she opted to take a year off- retake it, with her profs support ( along with a few other courses that Reed didn’t offer ) & she returned the following year, to write her thesis. She is now finishing up grad school.</p>
<p>I am a current student at Reed, and I request my grades every semester. To do this as a student you can simply ask any professor (usually your adviser) to look them up for you. I personally look up my grades because I feel it helps me to know how I am doing (with an adjusted Reed-perspective) in my classes. However, I know many people who have no desire to know and never look up their grades.</p>
<p>In the middle and at the end of every semester, each student receives a statement in their mailbox indicating whether or not their grade is “Satisfactory” in each of the classes that they are taking. This means that their grade is a C or above. If a student is not doing well in the class and has a grade less than a C, then not only will they be notified by this statement, but their professors will also most likely try to contact them and figure out how to help the student do better in the course. </p>
<p>I would say that science majors probably tend to check their grades more in order to fill out applications to summer science internships, and the like. Additionally, physics and math classes return numerically graded problem sets, making it very easy to have an idea how how you are doing in the class.</p>
<p>Thanks for your perspective.</p>