<p>My professor stated to us at the beginning of the semester that we would be given extra points at the end of the semester if we attended every class and our final exam grade would be replaced with our lowest test grade. This sounded fair enough to me and I was happy that she would do that.</p>
<p>So I e-mailed my professor last week and she said since I went to every class, if I receive a 68.5 or 78.5, my grade would be raised to the next letter grade. I figured out that I needed to obtain a 72 on the final in order to receive a 69.0.</p>
<p>I received a 72 on the final exam, but the final grade shows as a D. So I e-mailed my professor and she said she knew nothing of replacing the lowest grade with the final exam grade. I showed her where it was stated in the syllabus and she ageed. There was a catch though. Therw would be no extra points for attendance (eventhough I have proof that she said she would raise the grades).</p>
<p>What do you think I should do? I think what the professor is doing is very wrong. I don't think she should be stating things if she won't honor them.</p>
<p>Yes, I do have it in writing. I have in an e-mail stating that my grade would be pushed up to the next letter grade if I received above a 68.5 or 78.5.</p>
<p>^ not at my school, our attendance policy is that each class you get 2 absences. Every absence after that lowers your grade a full letter. I've had friends fail classes based on attendance alone.</p>
<p>Yup, life isn't fair. Although, since you do have documentation in writing, if you are still on campus you can go speak with a dean or whomever is higher up on the food chain. Even if they can or will not do anything about it, they should know and it should be documented.</p>
<p>I have a similar story. I had a very easy english composition class my freshman year I was doing well in (mid A). At the end of the semester, I get my final paper grade online with a low enough grade to bring my final grade down to an 89.something. I am already home by this point, and e-mail the professor about it because I turned everything in on time, attended all classes, participated in discussions, etc. He was the type of professor who took all kinds of late work, and graded unfairly/inconsistently. He would except work that people turned in weeks late, and not mark down their grade for it being late like most everyone else does. I worked hard all semester, so why should that not count? Also, he did not round up from an 89.5 or above like most professors did.</p>
<p>To add to this, he even had a clause in his syllabus saying attendance could bring your grade up or down at the end if you were borderline. I cited this, and he told me that "oh I thought I told you guys I decided not to do it." Ha. Totally not fair, and I don't remember him ever saying it. If it's in writing, and he doesn't re-post or hand out the syllabus again, then it should stand. His son is also a professor at my school, and he's just as bad! (being unfair)</p>
<p>Let me put it this way, how many extra points did you really think you were going to get for attending every class? Certainly no teacher/professor is going to raise an ENTIRE letter grade because otherwise it'd be a real inflation and not a great indicator of how well you succeed in that class. This is not high school where it's possible (it has happened to me). College is... serious.</p>
<p>Usually when professor say that they might give extra points, it's a code word for "if you show up, I'll put a bit of a curve and bump you up if you're on the boderline." So if you were between D and D+, then she'd bump you up to D+. Notthing like from D to C.</p>
<p>Like others say, welcome to college where things are unfair and out-of-control (generally because professors CANNOT be fired, especially tenured ones) and you are just going have to work harder to get a better grade than what you have in the class. </p>
<p>Honestly, don't make anything worse than you already are. It's a very, very small world in college and professors talk, more so within the department. When I returned for my junior year, literally every history professor (and two of them were visiting professors!) heard of my name and reputation when I walked in that class. So basically, I was already screwed if you want to put it that way (actually opposite- they were expected a very driven student with killer skills) and in a way, I had to meet those kind of expectations since they were more positive. So honestly, don't give your professor an excuse to bad-mouth you to other professors. Let her/him remember as you are right now- civilied, calm person who's detail-orientated. Not a whiner.</p>
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My reccomendation is not to have gotten a D. Sorry.
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Ugh. Learn to spell. Are you even in college yet? I've seen you give advice to people applying to graduate school, but based on your posts it seems like you're still in HS. I hope you're not trying to give advice to college students if you are, in fact, in HS.</p>
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My reccomendation is not to have gotten a D. Sorry.
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I agree with BIGTWIX. Work harder and you won't have to deal with finding ways to get low grades raised.
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I third this; although BIGTWIX, Central Perky's right, you should definitely not be giving advice to college students and grad school applicants while you haven't even graduated high school.</p>
<p>Don't get Ds and Fs and expect your D to be changed to a C. I guess it's too late for that though; the most you can do unfortunately is be calm and civil about it and try and argue your case. Don't push it too far though, as some of the above posters have mentioned.</p>
<p>I never expected the 69 to be pushed up to a 70.</p>
<p>This is what this whole thread is about. My professor stated in an e-mail last week that she would raise the grade. Now, she is saying that she won't raise the grade.</p>
<p>If it's in the syllabus, and you have an e-mail from her, you probably have a case for a grade appeal. Some universities do this at the university level, while others do appeals within your college (like if you are in the College/School of engineering or the College of Arts & Sciences). You should be able to look in either your course bulletin or on-line and find information about grade appeals - who does them, what paperwork to fill out, how quickly you have to appeal.</p>
<p>If you can't find this information, go talk to your advisor, they should know how to get the process started. Remember that there is likely a statute of limitations on how long you can wait to appeal, so if you can, your best bet is to move quickly.</p>
<p>Great news! I talked with my professor and she raised the 69 to a 70. The reason she said that she wouldn't raise it before was because my e-mail sounded too demanding. I will make a spin-off thread about this.</p>