<p>Looks like D1 might be coming home much earlier than expected. She woke up this morning feeling horrid, went to health services, and found out that she either has some really nasty virus or mono :eek: Her first final is in two days. Barring a miraculous recovery, not hard to see where this is heading. :(</p>
<p>I called Student Affairs this morning before she went to health services to ask what she would need to do, hating to feel all helicoptery but figuring that I could ask them and then just be an information conduit, shuttling information from them to D1. They confirmed my instincts (email professors immediately), and added that she should cc her academic dean. D1 is taking care of that. She's in fine academic standing, and has spent time with all her profs in office hours, which should serve her well when negotiating how to handle this. And she's hoping that she'll be better by next week, so she is only asking her profs to be given consideration for her Thursday exam and a project due that same day</p>
<p>Which leaves the issue of possible incompletes--possibly as many as four. I wish there were some way that she could take the finals over break. Unfortunately, we live on the west coast, and the school is on the east coast. Has anyone ever been able to have a makeup final be administered under those conditions, and if so how? If the finals can only be taken at the start of the new semester, how is that handled when all of the finals must be made up? Are make ups typically administered before the start of the semester, or at the start of the semester, or through the first few weeks? </p>
<p>We're waiting to hear a diagnosis and how, if it's something quite contageous, the school handles keeping her away from others while keeping her warm and fed until she can be bundled onto a flight home. Though maybe it'll blow over faster and all my worry will be for naught. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for any pointers. Let's hope she's the only student this applies to!</p>
<p>Generally there are make-up exams offered (at my daughter’s school, they aren’t until March!). Some schools are more informal about these things and will offer a make-up (if she is well) soon after the exam, or at the beginning of the term.</p>
<p>Some schools have incompletes, on a formal basis of policy, and others don’t. With medical documentation, extensions are usually okay.</p>
<p>This may not be necessary, given your daughter’s relationships with professors, but we have found it helps to have an administrator as go-between. The medical clinic staff can vouch for her illness and communicate with her dean or whomever is appropriate. Then the dean or whomever should also get professor names from your daughter and e-mail them as a backup. It’s really great when the administrative person tells the professors to accommodate the student in no uncertain terms!</p>
<p>She should still communicate with them herself, but the administrative backup can really help, and the communication between your daughter (or you, if she is really ill) and the dean is something you have on record in your e-mail or your daughter’s. I recommend saving the e-mails.</p>
<p>One of my kids has chronic health issues and we deal with this all the time. Freshman year, we think one of the professors did not accommodate her and downgraded her severely for a late paper. My daughter did everything right: went through the dean, communicated with the professor, but the dean apparently did not follow through and tell the professor what to do, because of some staff changes. She is going to have to take the course over again I’m afraid.</p>
<p>Something similar happened to S2 at the end of fall term Senior year. The Dean’s office was able to contact his professors and he was able to take make-up finals. I’m pretty sure at least one of the make-up finals was after he returned in January. Good luck! So I guess the advice is to contact the Dean’s office ASAP.
(x posted with compmom)</p>
<p>Tired to send this to your PM, but I think my last message stuffed your mailbox!</p>
<p>There is an illness form on the Student Webcenter she should complete, if she hasn’t already – scroll down about halfway down the page for the link to the Webcenter –
[Tufts</a> University - Webcenter for Parents](<a href=“Parents and Families | AS&E Students”>Parents and Families | AS&E Students)</p>
<p>I’m so sorry that your D got sick right before finals. A friend’s D got mono during finals Freshman year. She took some of the easier ones and got permission from her profs to take incompletes and postpone the other exams. She took the exams in January right before the beginning of the next semester. She found it diffcult to study over break and didn’t do as well as she hoped on the exams, but she managed to pull up her GPA later on.
I hope that she has a quick recovery!</p>
<p>I got mono during finals week in my sophomore year as a transfer–1st semester there! Fortunately, the only thing that I hadn’t completed was a computer program. The infirmary would only release me to go back to my dorm, pack my bag & catch a flight to visit with my sister out of state. I communicated with the prof, who gave me an I & allowed me time to write the program when I returned to school in January. </p>
<p>D has gotten several Is throughout her HS & college careers, due to chronic health issues. She works things out with the individual instructors and so far it has always worked out OK. It’s important to communicate early and clearly so there are no misunderstandings. Her incompletes were generally papers or projects; don’t believe any involved tests. The profs are used to dealing with this and generally good about it as long as they know the student and have documentation supporting the medical issues involved. Since she started college, we have had D handle these issues herself; in HS, we helped. The only thing we now help with is getting any needed medical documentation with her local doc here who understands her chronic health issues and will provided anything needed in writing.</p>
<p>After being sick for a week, S was diagnosed with pneumonia on Saturday. He feels pretty crappy, but he’s going to gut his way through finals this week. One down, three to go…</p>
<p>Best of luck to all of our poor kids who are under the weather. Hope they all recover promptly and fully, as well as being able to make up things before the next term gets underway in earnest. That’s one of the hardest parts–when you’re making up work while you have new work on top of it!</p>
<p>Thanks, all. No diagnosis yet, but she woke up today feeling better, meaning that she still feels sick but not as much like death warmed over. The professor from the class with the final on Thursday sent her a “pi$$y” (her word) email that she’ll have to take the final next week. I’ve told her to keep her dean in the loop, so that the prof’s attitude doesn’t spill over into him giving her a well-nigh impossible makeup exam. Especially since it took two emails from D1 before he responded. :mad: I’ve been in his position, and yes, I know that students will do many things to get out of tests, but she’s pretty clearly got confirming evidence from the nice medical people that she’s not faking. C’mon, fellow, show a little kindness, even if you’re annoyed that you have to deal with the makeup final.</p>
<p>stevensmama, I can’t believe that your S is managing finals with pneumonia! I went through a bout in grad school and had to take incompletes for the term. Best wishes on a speedy recovery for him.</p>
<p>Good luck to your D, Slithey. During finals last quarter, my D came down with with the worst sore throat she had ever had. (When she went to urgent care, the nurse called in the other nurses/PAs to “come and take a look at this throat!” D felt like a rock star.) It turned out to be mono. D debated taking last-minute incompletes but since she is a senior and trying to graduate on-time, without complications, she went through with her finals on schedule…</p>
<p>In her case, it didn’t seem to hurt (although she claims she got an A- instead of an A in one class because she didn’t do as well on the final exam.) I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the “gut it out” approach, but it worked for her. Good luck, and I hope she feels better soon!</p>
<p>At our little community college we have students sign a contract of sorts with any incompletes that are given. It protects the student and the professor, and it lays out what has to be completed and when. Hoping for a speedy recovery.</p>
<p>Slithey, Keeping the dean in the loop sounds very important in this case. Did the professor get confirmation of the medical issue from the dean before communicating with your daughter, or was your daughter on her own. I recommend, again, that your daughter ask the dean to e-mail the professor to vouch for her and to say that the dean recommends a make-up at a time when it is possible for your daughter to do her usual level of work.</p>
<p>compmom, I believe the dean is seeing the emails. It doesn’t sound like the scheduling for the makeup will be optimal, but that might be what it has to be. Suggested to D1 that she talk to the dean so at least D1 can understand what is reasonable or unreasonable for her (D1) to expect in terms of accomodations. </p>
<p>On the positive side, no need to change flight reservations, and a care package of some really good homemade cookies arrived today. Timing is everything. AND, it’s not mono or strep (or plague, for that matter).</p>
<p>These kinds of things vary so much by school-- at my school it varies even by professor, discretion is left largely up to them. I had a health crisis during fall semester finals my senior year and my academic adviser got the dean involved, who asked that my professors grant me “extra consideration.” The disabilities office had already asked this and been denied, but the dean’s request was honored. I got extensions on my papers, some longer than others, and was able to negotiate an incomplete in one class until I could finish a paper on my own schedule. I had to negotiate each arrangement individually with each professor. But it worked out well in the end, I ended up making the best grades of my academic career that semester.</p>
<p>My D got appendicitis a week before finals last semester. She did manage to take one final during finals week and took the other 3 classes as incompletes. One of them was a paper she was able to hand in electronically two weeks after the end of finals. There were two official make up dates for finals, one sometime in June and another the day before classes started in late August. She took one final on each day. She now has no incompletes and her transcript (supposedly) shows nothing but her grades. I called her dean from the hospital to inform her that D was in surgery. Everything else was handled by D from home. There were no problems from the school and everyone was extremely accommodating.</p>
<p>This also is one of those situations where a few liars have made it difficult for the kids who really are sick. I also remember our pediatrician saying that some of the sickest kids he had ever seen had some type of virus, which is often difficult to give a name to. I hope it all works out well for your daughter, Slithey.</p>
AND, it’s not mono or strep (or plague, for that matter).</p>