Incomplete Changed to an F

Graduate School
61

This is how YOU define these terms. When you are provost of a university, you get to define the terms. When you are a student, you follow the procedures laid out on the website, in the student handbook, etc.

Let’s start fresh. What makes you think that the F is holding you back either for grad school or for a job? You are not the first person to go to grad school with an F on their transcript. Why not just plow ahead and get on with your life, attach a brief note to your application explaining that the F represents and incomplete that you finished, but the department converted the incomplete to the F despite your having done the work.

Done. No lawyer, no anger, no acrimony. I would be astonished if this is the reason you aren’t accepted to grad school. And such a good lesson for the future- read, verify, verify again. Surely they teach you that in engineering! Don’t fake it- go directly to the source.

Now you know!

6 Likes
62

I think you need to go back to the registrar or whomever and tell them that you did not understand that you were required to finish your original class. You can certain explain that you were unwell and perhaps not in a position to fully appreciate the ramifications of what you were doing. And rather than calling people liars, you can suggest that perhaps the advice you were given was guided by your need to maintain FA, which was important to you. You should express gratitude for this concern. You can explain that you always had an intention to do the work, which you did, by retaking the class (not realizing that wasn’t allowed).

I would suggest that you be ready to share your medical records as evidence of your need to withdraw. How did you handle the rest of your classes that term? If you took incompletes and then completed the work, it would substantiate your need to take time off. If this was the lone course that you left, your version of the story may seem less credible so be prepared to explain that.

Take a step back here. Although you withdrew early in the term, imagine what college would be if students could take a class for 10 weeks, withdraw with an incomplete, then with that knowledge and prep start from scratch the next semester! It’d be wildly unfair to all the "first time " students in the class, especially if the class was graded on a curve! While you were on the unfortunate side in this story and are trying to get it righted, I think it’s helpful to understand why such a rule exists and who it protects.

It’s really hard to separate emotion from logic but logic is going to be what gets this fixed. You are going to have to own your actions and admit that the error was yours – even if it was unintentional – to get someone to help you.

If you don’t get the response you want, I suspect that you can explain this. But not by making it someone else’s fault – nobody wants that student or employee.

2 Likes
63

@LQFP64 Take a deep breath.

Now take another one.

Now ask yourself: “what was my purpose in starting this thread”?

A. For sympathy and commiseration
B. For practical advice on how to resolve a very thorny problem.

If it is A, you need to say so at the start of the thread, rather than write

If it is B, you need to understand that you may not like the advice that you will get. You also need to understand that nobody here is “taking the side of UCSD”.

What people are doing is pointing out the issues with which you need to deal, in order to get a resolution that will help you.

When people write that the you haven’t followed the written university policies, they are not “taking the university’s side”. They are pointing out the central issue with which you will need to deal. If the university has a written policy, it doesn’t matter that the policy seems unfair, they (the university) still will follow it by default.

What people are trying to tell you is that, you should not try and deal with your issue by claiming that “it is unfair”, because that argument will generally not convince the university to reverse the written policy in your specific case.

What people are telling you that you should do is either ask the university for an exception to their written policy, and put together a strong argument as to why the university should do so, or hire a lawyer, and let them argue your case.

People also gave you good advice as to what to do if the university refuses to change your grade, how to proceed with you grad school plans. Since there is a distinct chance that the university will reject your request, this advice is very useful.

Getting annoyed or angry at people offering good advice is not the best way to proceed in life, if you want to be successful. You thank them, and decide for yourself whether to follow their advice. You don’t speak angrily to them (IRL), or express anger in writing (online).

Good luck with whatever you do.

17 Likes
64

You didn’t complete the course you had the incomplete in. Right? You took the same course again, but did nothing about the incomplete you had received the first time.

Where I went to college, you had a very specific timeline in which to complete courses where one had taken an incomplete…or it was deemed a failing grade.

You need to speak to someone at the college about this.

Frankly, you knew you had an incomplete in that course. You chose to take the same course again instead of reconciling that incomplete.

65

Get medical documentation. The professor can change the grade to a W, if you explain that you misunderstood, and provide evidence of your serious medical condition.

Sometimes students will retake a class to replace an F, but an incomplete requires you finish the work for that specific class, within a certain time frame. Since you were having serious medical issues, you could not do that.

Did noone advise you? Did you have to leave school abruptly?

If the professor won’t change it, go higher up to a dean. But always provide that medical documentation as well as evidence that you passes the same class taught by someone else which proves that this was misunderstanding and not a question of slacking

2 Likes
66

Even if the OP finds an understanding Dean, I strongly suspect that the 6+ year delay will mean, ‘sorry, too late.’

I know when my two received their final grades (albeit from a private schools), they were both told that they had 30 days to review their final transcripts for any errors or omissions. If they did not report anything, the transcript would become final, and could not be corrected later.

3 Likes
67

Someone I know had an F from an expired incomplete changed after 25 years.

The other option is to explain to admissions. Again having documentation of the medical situation would help.

2 Likes
68

Ask them to change it to a W (withdrawal). You had a health issue going on which caused you to be unable to take the class,and instead of finishing the class on your own, you re-took it. Getting it changed to a W is reasonable, and can still be done. Best would be for them to simply replace it with the repeated class with a different prof, but if they won’t do that, ask them to make it a W.

1 Like
69

There are multiple people who have told you what to do but the fact the matter is has to start and end with the school as they are the only people with control over your transcript. I understand your anger, but your argumentative tone certainly will not help you in trying to clear this up with the school.

I think what you would like to do is see if you can either substitute the class or turn it into a retroactive withdrawal. Explain your medical situation, that you didn’t understand that you needed to withdraw rather than just retake the class, etc. Don’t get angry, yell or argue. Persuasively make your case. If you can’t get anything done with that person escalate to the next level.

1 Like
70

Yes, this.

OP, you’re angry. It’s easy to see why you’re angry, but the bottom line is, stop being angry and start being proactive. You will go a long way to helping yourself if you acknowledge that you messed up.

When you appeal this, which you should, you MUST acknowledge your mistake. But you can also give context to your mistake: you had surgery, you took longer to heal than expected, and you didn’t do your due diligence to ensure you were following the protocol. (Btw, you might want to show proof of when you had that surgery. Anything you can document will help you.)

You need to be contrite and cooperative, because if you go in screaming and accusing them of lying, even if it’s true, you will get nowhere.

I suggest getting a lawyer involved. I feel it’s going to be hard for you to maintain your composure during this process. Good luck.

8 Likes
71

It may be possible for the professor to change it to a W, I would try the professor and then an administrator if that doesn’t work. Just email the professor and include medical documentation and proof of the retake.

1 Like
72

The whole “it was a misunderstanding, let’s see how we can fix this” strategy goes away the second the lawyer shows up. The professor will NOT talk to the lawyer- it will immediately get escalated to the college’s lawyers. And then what- a fact-finding. The OP’s case is what exactly-- that he/she didn’t actually READ the college’s policy on incompletes? Just made some assumptions and is now angry- years after the fact- that these assumptions were incorrect?

Sure, that’s a good use of funds- retain a lawyer to discover that you didn’t read the fine print?

OP- I fail to see how this F is going to hurt you moving forward. Apply to grad school with a three line explanation on the F, demonstrate that you’ve taken the class again, and move on.

7 Likes
73

The lawyer can be behind the scenes, reviewing the case generally and any correspondence. The lawyer doesn’t need to make an appearance in the matter formally. That too is a strategic decision. Indeed, the OP might just get an hour or so consultation with a lawyer to get pointed in the right direction, with the OP doing all the hard work and letting the lawyer review correspondence. The issue is that there are straightforward provisions that are directly applicable to the OP’s issue and are directly antagonistic towards it.

Even if OP doesn’t hire or use a lawyer making a formal appearance in this matter, having an F is never good. If the OP can find a way to get the F removed, why wouldn’t s/he do that? I cannot imagine an F does much for the GPA, and the OP clearly has mentioned it is hurting grad school applications.

1 Like
74

If the school won’t budge (and a friendly approach via email to the professor should be the first move), then perhaps a letter could accompany the grad school application, again including medical documentation. Perhaps the doctor could write a letter or the OP can write a letter for the MD to sign.

It is commonly known that incompletes turn into F’s if the work is not completed in a certain amount of time. However, serious medical issues might also explain the fact that the OP didn’t know the rules-?

It is not hard for the school to change it to a W retroactively. I think there is a really good argument for this. I would enlist the help of the professor and/or dean.

1 Like
75

Totally agree. This doesn’t appear to be a case where the OP substantively failed the course. Rather, for health reasons, OP got an Incomplete and didn’t deal with that, and took the class with another professor because the first teacher was not teaching the class.

Getting an F under these circumstances is a bit much/technical. I’ve always found schools to be reasonable. This is not the same as if the OP got an F after completing the coursework.

A W seems reasonable, and it would be wrong not to at least try to get the F removed.

The passage of time works against the OP, as do the specific provisions from the UCSD that others have already cited. If s/he can overcome the both of those, the removal of an F to a W or WP will likely have a substantial impact on OP’s GPA and optically look better.

OP has nothing to lose by at least trying to get this reversed/removed.

On edit: What will hurt OP is their attitude. If that attitude is taken while trying to pursue this with UCSD, the whole initiative is doomed. Having a lawyer might help or just taking some deep breaths, as some have suggested, might help too.

The OP clearly has to admit they have run afoul of the provisions that have been cited and the passage of 6 years has transpired. The OP then pleads for mercy in a nice way, acknowledging their mistakes but pointing out the technicality that appears to be the center of receiving an F. Under those circumstances, it’s definitely worth a shot.

76

I got an F on my transcript and still got into grad school

1 Like
77

At this point, the professor can’t change the grade.

At the very least, it will be up to the Dean to sign off on everything (The Dean will probably defer to the department, but ultimately, they are the last signature, at least in my experience). Even then, it might not be possible unless it was a clerical error.

Groveling a bit and asking for mercy might go far, especially considering there was a valid medical reason for the incomplete.

There are school policies, but they can often be overcome. Unfortunately, schools can also fall back on those policies.

78

Yes, anything is possible, adn I hope the OP is successful. But the University of California has its own brand of bureaucracy, and puts the DMV to shame. (one of the reasons that I recommend OOS students not pay those fees.)

79

I’m glad you pointed this out. Getting an “F” doesn’t ruin your future or prevent you from getting into grad school.

And, if the OP is still reading, if things don’t work out with removing the “F” from the UG transcript, I would strongly suggest you avoid showing your anger or telling prospective grad schools that it’s because the professor and admin lied to you. First, because the school followed its policy and second, because they are looking at you as someone they want in their graduate program. Talk about it as a misunderstanding, something frustrating, etc…, but your prospective grad school professors and admins know how incompletes work.

4 Likes
80

public universities have processes in place to ensure professors don’t arbitrarily change grades after the fact, and that such changes are both appropriate and timely so that the facts can be reasonably ascertained promptly. This grade won’t be changed, and it also won’t keep OP out of graduate school, though other factors he displays might.

5 Likes