<p>I've been struggling in one of my classes (say class 1)at grad school for quite a while now. I recently got the final grade of class 1 and it was a C, with the prospect of being removed from the program. I don't want to blame my failure on the professor. but here is what happened:</p>
<p>The professor gave me a rewrite option for one of the assignments that I did poorly. I went to this professor's office and asked that what should I do to improve the quality of the paper. </p>
<p>Here is the response from the professor: 'I gave you the rewrite option and in about 5 min. I am about to lose my patient with you and take it away. You cannot come in and ask all these questions. People are going to laugh at you. What you need to do now is get out and just get it done' </p>
<p>Here is the question I asked: 'You commented here that I should not have my own opinion in this review. However, your outline said something quite different. Can you clarify on how should I incorporate your expectations into the assignment?'. This is the only question I asked. </p>
<p>In the final assessment form that the professor gave me, he/she explained that I did poorly because I worked my final assignment without his/her supervision. This is accompanied by at least 2 other false claims that I found in the final assessment form. </p>
<p>So am I at fault in this case?.... I am just so frustrated.</p>
<p>I cannot hope to ever parse the minutiae of the specific situation or know the personalities from online in order to give you advice which is germane to your specific situation. So, with that said, I will give you a bit of general advice that I got from someone else that I feel helps me:</p>
<p>It is your fault. It is always your fault. Either through a lack of foresight or a lack of understanding. Blaming a professor would be counterproductive, as it could cost you an ally in your future studies and job search.</p>
<p>I’d come hat-in-hand and try to fix it as best I possibly can with as much humility as I could muster.</p>
<p>The reality is that some professors just are hard-a**es like that. It’s not always because they are being unrealistic or rude. Sometimes they are just trying to push you to find answers on your own, because there won’t always be someone available to ask for that kind of advice. That’s what I took from the “people will laugh at you” statement - sounds like the prof is trying to toughen you up.</p>
<p>I have little idea what your assignment is, but I can give you some comments based on what you’ve said here about why your professor may have been ****ed.</p>
<p>First of all, you said you were writing a review, which I’m assuming is some kind of book review or article review in which you comment on the merits of a particular work. It’s pretty much graduate student common sense that your own opinion should not be in there - in the sense of “I think” statements. Yes, you will be working from a particular argument, but you need to back that argument up with sources and you will almost never actually reveal that it is your own opinion. It’ll be written in a sort of detached, third-party manner.</p>
<p>Second of all, I can see why your professor lost patience. You basically accused him of grading you wrongly - “You said one thing in the comments to the paper and another thing in the outline for it.” The latter part of the question sounded like a passive-aggressive question: “Since your outline and your actual comments don’t agree, I need you to tell me what to do so I can get an A.” The implication seems like you think he graded you unfairly, not that you actually made a mistake and want to correct it. It’s very possible (and in fact almost certain, given you did poorly) that you misinterpreted his directions on the outline. You should always frame questions like this as how you can improve upon your work, how you can learn better - not how you can fit some set of expectations so you can move on to the next thing. That’s not the purpose of grad school.</p>
<p>Of course, there is the small possibility that the professor is just a jerk. In which case, there’s still really nothing that you can do about that, so work with the comments he gave you on the paper and try to improve it yourself.</p>
<p>Well, I agree with most of what has been said but I’ll also say, this really isn’t about assigning fault. It is about how you get can out of this situation with as few scars as possible. lol</p>
<p>Thank you everyone. I think the best policy now is to work extra hard in the remaining assignments that I have (and hope the department will appreciate it and not kick me out of the program!). When the professor gave me sarcastic comments on my paper, my confident just shattered. But I have decided not to give up! I may even try professional editing services online. lol</p>