<p>I got into fordham with a 3.4ish gpa and a 2200 sat. However, during the last semester this year, I probably will get a D or F in English AP. The reason for this is that I was sick and had to go to the doctors office to get blood tests and X-rays; on the days that I went, I was supposed to turn in two major assignments. When I got back, my teacher refused to accept them (basically stating that the reason why was because he didn't like me), even though it is district policy to allow students the same amount of time they missed to make up work (since i missed the day the assignments were due, I should have been able to turn them in when I returned). The impact of not receiving credit for these two assignments would definitely sink my grade beyond repair.
I am still trying to convince my teacher, but he is pretty adamant on refusing the assignments. If I do not manage to get credit, what steps should I take in contacting fordham, and is it likely for them to rescind my acceptance?</p>
<p>Personally I would fight and tell someone (principal, counselor, parents, anyone) about your teacher since it’s against school policy before it’s too late. Let them convince the teacher. You have a strong case. You did the work. Don’t say stuff like “he doesn’t like me”. Although that may be true, it’s a better idea to cite the rules and policy of the school.</p>
<p>A D won’t get you rescinded, especially with that SAT. Fordham REALLY cares about SAT scores, or at least it did when I was accepted two years ago. They wouldn’t risk not being able to raise their “average student SAT score” with your score just because of a silly grade. If the rest of your grades are good, you have nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>I don’t know about an F, but like I said, go complain to someone. Your teacher has no right to potentially ruin your future like that.</p>
<p>If you can prove that you were at the Doctor’s or at a Lab getting tests done, there should be NO reason your work is not accepted. Do you have a note from the office or the bill from the lab, showing the day/time? Bring this proof with you and set up a meeting with the Principal or Guidance Counselor tomorrow, or ASAP. Get this fixed right away, and you won’t have to even worry about Fordham’s reaction.<br>
Good luck.
To the Juniors out there, make sure you are getting those good grades the first semester of Senior Year to help you out of situations like this, or when you start to suffer from Senioritis. Schools only get the FINAL grade of the year, so keep the average up.</p>
<p>I’d try to get it handled before it gets on your final transcript. I would first talk to your guidance counselor. Then this may be one of those rare times when you need to get your parents involved and have them first call the teacher or department head and if necessary arrange a meeting with themselves, you, your teacher, the principal. Unfortunately most teachers will listen to parents more than students. </p>
<p>I’m thinking that the teacher said that since you expected to be out that day you could have handed the papers in before, but that doesn’t sound like it is school policy. Plus s/he is clearly being overly harsh and there is a chance that the unreasonableness displayed could compromise your future. </p>
<p>And my HS only sent the final grades to the college. Again, talk to your guidance counselor and see how final grades are submitted to colleges at your HS. If you end up with a final grade of even a C in the class and Fordham only sees your final grade then you shouldn’t have any problems.</p>
<p>agree with spirit77, the only the FINAL transcript is sent in July to the schools. SOP for HS.</p>
<p>I just talked to the principal today, but she basically told me it was up to the teacher’s discretion whether or not he gave me credit for the work and that she couldn’t do anything. She says that it’s the school’s “english department policy” to only accept work on the day of, and that I should’ve given the work to someone else to turn it in for me. This doesn’t really make sense to me because how would english department policy override school and district regulations? I’m not really sure what to do now; my parents are wondering if we should complain to the district instead. </p>
<p>@spirit77 @mexusa I’m not sure what you mean by bringing up the final transcripts? I’m not talking about a D or F on the projects due (since I’m not able to turn them in, it would automatically be a 0), I’m saying that I’d end up with a final grade of D or F for the second semester.</p>
<p>1) I would get your parents involved and have your parents set up a joint meeting with the teacher and the principal. I understand that it is better to handle things on one’s own but unfortunately sometimes people in charge listen to the concerns of parents more than students. Even given the department policy (and yes, you could have scheduled your lab work for another day or given the paper to a friend to hand it) it seems overly harsh to have handing in papers one day late have even the slightest chance of jeopardizing a future you have worked four years to attain. The teacher will have a difficult time rationalizing that to your parents I believe and perhaps a mutually acceptable agreement could be reached (ex. drop your paper on half grade or one grade for lateness).</p>
<p>2)My HS only sends the year end final grade (colleges would not get the second semester grade) but every school may do things differently. I’d talk to your guidance counselor about this situation and see how your school sends things out.</p>
<p>@spirit77 Ah, okay, my school does do things differently; they send in the second semester grade after the school year is over.
I’ve talked to my parents about it and they plan to get involved; however, I’m not sure if it would have any effect on the teacher. He’s known to be irrational and obstinate, and when I talked to him again more recently, he was adamant on not accepting it at all. At this point, I’m sitting on a 56 percent with the work not counted, and I am very worried.</p>
<p>Here are my two cents:</p>
<p>Listen carefully. </p>
<p>First, I dont think ONE F or D will tube your acceptance at Fordham. Provided there is a reasonable explanation. You seem to have one and I take your story as factual on its face, not some invented concocted story to cover something bad.</p>
<p>However, it will affect your final transcript which Fordham will see. And in that sense it affects your future. I would tell your parents to contact the school on Tuesday, to explain the story truthfully and see how they respond. If the principal and teacher refuse to change the policy or meet you half way, (such as accepting it late but with a grade of C being the highest possible grade), and they have no reasonable explanation why they wont and why they wont accept your reasonable explanation for being late by a doctor’s appointment, then I would inform the school that there is no alternative but to hire a lawyer and threaten a lawsuit. I would also threaten to take it to the media.</p>
<p>My caveat is that your story must be lock down accurate and you must have a halo over your head, no dissembling, no fudging, no possible agenda outside of the stated facts, no attempts to gain an advantage, no attempts to extend a due date you were responsible for, no other incidents of being late (where the teacher grew tired of excuses and lame stories) etc. LOCK DOWN ACCURATE. </p>
<p>Otherwise, take your lumps. And be certain that your other grades are stellar. </p>
<p>I am generally supportive of the teaching profession. But I also know there are as many jerks and clowns in that profession as there are in all other professions, people who are tin soldiers and who have evil agendas designed to harm people well into adulthood. That is intolerable. They dont belong in the teaching profession. And I also know that kids concoct stories and tell fibs and procrastinate and find creative ways of cheating to gain advantage and who are slackers.</p>
<p>I dont know how you scored a 2200 SAT with a 3.4 gpa. That is a bit of an odd combination. I know everyone thinks their school is uber difficult and has higher grading standards when in fact that is not always the case. </p>
<p>In college you may find ONE OR TWO professors who are difficult and obstinate and dont extend deadlines. My kid had ONE such professor at Fordham and he is no longer there. She had another professor who was a jerk and tried to be obstinate but was over ruled by his superiors and it was resolved but not without some intervention by the Dean. Otherwise she had stellar professors, warm, endearing, helpful, supportive and fair. She was terribly sick her freshmen year. Dreadfully sick. And except for that one, they all rallied around her and helped her and she finished the semester…not perfect, but with a decent gpa. You should know that college is adult time. Adult work. Adult responsibilities. They treat you as such. So come prepared to be an adult and do the work and be on time. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>@zekkas. Hopefully with your parents involvement things will change. I would also try to have the principal or the department chair involved in the meeting. Also check your syllabus to see if you were give the English Department policy on late assignments in writing at the start of the year (if not that is another point in your favor). Also ask your guidance counselor for advice and possibly to advocate for you. I do think you could have done things differently (ex. if the paper was done on time go for lab work another day or make arrangements to get the paper in on time) but the penalty seems unreasonable.<br>
PS At Fordham you should plan on getting your papers in on time no matter what.</p>
<p>Upon reflection, I should let you know that I live with a chronic illness that requires regular lab work etc. I am always able to create a window to get this done that doesn’t interfere with my classes/handing in assignments on time. It seems odd that on a day two major assignments were due you had to go to the doctors and that the appointments took up the entire school day (typically lab work and x-rays don’t take more than an hour or two at the worst) such that you couldn’t make it to school to hand in the papers sometime on the day they were due. </p>
<p>I continue to agree that the penalty appears overly harsh and I hope that with discussions with your parents (and soverign is right, if you need to get a lawyer involved you can but you might need to have proof that you were required to be at the doctor’s all day on that particular day – perhaps a note from the doctor saying that was the only day available to do that work and that the different tests took all day to complete). Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and a compromise can be reached with your teacher to get some credit for the work and pull out a C or something for the semester. And hopefully you will learn how important it is to schedule yourself better and get assignments in on a timely basis before you get to Fordham.</p>