Real emergency! Just got sick before my exams.

Parents Forum
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<p>I have two exams tomorrow, but a real problem: I just got incredibly sick. I have been dealing with poor health all semester, and I had a viral infection last week, but now it's taken a turn for the worse. I have had uncontrollable gagging/dry heaves/nausea yesterday and today, and that has really interfered with studying for my exam. I am now in the hospital and have emailed my professors about the situation. I know that exams are important, and I don't want to slack off. One teacher has responded, but she is only one of the many teachers of that course and doesn't have control over the exam. I've heard tons of horror stories about how students are expected to perform during exams even while sick, so I'm afraid what's going to happen next. What should I expect?</p>

<p>Also, I've checked the student handbook about illness and it was incredibly vague, so I'm not sure if my sickness counts as serious illness.</p>

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<p>If you’re in hospital, definitely. Email your advisor and the Dean of Students ASAP.</p>

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<p>Agree you need to email all your instructors again, your advisor and the Dean of Student, including information that you have now been hospitalized. Good luck in your recovery! In such situations, professors can work with the student, especially when you provide proof of your hospitalization and a note from your MD. Most people would consider sickness that causes hospitalization to be “serious illness.”</p>

<p>Any idea why you’ve had such poor health? Would a medical leave of absence so you can get stronger over the next semester and make up any incompletes you are given this term be something you and your docs think might make sense going forward?</p>

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<p>If the hospital is keeping you overnight, I agree that you should let the dean & advisor know.
Your profs just gave you email addresses for contact info?
How much of your grade are the exams?</p>

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<p>Don’t worry! Hospitalization is a legitimate excuse for missing finals, and the professors will work with you to reschedule your exams or even give you take-home assignments. As soon as you’ve emailed your professors, just concentrate on getting better - sending healing thoughts your way.</p>

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<p>Are you actually admitted to the hospital or just in the emergency room?</p>

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<p>I went to the emergency room and stayed in the hospital for a couple of hours. However, I was discharged and am back in my dorm. The dean of students and my professors were supposed to be notified. </p>

<p>Anyways, I’m sending one last letter to my professor, and I’m hoping for the best. I’m really afraid I came off the wrong way. My school has a strong honor code, but unfortunately not everyone follows it, so I’m afraid I sound like I’m demanding to have my exams delayed for dubious reasons. </p>

<p>However, I still have one last exam on Friday and it’s the one that is the most important, so if anyone can give me any tips for how to discuss my situation with my professor, I would really appreciate it! In particular, I want to seriously open up the possibility of delaying my test then without sounding too entitled.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the support! You guys are so helpful.</p>

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<p>Yes, I go to a research university. One of my teachers is a graduate student (she got back to me by email, but she doesn’t have control over the exam), and the other is a lecturer with 300 students total. I know, it comes with the territory. I could have maybe looked up the latter in the white pages, but that would be too creepy, and he certainly wouldn’t appreciate a phone call now.</p>

<p>And the grade counts for a lot.</p>

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<p>I think it is a combination of stress, procrastination, and not taking good care of myself. I also finally got around to starting therapy, and I think my mental health might have something to do with it. I am taking a MUCH easier courseload (but the same number of hours), so I hope that will give me some time to figure out how to get adjusted to college better. If that doesn’t work, I was planning on taking a semester off anyways. I’ve had all sorts of tests done (a heart monitor and a sleep study) and they didn’t find anything. I think I just have a weak immune system, and college hasn’t been helping with that.</p>

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<p>This may be one of those times where you just have to suck it up. If they can’t change the exam date for you, you may just have to do what you can and hope for the best. It’s part of being an adult, sorry.</p>

<p>If you have a week immune system, they can test for that.</p>

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<p>Don’t rely on communication with professors and teaching assistants. Please!</p>

<p>You need to be in touch asap with a dean or administrator of some sort, who would then tell the professors about your situation and back you up.</p>

<p>Professors have some discretion (and many are apparently tired of medical excuses, from what I have seen on this forum) but when an MD and administrator inform them that you have been very ill, the accommodations rely less on professors’ discretion and are more likely to be provided.</p>

<p>If you do have a chronic health issue (and negative tests so far do not mean you have no medical health issues), then you cannot procrastinate. You will need to get things done in advance just in case your health acts up. Not lecturing, believe me, just know that from experience in my family.</p>

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<p>Today is Wednesday. You still have two days to study for the Friday exam, right?</p>

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<p>This is a dangerously passive approach. Don’t rely on hospital personnel to notify the dean and/or your first-year advisor. Do it yourself to avoid problems. If you are well enough to post on here, you are well enough to tend to this very important task yourself. Don’t delay.</p>

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<p>^^^good advice.
Id also suggest that when you finish your exams- make plans to get checked out by your regular doctor during the break.</p>

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<p>I’m one of those instructors who is horribly tired of medical excuses, and since I’ve seen my own students run to the ER for stuff that was hardly an emergency, I am always skeptical when someone suddenly can’t take the final at the exam time. BUT, when I am contacted by the academic dean (and other schools may use other deans or administrators as the go-to person for this kind of thing), I will ALWAYS accommodate the student. Go through channels. You are much more likely to get the results you need. </p>

<p>I will also say that will small classes, even freshman can earn a reputation for reliability. If I’m contacted by someone who has been extremely conscientious throughout the semester, I am much more likely to believe they really did become ill - even if the illness was not severe enough to require hospitalization or the intervention of the dean. And in those cases, I will move a final with very little fuss.</p>

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<p>Again, thank you for all of your support.</p>

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<p>Yes, I was really afraid of that. :(</p>

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<p>I did call the Dean’s office, and they said that they hadn’t heard anything yet. But I contacted the guy who was supposed to contact them for me, and it turns out there’s some bureaucracy involved.</p>

<p>I did get a doctor’s note, but it was hard telling my professors about it without sounding like it automatically entitled me to having my final changed.</p>

<p>And thank you, very good advice! I think with more counseling next semester, I will be able to get that done.</p>

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<p>Yes, but I was supposed to study some yesterday night as well.</p>

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<p>Good idea. I will be contacting my advisor ASAP.</p>

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<p>Good to hear from a professor. And yeah, I’m afraid my professors will think my situation is a little suspicious.</p>

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<p>I would ask the professor for an incomplete with a definite plan in hand to take the exam right after the new year if possible. If you have been good up to this point, as ordinarylives says, and you currently have a passing grade above a D, I would not have a problem with this as a professor. OTOH, if you’ve been wussing around all semester being a pita then I would seriously question it.</p>

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<p>I have to ask why you’re posting at 4AM after returning from the hospital, then at 10AM when you should be studying. You seem to have the wrong priorities.</p>

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<p>Did you receive a diagnosis from the visit to the ER?</p>

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<p>My mom used to have dry heaves from severe asthma, but I wonder if your symptoms are anxiety related.
Anxiety/panic attacks can cause all of the symptoms you’ve mentioned.</p>

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<p>I can’t imagine any prof letting you off the hook for a Friday exam because you were briefly in the ER on Tuesday night. Assuming the ER gave you something for the nausea, you are back on track to study for those exams. Now you have learned that when setting up a study schedule for exams, you have to take into account that something could interrupt and make sure you have enough time anyway. (To say nothing of the fact that you have had all semester to study the material.) Instead of checking CC, go study. You may have to pull an all-nighter; happens all the time, you’ll survive.</p>

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<p>You said you have the doctor’s note, and you must have the hospital discharge form. (Hoping the MD notes says specifically that you have not been able to work and may need to take a make-up exam for the Friday exam: be specific). Take these to the dean, and ask for advice and backup support. The dean can e-mail the professor and you can show the documentation to the professor.</p>

<p>I do think there could be some legitimacy to this need for extra time, but of course, it is impossible to tell online. You have, what, three exams, two today and one important one on Friday? Are you still sick? Do you have health obstacles at the moment to intense cramming work to catch up on studying? Have you been doing your work? Do you have the trust of the professor due to reliability, as others have mentioned?</p>

<p>Try to keep the accommodation that you request down to just the weekend if possible, though some schools schedule make-ups exams months later. If the exams are a big deal with proctor and so on, then it may be very hard to change.</p>

<p>Good luck and hope you are feeling better.</p>