Get a W on Transcript or get a B

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DrSteven

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So I am in this stupid online PSYC gen ed class and the way that the class is set up is if you get anything less than a 10/10 on one of his 13 quizzes you get a B in the course, no questions asked. I have gotten 100 on all of my assignments and a 10/10 on the first 9 quizzes, but I got a 9/10 on quiz 11. I e-mailed him to ask if even though points-wise I still have an A, is there now way I can get an A because I got a 9/10 on this last quiz? He replied, "Yes, even if you get 100 on every assignment, you will not get an A, the best you can do now is get a B." I'm sorry but this is a load of BS, I have As in Ochem, MCB, Physics but now I'll get a B in this stupid PSYC class since I got a 9/10?! I am debating just dropping this idiotic course, but I will get a W on my transcript. Should I just suck it up and get the B, or will the W not really matter since I'm doing well in courses that actually matter?
 
They might ask you to explain a W.

They will almost certainly NOT ask you to explain a B in some stupid class nobody really cares about.

Stay in the class. Take your B, MAYBE appeal if it isn't explicitly stated in your syllabus (and if it is, then sucks to be you,) but don't waste however many hundreds of dollars that class cost you over what will end up being a negligible impact on your GPA.

Doubly so if you can swing it as a non-BCPM.
 
b is a decent grade. it won't do you any favors but it's not a red flag or anything. it seems like medical schools want to know if you got a C or below but a b won't give them much pause if you have other good grades to bolster your gpa.
 
I feel your pain, having been frustrated with seemingly insane grading practices before, but just get through it and move on. Plenty of people with the occasional B get into med school. 🙂
 
I would just stick with it, unless you can drop to a C as easily as you dropped to a B.
 
So I am in this stupid online PSYC gen ed class and the way that the class is set up is if you get anything less than a 10/10 on one of his 13 quizzes you get a B in the course, no questions asked. I have gotten 100 on all of my assignments and a 10/10 on the first 9 quizzes, but I got a 9/10 on quiz 11. I e-mailed him to ask if even though points-wise I still have an A, is there now way I can get an A because I got a 9/10 on this last quiz? He replied, "Yes, even if you get 100 on every assignment, you will not get an A, the best you can do now is get a B." I'm sorry but this is a load of BS, I have As in Ochem, MCB, Physics but now I'll get a B in this stupid PSYC class since I got a 9/10?! I am debating just dropping this idiotic course, but I will get a W on my transcript. Should I just suck it up and get the B, or will the W not really matter since I'm doing well in courses that actually matter?

Wow what a bad course. Depends on how many units and how well you did in your courses so far.

You can't change it to pass/no pass? 1 W won't hurt.

Hypothetically, if you are at a 3.75 or lower, I would just take a B. If you are at a 3.9/4.0, I would drop it. 3.8, borderline with both decisions. Up to you though.
 
That's ridiculous. What the hell kind of grading policy is that?
 
Just take the B. It's a ridiculous grade set-up, and you never know he might curve it behind the scenes at the end. If he keeps it then you'll have the majority of your psych101 class getting C's or below.

If you can drop A's in Orgo, and all the rest of your "hard" classes, then a B in psych 101 shouldn't be an issue.
 
I have seen worse like my O Chem 1 class that required you to be in the top 10% of the class to get an A. You needed like a 94 average just to get an A.
Look on the bright side, B is a good grade and it will not hurt you unless you get a ton of them. You don't need to be perfect to get into medical school. Look around. Lots of people on here got into good medical school with far worse problems. That the B and Be happy. Just in the future look out for classes with crazy grading procedures.
 
So I am in this stupid online PSYC gen ed class and the way that the class is set up is if you get anything less than a 10/10 on one of his 13 quizzes you get a B in the course, no questions asked. I have gotten 100 on all of my assignments and a 10/10 on the first 9 quizzes, but I got a 9/10 on quiz 11. I e-mailed him to ask if even though points-wise I still have an A, is there now way I can get an A because I got a 9/10 on this last quiz? He replied, "Yes, even if you get 100 on every assignment, you will not get an A, the best you can do now is get a B." I'm sorry but this is a load of BS, I have As in Ochem, MCB, Physics but now I'll get a B in this stupid PSYC class since I got a 9/10?! I am debating just dropping this idiotic course, but I will get a W on my transcript. Should I just suck it up and get the B, or will the W not really matter since I'm doing well in courses that actually matter?

I was faced with this same issue last year. i have a 3.91, I dropped a marketing class that I was about to get a B. DROP IT, OR DROP YOUR GPA. If you have a 3.80 or higher, Bs only hurt not help
 
I would get a W, and if adcoms ever ask just say i had to reduce my course load due to personal problems.. thats it man
 
I was faced with this same issue last year. i have a 3.91, I dropped a marketing class that I was about to get a B. DROP IT, OR DROP YOUR GPA. If you have a 3.80 or higher, Bs only hurt not help
Funny. I would argue that if you have a 3.80 or higher, you can afford to get one B. Hell, a B shouldn't really be a big deal to ANYBODY.

I would get a W, and if adcoms ever ask just say i had to reduce my course load due to personal problems.. thats it man
That sounds like such a bull**** excuse, and they'll see right through it. And don't you think they'll be thinking, "what if these 'personal problems' arise again in med school?" ...you can't just drop for a W in med school. Either way, one W is not a big deal. Just be honest about why you had to take it, if they even ask.
 
For some reason, it irritates me when people drop a class at the possibility of getting a B. That's like cutting your hair to lose weight. Stop obsessing over grades that much.
 
So I am in this stupid online PSYC gen ed class and the way that the class is set up is if you get anything less than a 10/10 on one of his 13 quizzes you get a B in the course, no questions asked. I have gotten 100 on all of my assignments and a 10/10 on the first 9 quizzes, but I got a 9/10 on quiz 11. I e-mailed him to ask if even though points-wise I still have an A, is there now way I can get an A because I got a 9/10 on this last quiz? He replied, "Yes, even if you get 100 on every assignment, you will not get an A, the best you can do now is get a B." I'm sorry but this is a load of BS, I have As in Ochem, MCB, Physics but now I'll get a B in this stupid PSYC class since I got a 9/10?! I am debating just dropping this idiotic course, but I will get a W on my transcript. Should I just suck it up and get the B, or will the W not really matter since I'm doing well in courses that actually matter?

You might consider looking into if the grading policy was outlined as such in the syllabus. It sounds ridiculous.
 
I would get a W, and if adcoms ever ask just say i had to reduce my course load due to personal problems.. thats it man

This level of bull**** only works with college professors. Med schools wouldn't consider that excuse for a minute. Not that ONE B matters much at all. You could still get a really high 3.9 if you worked at it long enough.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I think I'm just gonna go to his office once I'm done with the course, and show him how since I only missed one point out of the 200 in his entire class, and that a B doesn't accurately reflect my knowledge of the material. Kindly of course. Since it is progressive and online I'm just going to finish it this week before the majority of the class. If he is so unprofessional that he can't see the flaw in his grading system, I'll take it to the head of the department. I'm not that upset about possibly getting a B, I'm just more pissed off that it would be in such an easy class because of such an outrageous grading policy.
 
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For some reason, it irritates me when people drop a class at the possibility of getting a B. That's like cutting your hair to lose weight. Stop obsessing over grades that much.
👍
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I think I'm just gonna go to his office once I'm done with the course, and show him how since I only missed one point out of the 200 in his entire class, that a B doesn't accurately reflect my knowledge of the material. Kindly of course. Since it is progressive and online I'm just going to finish it this week before the majority of the class. If he is so unprofessional that he can't see the flaw in his grading system, I'll take it to the head of the department. I'm not that upset about possibly getting a be, I'm just more pissed off that it would be in such an easy class because of such an outrageous grading policy.

I'd do the same thing.

Cheetah out.
 
If I had been in your position and had more time, I would have already consulted the head of the department about the legitimacy of such a grading policy. If both the dept. head and the professor refused to yield, I would drop the second I missed a question. If asked about the W at interviews, I would argue that because I didn't agree with the grading philosophy, I refused to submit myself to an evaluation not reflective of my mastery of the material.

It's like contesting and refusing to sign a negative evaluation you might get during residency. I feel like I could make a good case for my decision to drop, were it to come to that.

What a stupid policy.
 
I'm facing a similar situation in a dumb Communications class (I really don't know why I took it). It's a B or a W for me, because of a similar, stupid grading scale. The professor firmly believes there is no such thing as an A (you have to be a super outstanding speaker to get an A, which is stupid because we all took the class just to learn).
That's my rant, but I'm working my tail off in the class (it's harder than Chem + calc) and I'll probably just take the B, if it was an important course I might have though otherwise.
 
prolly shoulda checked first with older students or ratemyprof or w/e before signing up for such a stupid class. scary stuff
 
Oh in my case I did check Ratemyprof (I didn't check her grading though). She's a top 25 professor on rmp and has stellar reviews, so I figured, hey, it'll be a cake walk. Well, this is a academically poor college (I'm transferring next sem), so apparently everyone loves her teaching style and is fine with getting a C or B.
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I think I'm just gonna go to his office once I'm done with the course, and show him how since I only missed one point out of the 200 in his entire class, that a B doesn't accurately reflect my knowledge of the material. Kindly of course. Since it is progressive and online I'm just going to finish it this week before the majority of the class. If he is so unprofessional that he can't see the flaw in his grading system, I'll take it to the head of the department. I'm not that upset about possibly getting a be, I'm just more pissed off that it would be in such an easy class because of such an outrageous grading policy.

DO this, get your point across and give ner an offer she can't refuse. :meanie:
 
This level of bull**** only works with college professors. Med schools wouldn't consider that excuse for a minute. Not that ONE B matters much at all. You could still get a really high 3.9 if you worked at it long enough.

let's all listen to the wise freshman with an entire month of college under his belt.
 
I think that the professor made this policy for a reason. The fact that you were able to get 100 in all the assignments and 10/10 in 9 quizes can show that it is entirely possible to get perfect marks in all the quizes and shoot for the A. I highly doubt that these quizes are hard at all. I think they are too easy but you just did a silly mistake that dropped you.


It's true that if you have a really high GPA, one B will drop you down more. If you haven't had any W's before in your transcript, then I would take one. It's not the end of the world. I have two W's in my transcript in my first semester of college, but guess what? I'm in the end of my first four years and I have a 4.0 GPA. So yeaaa....
 
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