How can I (respectfully) ask my professor for a for a few more points?

[LuciusVorenus]

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And where in my question did I ask you guys to comment on WHY I took the re-took the course? Why does it even matter? It has nothing to do with my question. I'm definitely not the first person to re-take a B+, and I won't be the last.

It has everything to do with your question. People don't retake B+s because there's a really good chance the second grade will just end up being a B+ again, which is why you're in this situation in the first place. Learning opportunity! Use it.

All I was looking for is what a few people answered; to explain the situation and ask if there's any make up work or extra credit that I can do. So thank you to the people who actually respectfully answered this question. I hope that you guys are the ones who become future doctors, because it's kind of disgusting to think that all these negative and sarcastic comments coming from people who want to help others.

Really? You're going to pull THAT on us now 🙄

Go ahead and stand back, knowing you have your "dignity", but if my A- gets me ranked one higher than you, then good luck using the "the person ranked before me is less dignified!" excuse in an interview. We'll see how far that gets you 🙂

This just shows you're completely missing the point. No one is going to reject you or deny you an interview for getting a B+ in a general chemistry class. What they will reject you for is being the anal retentive guy who retook a B+ then complained because the professor didn't give him 3 extra percentage points he needed to get an A-.

 

[livelifexlove]

This just shows you're completely missing the point. No one is going to reject you or deny you an interview for getting a B+ in a general chemistry class. What they will ignore you for is being the anal retentive guy who retook a B+ then complained because the professor didn't give him 3 extra percentage points he needed to get an A-.

I never said that I would be rejected or denied for having a B+. Yet again, I have my own reasons for retaking the course. Let's leave them be. But what I'm trying to say is that you guys are talking about how pathetic and undignified it is to have to ask a professor for points, but how will it actually affect my application process for medical school? No one will know I simply asked my professor for points, whether or not I received them. Unless this professor goes out of his way to call every medical school ad-com and tell them that I asked him to give me extra points, and tell them about how pathetic and undignified I apparently am, then there's no way that just asking him can hurt me.

There's a difference between complaining and asking a question. I guess the the first post came off as complaining when I really did not mean it to. I just wanted to know if there was a way to ask a professor to change my grade, and if anyone had any experience on doing this. That is all.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

...coming from people who want to help others.

That's a good one, bro. Jokes on you. I'm doin it for the Aston Martin and $. 😎

 

[jm192]

I never said that I would be rejected or denied for having a B+. Yet again, I have my own reasons for retaking the course. Let's leave them be. But what I'm trying to say is that you guys are talking about how pathetic and undignified it is to have to ask a professor for points, but how will it actually affect my application process for medical school? No one will know I simply asked my professor for points, whether or not I received them. Unless this professor goes out of his way to call every medical school ad-com and tell them that I asked him to give me extra points, and tell them about how pathetic and undignified I apparently am, then there's no way that just asking him can hurt me.

There's a difference between complaining and asking a question. I guess the the first post came off as complaining when I really did not mean it to. I just wanted to know if there was a way to ask a professor to change my grade, and if anyone had any experience on doing this. That is all.

Don't ASK for points. Ask about the stuff that's still out there--attendence/participation. Mention you'd really like to get an A and ask what your chances are.

That's really all you can do. It plants the idea. If he decides to bump you, it's at his discretion. Your formally requesting it won't help. Though it could annoy him.

 

[LuciusVorenus]

I never said that I would be rejected or denied for having a B+. Yet again, I have my own reasons for retaking the course. Let's leave them be. But what I'm trying to say is that you guys are talking about how pathetic and undignified it is to have to ask a professor for points, but how will it actually affect my application process for medical school? No one will know I simply asked my professor for points, whether or not I received them. Unless this professor goes out of his way to call every medical school ad-com and tell them that I asked him to give me extra points, and tell them about how pathetic and undignified I apparently am, then there's no way that just asking him can hurt me.

There's a difference between complaining and asking a question. I guess the the first post came off as complaining when I really did not mean it to. I just wanted to know if there was a way to ask a professor to change my grade, and if anyone had any experience on doing this. That is all.

Fair enough. You can take our collective sarcasm to mean no, he won't do it, and if anything he'll throw a fit. Remember that this is a freshman general chemistry class. He's dealt with a lot of premeds over the years. Professors rarely give out the 1 point needed to push you over the edge, even if just one quiz point from not rounding correctly is what made the difference. Adding 3 percentage points is for sure going to be met with a . For someone who's been teaching for a while, these rules are often set in stone. Just move on, 900 dollars is a lot but just think of it as extra preparation for the MCAT. The A- won't make a difference in your GPA anyway. Med schools average the two grades, so you'll get 3.5 points instead of 3.3.

 

[apumic]

I never said that I would be rejected or denied for having a B+. Yet again, I have my own reasons for retaking the course. Let's leave them be. But what I'm trying to say is that you guys are talking about how pathetic and undignified it is to have to ask a professor for points, but how will it actually affect my application process for medical school? No one will know I simply asked my professor for points, whether or not I received them. Unless this professor goes out of his way to call every medical school ad-com and tell them that I asked him to give me extra points, and tell them about how pathetic and undignified I apparently am, then there's no way that just asking him can hurt me.

There's a difference between complaining and asking a question. I guess the the first post came off as complaining when I really did not mean it to. I just wanted to know if there was a way to ask a professor to change my grade, and if anyone had any experience on doing this. That is all.

Keep in mind that asking for points could DROP your grade. I know I have an unwritten policy that if a student asks for something to be regraded to get points back and I don't find a good reason to give points back the grade WILL change because I WILL find something I missed before and take points off for it. Guaranteed. Your professor can find plenty of reasons to dock you add'l pts that were ignored prior. Students coming back with whiny pleas for points back is just plain annoying. When we grade the first time, most of us give you the most grace we intend to give. Nobody likes taking points away unless they dislike you or are annoyed, and honestly, they're not going to dislike you (or be annoyed with you) unless you give them a reason to (be). (Likewise, begging for points at the end of the semester will result in 3 things for my students: 1) tougher grading of their final exam or project; 2) a report to the course director that the student is attempting to manipulate grades; and 3) if deemed necessary, an academic integrity violation incident being filed for cheating through harassment/intimidation in an attempt to manipulate or influence an instructor -- I don't take grade grubbing lightly. It's a form of cheating, plain and simple. Now if you have a legitimate complaint about how I graded something, that's a different issue altogether -- assuming you are able to effectively articulate it and I feel it warrants closer examination.)

 

[da8s0859q]

I'm taking re-taking Chemistry II at a state school near my house. The first time I took it at my regular school, I got a B+, and I just re-took it because I wanted a higher grade in it. The problem is that my regular schools' policy is that they will not transfer the grade, or the credits, if I don't get higher than a B+ (which makes sense, since that is what I got the first time anyways). Right now, my average at the visiting school is 87 (including midterms, finals, etc.), and for an A-, you need a 90. My professor did write on the syllabus that credit will be given for attendance and participation, but that isn't shown on the grade report yet, so I don't even really have an idea if that will boost me up or not.

I spent $900 to take this course (please don't give me the '$900 is cheap compared to other schools!!!11' lecture. I had to pay for it myself and I don't have a job - not easy). If I don't get an A-, I basically paid all that money for nothing, and I won't get the credits, the grade, nor will it go into my home school's GPA.

How can I respectfully ask my teacher to consider giving me a few points?

Why is someone with "live, life, love" as a username so worried about this? Your original B+ was perfectly acceptable, and all you can do was pointed out early: hope he smiles upon participation/attendance, plead your case at your own peril if need be, ...

... oh wait, you actually said "okay, you take your dignity, I'll be higher-ranked with my A-" in the same post where you took sarcasm to be indicative of poor physician potential? Your douchebaggery makes kittens cry, you know that? Come on dude.

 

[LuciusVorenus]

Keep in mind that asking for points could DROP your grade. I know I have an unwritten policy that if a student asks for something to be regraded to get points back and I don't find a good reason to give points back the grade WILL change because I WILL find something I missed before and take points off for it. Guaranteed. Your professor can find plenty of reasons to dock you add'l pts that were ignored prior. Students coming back with whiny pleas for points back is just plain annoying. When we grade the first time, most of us give you the most grace we intend to give. Nobody likes taking points away unless they dislike you or are annoyed, and honestly, they're not going to dislike you (or be annoyed with you) unless you give them a reason to (be). (Likewise, begging for points at the end of the semester will result in 3 things for my students: 1) tougher grading of their final exam or project; 2) a report to the course director that the student is attempting to manipulate grades; and 3) if deemed necessary, an academic integrity violation incident being filed for cheating through harassment/intimidation in an attempt to manipulate or influence an instructor -- I don't take grade grubbing lightly. It's a form of cheating, plain and simple. Now if you have a legitimate complaint about how I graded something, that's a different issue altogether -- assuming you are able to effectively articulate it and I feel it warrants closer examination.)

Straight from the horses mouth.

By the way, the unwritten policy he talked about, that's not just him being mean, every professor I've ever had has had that, or some form of that, in their syllabus. If you ask them to regrade something and they think you're grubbing, they'll lower your grade.

"Homework and exams submitted for regrades will be re-evaluated in their entirety and a new grade will be assigned. The new grade will supersede the old grade, even if it is lower."

That's been in every syllabus I've ever had.

 

[apumic]

Straight from the horses mouth.

By the way, the unwritten policy he talked about, that's not just him being mean, every professor I've ever has had that, or some form of that, in their syllabus. If you ask them to regrade something and they think you're grubbing, they'll lower your grade.

"Homework and exams submitted for regrades will be re-evaluated in their entirety and a new grade will be assigned. The new grade will supersede the old grade, even if it is lower."

That's been in every syllabus I've ever had.

'Tis true. I'm just a part-time lecturer to help pay for school. I find it annoying when students pull crap like that, so I can't imagine what someone teaching 4-6 different classes/semester thinks of it. I got the idea from the very syllabi you mentioned. I've had professors say they do that, so I figure the precedent is there. I generally tell freshmen that students whose professors like them tend to do better. As a former psych student, I think they have the right to know that. Annoying your professor with things like wasting their time regrading your work is a surefire way of making them like you less and that's not going to help your grades at all.

 

[NickNaylor]

First of all, thank you all SO much for your comments. They really all gave me a good laugh, considering the fact that I actually assumed that I would get some serious answers, but instead I just got smart-mouth comments that were dripping in sarcasm. Did I come to the wrong place? Because I thought this was a forum, where people help other people. Sorry if my question was stupid, but I'm positive that all of you who made comments about how I'm pathetic for asking for points have all asked stupid questions before. Get over it. I've only been in college for a year, I'm sorry if I'm not an expert about how sophisticated a student should be.

The key word in this question was respectfully. Do you all honestly think that there is no professor in the world willing give his/her students a few points? And do you honestly think that every student in every class earns their grade fairly? How about the professors who grade their classes where you can bomb your midterms, but do well on the final and manage to get a good grade in the class? I'm sure there's students who don't care about the midterms, and study for a week for a final, and manage to end the class with a B. Did they earn that grade? No. Did they learn all the material in order to actually pass the course? Probably not. And if you think that it's unfair to be given a few points in an undergraduate course, you're in for a surprise when you get to medical school. People will do whatever it takes to get to the top.

So you guys can continue to talk about holding up your "dignity" and my lack thereof, but if it'll get me an A-, I see no problem in asking the professor nicely. If he says no, then whatever, life goes on. But if there's a chance that I can get that A-, I'll take it. There is no indication for "lack of dignity" on your college transcripts, and I am by no means going to ask this professor for a LOR. So please, someone point out what is wrong with simply asking a professor (from a school that I don't even attend, I might add), because clearly this concept makes no sense to me.

And where in my question did I ask you guys to comment on WHY I took the re-took the course? Why does it even matter? It has nothing to do with my question. I'm definitely not the first person to re-take a B+, and I won't be the last.

All I was looking for is what a few people answered; to explain the situation and ask if there's any make up work or extra credit that I can do. So thank you to the people who actually respectfully answered this question. I hope that you guys are the ones who become future doctors, because it's kind of disgusting to think that all these negative and sarcastic comments coming from people who want to help others.

Go ahead and stand back, knowing you have your "dignity", but if my A- gets me ranked one higher than you, then good luck using the "the person ranked before me is less dignified!" excuse in an interview. We'll see how far that gets you 🙂

This actually did make me laugh though, kudos to you!

Man, I love the sense of entitlement of our generation. "As long as I get into a better school than you, who cares if I didn't actually earn the grades I received?!"

Life isn't fair. That doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your dignity in an attempt to play the game.

 

[whoMD]

blahhhhh you will have people's lives in your hands. i know that if i can not fairly make my way through the process then I'm not meant to be a doctor. I don't care who cheats or who kisses professor's behinds. Being a doctor is a huge responsibility. Take responsibility for your grade. You will be doing yourself and your future patients a disservice by cheating your way to the top.

 

[echolalia16]

blahhhhh you will have people's lives in your hands. i know that if i can not fairly make my way through the process then I'm not meant to be a doctor. I don't care who cheats or who kisses professor's behinds. Being a doctor is a huge responsibility. Take responsibility for your grade. You will be doing yourself and your future patients a disservice by cheating your way to the top.

Its fun to envision some people who post here as doctors based on the scenario that they are presenting with.

I see this kid performing an invasive surgery to remove a tumor from somewhere in the thoracic cavity. All in all he does a pretty good job but when the patient returns for a subsequent pet scan they find out that he left a scalpel in his chest.
So he decides to undergo another surgery to get inside this poor patient to remove the scalpel, which he promptly and cleanly does just before suturing the patient back up. A couple days later the patient has chest pain and they decide to image him again. Lo and behold, while the doc was performing the surgery to get his scalpel back, he left a pair of scissors in. Now he's asking his fellow physicians about how he can respectfully go about asking the patient to erase from his memory the errors that he made in leaving the scissors in. Unfortunately none of them have ever asked such a question.

 

[45408]

I wouldn't have re-taken a B+

 

[akinetopsia]

I think the "reasons" for retaking a B+, whatever they are, show a lapse in judgment. Retake a: F, D, D+, C-, C... I think the upper part of the range is debatable (i.e. one C won't kill your app), I know some people who would probably retake a C+/B-. I wouldn't. Waste of money.

Let's see.
B+ at my school is a 3.33 @ x hours (let's assume 3).
A at my school is a 4.0 @ x hours (let's assume 3 again).

3.33x3 = 9.99
4x3 = 12
21.99 / 6 = 3.665 GPA for repeating a B+ with an A. Congratulations you raised your gpa for this course by 0.33.

What if you get an A-? (3.67 at my school)
3.33x3 = 9.99
3.67x3 = 11.01
21 / 6 = 3.5 GPA for repeating a B+ with an A-. Congratulations you raised your gpa for this course by 0.17.

If you get a B+, it remains the same, if you somehow do worse in a repeat, well guess it doesn't count for your institution but you just lowered your AMCAS gpa.

 

[Dannyw]

There's a difference between asking the professor what your chances are of getting an A- in the course and asking for free points. I would never ask for points, however I have asked where I stand in a course. There's nothing wrong with that.

 

[Janieve]

I'm really hoping this person is a trolly troll who trollishly trolls, though if he is, he's a good one.

OP, I'm going to present to you a scenario:

You've been working at a company for a few years, and you have a performance review. You head in and your bosses are happy with your work. Very happy! You're a better employee than 87% of their workforce. In fact, they think they'd like to give you a raise.

The raise is an extra 7% of your salary. But you wanted a ten percent raise! And a promotion! It simply isn't FAIR! So you go back to work, continue to do things EXACTLY the same and work the same projects as before (projects that were supposed to be transferred to other departments), and when performance reviews come around again, your bosses are happy, but wary. You're still a better employee than 87% of their workforce, but you've proved that you haven't learned anything new. No, you've just done the exact same thing all over again. That raise they gave you certainly didn't motivate you any, did it?

So when they don't offer you a raise and a promotion this time, what are you going to do? Make a big stink? Take it up with HR? Is any of that going to change anything?

No. If anything, it'll make your bosses see you in a new light - you're an entitled SOB who thinks that putting in the same effort will get different results each time, and who wants things he hasn't earned yet. Your bosses aren't going to give you the raise and promotion you want. Why would they? Did you earn it?

No, if anything, they'll dock your pay or put you on suspension. Maybe even fire you.

This can really only hurt you, OP. That's what all of us are saying, under the veil of sarcasm.

 

[fizzgig]

it's not that people are trying to call you names, but your question comes across as entitled. you don't have any reason you should get more points other than you're pissed and you're out money (which don't get me wrong i would be too).

three points in a final grade or close to it kind of situation is a LOT. and maybe people are being holier than thou about dignity and honor and taking responsibility... but maybe now's as good a time as any, even early in your college career, to take a breath from panicking about the numbers and yes, do try to consider what kind of person you are/will be. this is a small thing of course but if your attitude is so what if i didnt earn it i just want numbers to get over that next bar THEN i'll grow a conscience... doesn't bode well, is all.

also, as i understand it amcas requires ALL classes from ALL universities no matter whether you were degree seeking or not, college age or not, etc.

if you get the b+ again it will be on amcas because you will have to submit the grade from your state uni even if that's the only class you took there.

 

[Ansar]

As many others said,

at retaking a B+

EDIT: And LizzyM's 'Grade Change Form' is indeed hilarious

 

[livelifexlove]

I never said I was entitled to points. When did I ever say that? The fact is that there are some professors who give out points to students, or they won't.

... oh wait, you actually said "okay, you take your dignity, I'll be higher-ranked with my A-" in the same post where you took sarcasm to be indicative of poor physician potential? Your douchebaggery makes kittens cry, you know that? Come on dude.

I said if my A- gets me ranked higher than you, then you wouldn't be able to use the excuse that the person higher than you is undignified. That's what I meant. Because in the end, when you're sitting in your med school interview, the person has no idea what kind of person you actually are. All they know you by is your grades, MCAT's, EC's, and your application number. And okay, maybe part of that was that I was a little annoyed after I was called pathetic 3 times on the first page.

To be honest, the only answer I was looking for was to ask for extra credit, or just talk about the attendance/participation with him. Like I said, I've been in college for just a year. I don't know the in's and out's about this kind of stuff, and I've only really taken classes that consist of 500-600 people, so I don't get to have much contact with the actual professor. That is why I came here, to ask you guys if you'd had any experience with this. Was it a good idea, did it backfire on you, etc. I never said I was entitled to points, and I did get called a few names for asking a question. I really do appreciate your answers, so thank you; even under your "veil of sarcasm", I do appreciate your input.

 

[accidentprone]

OP, here's a brief story. In college I met with my feminist theology prof to find out my standing in the class, and she basically told me there was no way I could end up with an A based on my scores prior to the final exam. I had underestimated upper-level philosophy/religion courses and hadn't devoted the proper time to the material and the required humanities mindset. My prof was Canadian and followed the more rigorous Canadian model of grading as well.

Instead of getting discouraged, asking for my grades to change, or requesting leniency, I spent a week re-reading all the course content (several books and many articles) and taking thorough notes. I put off studying for my organic chem final exam (I had a better margin for error in that class). When my semester report card came out, I had an A in feminist theology. I don't know what happened, and by now I don't remember much of the content of that class, but I do remember learning never to give up, never underestimate a class (i.e. never feel entitled to any particular grade) and always to work hard.

Some A's came easy for me, but this was one that I struggled to get. I leaned some valuable lessons and if anything, I felt proud of the process I used to get the A.

Regardless of how you may feel about religion/philosophy courses and their importance, I bet that if you take the same approach and work your hardest, you'd feel better about an A you earned than an A you were given. And here's a thought. Part of success in life is self-confidence. Having experiences of perseverance empowers you to approach all sorts of challenges, including the application process which is probably pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.

Ask yourself: "What can I personally do to respectfully improve the situation I've created for myself." Wait until you can answer this question without the help of a forum before considering medicine.

One last thing to consider, although you mentioned that most interviewers don't know who any particular applicant is beyond their numbers, adcoms can read these postings. They'll know I'm the person who took feminist theology (probably not that common) and you're the person who took G. Chem twice at two different institutions, the first time with a B+, the second time during the summer of 2010 and contemplated asking for their grade to get bumped up. I wonder how many other applicants have that on their transcripts. You got LizzyM's attention and in addition to being an informative SDN contributor, she's on an adcom.

 

[apumic]

I never said I was entitled to points. When did I ever say that? The fact is that there are some professors who give out points to students, or they won't.



I said if my A- gets me ranked higher than you, then you wouldn't be able to use the excuse that the person higher than you is undignified. That's what I meant. Because in the end, when you're sitting in your med school interview, the person has no idea what kind of person you actually are. All they know you by is your grades, MCAT's, EC's, and your application number. And okay, maybe part of that was that I was a little annoyed after I was called pathetic 3 times on the first page.

To be honest, the only answer I was looking for was to ask for extra credit, or just talk about the attendance/participation with him. Like I said, I've been in college for just a year. I don't know the in's and out's about this kind of stuff, and I've only really taken classes that consist of 500-600 people, so I don't get to have much contact with the actual professor. That is why I came here, to ask you guys if you'd had any experience with this. Was it a good idea, did it backfire on you, etc. I never said I was entitled to points, and I did get called a few names for asking a question. I really do appreciate your answers, so thank you; even under your "veil of sarcasm", I do appreciate your input.

You don't have to say you're entitled to points. You expressed that belief through your posts. Nobody is going to accuse him/herself of being entitled. That's a judgment others make of your actions and statements. The fact of the matter is you came off very entitled. Also, realize that while this prof may have little influence beyond your grade, if you come off entitled in your own dept, it could quickly sink any chance of a decent LOR. All it takes to sink your app permanently is one LOR similar to the following:

LLL is a good student who works hard and is generally pleasant as long as things go his way. I have personally worked with LLL on several research projects. LLL puts in a lot of effort and achieves at a moderate level, however, his passion for being 1st author sometimes seems to outshine his passion for our research.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

First of all, thank you all SO much for your comments. They really all gave me a good laugh, considering the fact that I actually assumed that I would get some serious answers, but instead I just got smart-mouth comments that were dripping in sarcasm. Did I come to the wrong place? Because I thought this was a forum, where people help other people. Sorry if my question was stupid, but I'm positive that all of you who made comments about how I'm pathetic for asking for points have all asked stupid questions before. Get over it. I've only been in college for a year, I'm sorry if I'm not an expert about how sophisticated a student should be.

The key word in this question was respectfully. Do you all honestly think that there is no professor in the world willing give his/her students a few points? And do you honestly think that every student in every class earns their grade fairly? How about the professors who grade their classes where you can bomb your midterms, but do well on the final and manage to get a good grade in the class? I'm sure there's students who don't care about the midterms, and study for a week for a final, and manage to end the class with a B. Did they earn that grade? No. Did they learn all the material in order to actually pass the course? Probably not. And if you think that it's unfair to be given a few points in an undergraduate course, you're in for a surprise when you get to medical school. People will do whatever it takes to get to the top.

So you guys can continue to talk about holding up your "dignity" and my lack thereof, but if it'll get me an A-, I see no problem in asking the professor nicely. If he says no, then whatever, life goes on. But if there's a chance that I can get that A-, I'll take it. There is no indication for "lack of dignity" on your college transcripts, and I am by no means going to ask this professor for a LOR. So please, someone point out what is wrong with simply asking a professor (from a school that I don't even attend, I might add), because clearly this concept makes no sense to me.

And where in my question did I ask you guys to comment on WHY I took the re-took the course? Why does it even matter? It has nothing to do with my question. I'm definitely not the first person to re-take a B+, and I won't be the last.

All I was looking for is what a few people answered; to explain the situation and ask if there's any make up work or extra credit that I can do. So thank you to the people who actually respectfully answered this question. I hope that you guys are the ones who become future doctors, because it's kind of disgusting to think that all these negative and sarcastic comments coming from people who want to help others.

Go ahead and stand back, knowing you have your "dignity", but if my A- gets me ranked one higher than you, then good luck using the "the person ranked before me is less dignified!" excuse in an interview. We'll see how far that gets you 🙂



This actually did make me laugh though, kudos to you!

oh shut up you're a whiny baby and you're stupid

 

[apumic]

oh shut up you're a whiny baby and you're stupid

lol. Finally! Someone with the guts to just come right out and say it like it is!

👍👍👍

 

[ILikeDrugs]

This whole thread is redonkulous.

 

[livelifexlove]

oh shut up you're a whiny baby and you're stupid

OHHH, okay! Now I totally understand. Thank you so much. You've really shined a light on my situation. I appreciate your sincere, heartfelt and deeply thought-out response. I'm not one for sarcastic comments, but how else would YOU honestly respond to answers like this?

I got my answer to this question, so there is no point in any more arguing about how stupid I am. Like I said before, under your veil of sarcasm, I do appreciate your responses. But please, go on and continue to call me a whiny, pathetic, undignified baby. Why not go further, and analyze everything I've ever posted on SDN, and use it to prove that I'm stupid as well? Get over it. It was a question, all I needed was some input. I didn't ask for a judgement of my personality traits.

 

[Janieve]

OHHH, okay! Now I totally understand. Thank you so much. You've really shined a light on my situation. I appreciate your sincere, heartfelt and deeply thought-out response. I'm not one for sarcastic comments, but how else would YOU honestly respond to answers like this?

I got my answer to this question, so there is no point in any more arguing about how stupid I am. Like I said before, under your veil of sarcasm, I do appreciate your responses. But please, go on and continue to call me a whiny, pathetic, undignified baby. Why not go further, and analyze everything I've ever posted on SDN, and use it to prove that I'm stupid as well? Get over it. It was a question, all I needed was some input. I didn't ask for a judgement of my personality traits.

Hey, I didn't ask to be quarantined in a foreign country without treatment for what turned out to be the wrong illness, but I got it anyway. Suck it up, kiddo. Things could be worse.

 

[da8s0859q]

Hey, I didn't ask to be quarantined in a foreign country without treatment for what turned out to be the wrong illness, but I got it anyway. Suck it up, kiddo. Things could be worse.

Sounds like you're gonna have a cool personal statement.

 

[The Poet Sings]

Sounds like you're gonna have a cool personal statement.

"and this one time, in a foreign country" sounds a whole lot better than "and this one time, at band camp..."

 

[da8s0859q]

"and this one time, in a foreign country" sounds a whole lot better than "and this one time, at band camp..."

I dunno, I thought she was pretty cute...

 

[apumic]

But please, go on and continue to call me a whiny, pathetic, undignified baby. Why not go further, and analyze everything I've ever posted on SDN, and use it to prove that I'm stupid as well?

I'm glad you approve because it's probably going to keep happening. 😉

 

[Janieve]

Sounds like you're gonna have a cool personal statement.

...believe it or not, I hadn't thought about including it yet. But you'd better believe I'll be including it now.

 

[LuciusVorenus]

Hey, I didn't ask to be quarantined in a foreign country without treatment for what turned out to be the wrong illness, but I got it anyway. Suck it up, kiddo. Things could be worse.

"lol sorry you're free to go, no hard feelings k? ^_^"

 

[NickNaylor]

OHHH, okay! Now I totally understand. Thank you so much. You've really shined a light on my situation. I appreciate your sincere, heartfelt and deeply thought-out response. I'm not one for sarcastic comments, but how else would YOU honestly respond to answers like this?

I got my answer to this question, so there is no point in any more arguing about how stupid I am. Like I said before, under your veil of sarcasm, I do appreciate your responses. But please, go on and continue to call me a whiny, pathetic, undignified baby. Why not go further, and analyze everything I've ever posted on SDN, and use it to prove that I'm stupid as well? Get over it. It was a question, all I needed was some input. I didn't ask for a judgement of my personality traits.

SIR YES SIR.

 

[sizillyd]

Go into his/her office and look at your previous exams with them. If you can reason to the professor your answers and logic in a manner that strengthens your notion that you actually know the material they might be willing to help you out.

Example: I had a Cellular Biology lab final where the question was give an example of a procedure in which blah blah blah. I was very specific in the description and the TA wanted something very broad. I showed the professor and he agreed that she was harsh and that I used my knowledge and applied the concept to the question. I ended up with an A.

It won't hurt to talk to the professor at all. Be courteous, show interest, and open up with "may I present my case that I feel I earned an A"?

Don't be afraid to cry.

 

[riceman04]

I'm taking re-taking Chemistry II at a state school near my house. The first time I took it at my regular school, I got a B+, and I just re-took it because I wanted a higher grade in it. The problem is that my regular schools' policy is that they will not transfer the grade, or the credits, if I don't get higher than a B+ (which makes sense, since that is what I got the first time anyways). Right now, my average at the visiting school is 87 (including midterms, finals, etc.), and for an A-, you need a 90. My professor did write on the syllabus that credit will be given for attendance and participation, but that isn't shown on the grade report yet, so I don't even really have an idea if that will boost me up or not.

I spent $900 to take this course (please don't give me the '$900 is cheap compared to other schools!!!11' lecture. I had to pay for it myself and I don't have a job - not easy). If I don't get an A-, I basically paid all that money for nothing, and I won't get the credits, the grade, nor will it go into my home school's GPA.

How can I respectfully ask my teacher to consider giving me a few points?

please move on from this...getting a B+ in a Chem class will NOT make or break you.

I'm pretty sure some adcoms are reading this thread, albeit silently, and wondering "why?...just why?"

best of luck to you!

 

[riceman04]

Keep in mind that asking for points could DROP your grade. I know I have an unwritten policy that if a student asks for something to be regraded to get points back and I don't find a good reason to give points back the grade WILL change because I WILL find something I missed before and take points off for it. Guaranteed. Your professor can find plenty of reasons to dock you add'l pts that were ignored prior. Students coming back with whiny pleas for points back is just plain annoying. When we grade the first time, most of us give you the most grace we intend to give. Nobody likes taking points away unless they dislike you or are annoyed, and honestly, they're not going to dislike you (or be annoyed with you) unless you give them a reason to (be). (Likewise, begging for points at the end of the semester will result in 3 things for my students: 1) tougher grading of their final exam or project; 2) a report to the course director that the student is attempting to manipulate grades; and 3) if deemed necessary, an academic integrity violation incident being filed for cheating through harassment/intimidation in an attempt to manipulate or influence an instructor -- I don't take grade grubbing lightly. It's a form of cheating, plain and simple. Now if you have a legitimate complaint about how I graded something, that's a different issue altogether -- assuming you are able to effectively articulate it and I feel it warrants closer examination.)

That's equally lame!!!...and so according to the OP's rules...you probably won't make a good doctor

 

[apumic]

That's equally lame!!!...and so according to the OP's rules...you probably won't make a good doctor

lol... actually, if done with some empathy and sensitivity, being real with Pts and not accepting their BS is a positive -- at least on the units where I've worked. I don't necessarily lower a student's grade for asking to check my grading but if I find they're grade-grubbing (i.e., their argument isn't even close to legit), I'm going to be harsh. If they get their grade dropped on a regrade, you can bet they're not going to ask again unless they're certain I made a mistake. Honestly, I think that's how it should be. I can count the number of times I've asked an instructor (at any level) to look at my grade and consider regrading something over the past 20 years of education on one hand. I'm a staunch believer that number of As should approximately equal the number of Fs and the number of grades that go up should approximately equal the number that go down on a regrade (in other words, I "believe in a bell curve" -- which you all should too if you're going to call yourselves scientists).

As for making a good doc, I think my medical director's words in her LOR for me (which she emailed me despite being told she didn't need to let me see it) went something like "apumic has strong communication skills and enjoys leadership roles. He is inquisitive and loves learning. Of special note are his Spanish fluency, which has benefited our unit enormously, his initiative and interpersonal skills, and his high energy and strong commitment to his work and the successful outcomes of our patients." She went on to "highly recommend" me for admission and gave several examples of my work on the unit. So maybe I wouldn't make a good doctor but, if so, I apparently have the medical director and nursing staff of my unit (where I work 25-40+ hrs/wk) pretty fooled.

 

[sonia1177]

Don't ASK for points. Ask about the stuff that's still out there--attendence/participation. Mention you'd really like to get an A and ask what your chances are.

That's really all you can do. It plants the idea. If he decides to bump you, it's at his discretion. Your formally requesting it won't help. Though it could annoy him.

wow you are one of the few people who actually answered OP's question But yes, I 100% agree. Do NOT under any circumstance walk up the Professor and simply ask for points. This will annoy him/her to the point you will not understand. What you need to do is explain how you have EARNED an A by bringing things up such as participation, hard work, attendence. Mention how much this means to you. Explain that you retook the class in the first place because you strive to do the best you possibly can and feel like you have earned that A. Explain that this class means the world to you and are willing to go to any extent possible to get that A. You can always try but ultimately only the Professor will be able to decide. Good Luck! I hope it all works out for you and you end up with that A! But one other thing I should mention. Only state that you feel like you earned an A if you feel like you actually did. Do you really feel you put in the hard work to earn that A? If yes, then go for it and talk to the Professor! Keep in mind, DO NOT ANNOY THE PROFESSOR. This will make matters worse and that's not something you need right now.

 

[LawNonTrad]

Apumic, the oP ideally shouldn't be asking his prof for three free points, but it shocks me that you think it's acceptable to find any excuse to lower a student's grade, if you don't buy their argument that you incorrectly graded a question. I have some recent experience with this and it is not simple "grade-grubbing". As a student, I should feel that it's okay to question a professor about whether they incorrectly deducted points from my exam for a question that I got right, or whether they incorrectly deducted points from my exam for a multiple-choice question that I answered incorrectly, but a question for which other students who also answered incorrectly received credit. Some people accused me of grade-grubbing, too, but I don't care. There's a big difference between asking a professor to bump your grade up because you need an A vs. the professor simply being wrong in their grading.

 

[metallica81788]

I love how OP paid $900 to attempt to bring a B+ (a perfectly acceptable grade) to an A- (.3 or 4, I can't remember, difference for one class on the AMCAS grading scale - keeping in mind the two will be averaged anyway which will make the difference even more meaningless).



I would have taken $900 to drop from an A to a B in almost any class, easily.

 

[apumic]

Apumic, the oP ideally shouldn't be asking his prof for three free points, but it shocks me that you think it's acceptable to find any excuse to lower a student's grade, if you don't buy their argument that you incorrectly graded a question. I have some recent experience with this and it is not simple "grade-grubbing". As a student, I should feel that it's okay to question a professor about whether they incorrectly deducted points from my exam for a question that I got right, or whether they incorrectly deducted points from my exam for a multiple-choice question that I answered incorrectly, but a question for which other students who also answered incorrectly received credit. Some people accused me of grade-grubbing, too, but I don't care. There's a big difference between asking a professor to bump your grade up because you need an A vs. the professor simply being wrong in their grading.

And if I actually DID make a blatant mistake (e.g., C was erased on a Scantron but the Scantron machine made an error or I did the equivalent of that), I will absolutely give the pts back w/o needing to do a full regrade. If, OTOH, the student is asking for the assignment to be regraded b/c s/he believes a bunch of mistakes were made or that my interpretation was wrong of an answer, I will regrade it but I'm not going to give the grace I normally give when grading the first time. (I, and most other instructors I know, give a fair amount of leniency for slightly "off" answers that still generally "get" it or for mathematical errors that got carried through and effect a final answer but only represent a single error. On a regrade, I'm much more likely to withhold that kind of generosity with a student's grade. I won't necessarily lower the student's grade intentionally but the fact that I am no longer going to give add'l grace means that a student's grade on the assignment is likely to drop unless I find a bunch of legitimate errors -- and the likelihood of that happening is, in my experience, extraordinarily low.)

 

[Janieve]

Apumic, the oP ideally shouldn't be asking his prof for three free points, but it shocks me that you think it's acceptable to find any excuse to lower a student's grade, if you don't buy their argument that you incorrectly graded a question. I have some recent experience with this and it is not simple "grade-grubbing". As a student, I should feel that it's okay to question a professor about whether they incorrectly deducted points from my exam for a question that I got right, or whether they incorrectly deducted points from my exam for a multiple-choice question that I answered incorrectly, but a question for which other students who also answered incorrectly received credit. Some people accused me of grade-grubbing, too, but I don't care. There's a big difference between asking a professor to bump your grade up because you need an A vs. the professor simply being wrong in their grading.

Actually, I admire people like Apumic. I find it's too rare nowadays that people actually earn the grades they're given. I've met people who will whine to their professor about almost ten percent differences, and I've seen people demand points back because the professor "didn't tell us how many significant figures we needed!". And as absurd as it is, a lot of professors just give back the points, making the students happy and completely uneducated about estimating said sig figs.

My biology professor started off his lecture series by saying this:

"You've probably heard that I'm the toughest guy in the department. That's not true. My exams cover my material and they cover concepts, not straight-on facts. I don't care if you know the exact processes used in regulation of body temperature. I want to know if you could tell me what would happen if I made an elephant with a field mouse's metabolism. And I don't believe in curving, whatever that is. What you earn is what you get. And if you want me to regrade an exam, you'd better be able to articulate why your answer is correct or at least plausible, not why I 'taught you wrong' or why your grade matters so much. You're graded on how well you can synthesize what you know. Deal with it."

I personally love this philosophy. It's rare nowadays, and he's true to his word - he doesn't just 'give' you grades. I think it prepares you better for later in life, whether that's for the MCAT, your career, or even your personal life. You get out what you put in.

I have no problems with Apumic. Man, I say bring it on.

 

[Scarletblack]

Wow, a lot of the comments here are harsh. >___________>

If you attend office hours throughout the year, I've heard of some professors bumping people's grade up.

I never asked for it myself though. Personally, I think B+ is okay, although maybe not great. I think you should focus less on that and more on heightening other things such as MCAT or ECs. I mean why focus on things that are okay when you need to focus on other parts which are not there?

On a side note Janieve, I'd be afraid to learn from that professor. I mean, supposing I get a question wrong on a exam and want an explanation. I'd be afraid to approach that guy.

 

[LawNonTrad]

And if I actually DID make a blatant mistake (e.g., C was erased on a Scantron but the Scantron machine made an error or I did the equivalent of that), I will absolutely give the pts back w/o needing to do a full regrade. If, OTOH, the student is asking for the assignment to be regraded b/c s/he believes a bunch of mistakes were made or that my interpretation was wrong of an answer, I will regrade it but I'm not going to give the grace I normally give when grading the first time. (I, and most other instructors I know, give a fair amount of leniency for slightly "off" answers that still generally "get" it or for mathematical errors that got carried through and effect a final answer but only represent a single error. On a regrade, I'm much more likely to withhold that kind of generosity with a student's grade. I won't necessarily lower the student's grade intentionally but the fact that I am no longer going to give add'l grace means that a student's grade on the assignment is likely to drop unless I find a bunch of legitimate errors -- and the likelihood of that happening is, in my experience, extraordinarily low.)

Not talking about a Scantron mistake. I'm talking about the professor favoring ONE incorrect answer to a multiple choice question over another. And on a long answer question, I'm talking about deducting points for not performing the unnecessary second part of a question despite the fact that I wrote a two sentence explanation on the exam explaining why doing the second part was unnecessary but still mentioning what the result would be if I were to carry it through.

FYI, the prof did look over the rest of my test trying to find additional points to take off but couldn't do it. The rest of my long answers were correct, all of the other questions I missed were multiple-choice, and you can't deduct additional points for incorrect answers when you never give the student partial credit in their first place. Sorry to disappoint you, but this appears to be at least one example in which it would have been impossible for you to punish me for challenging a grading decision by deducting points elsewhere.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

 

[apumic]

Not talking about a Scantron mistake. I'm talking about the professor favoring ONE incorrect answer to a multiple choice question over another. And on a long answer question, I'm talking about deducting points for not performing the unnecessary second part of a question despite the fact that I wrote a two sentence explanation on the exam explaining why doing the second part was unnecessary but still mentioning what the result would be if I were to carry it through.

Who are you to say part of a question is unnecessary? Of course you got pts taken off for that! That simply sounds absurd to think you can write on a test how a question is "unnecessary" and not really answer it (you said you simply wrote "what the result would be" -- which doesn't say much if it's some sort of long answer requiring the working out of some problem).

FYI, the prof did look over the rest of my test trying to find additional points to take off but couldn't do it. The rest of my long answers were correct, all of the other questions I missed were multiple-choice, and you can't deduct additional points for incorrect answers when you never give the student partial credit in their first place. Sorry to disappoint you, but this appears to be at least one example in which it would have been impossible for you to punish me for challenging a grading decision by deducting points elsewhere.

Umm... you're not disappointing me. If you did that well on a test, you earned the points. You take this WAY too personally. You have apparently invested emotionally in "proving" something. I couldn't care less whether I could or could not penalize you on a particular test. It simply doesn't matter to me and why should it?

 

[LawNonTrad]

Who are you to say part of a question is unnecessary? Of course you got pts taken off for that! That simply sounds absurd to think you can write on a test how a question is "unnecessary" and not really answer it (you said you simply wrote "what the result would be" -- which doesn't say much if it's some sort of long answer requiring the working out of some problem).

He gave me the points back on that question because I pointed out to him that I answered the problem exactly the way he instructed us to do in class when we were working problems from the textbook. He said that he realized that he had actually told us that it was okay to ignore Ka2 when doing ICE tables for polyprotic acids (assuming Ka2 is small) but that he really did want me to list the concentration of the second acid with the extra H removed (as exactly equal to Ka2), but considering the fact that I relied on his in-class information in not answering the second part of the question, that he felt I did deserve to get the credit back. He told me that if I did that on the final though that I wouldn't get any points, which I think is fair.

Umm... you're not disappointing me. If you did that well on a test, you earned the points. You take this WAY too personally. You have apparently invested emotionally in "proving" something. I couldn't care less whether I could or could not penalize you on a particular test. It simply doesn't matter to me and why should it?

I actually didn't do well on the test. I got a 74. The class avg was 68 but so what? The reason that he couldn't take off any additional points was because I had lost so many already.

 

[apumic]

He gave me the points back on that question because I pointed out to him that I answered the problem exactly the way he instructed us to do in class when we were working problems from the textbook. He said that he realized that he had actually told us that it was okay to ignore Ka2 when doing ICE tables for polyprotic acids (assuming Ka2 is small) but that he really did want me to list the concentration of the second acid with the extra H removed (as exactly equal to Ka2), but considering the fact that I relied on his in-class information in not answering the second part of the question, that he felt I did deserve to get the credit back. He told me that if I did that on the final though that I wouldn't get any points, which I think is fair.

I actually didn't do well on the test. I got a 74. The class avg was 68 but so what? The reason that he couldn't take off any additional points was because I had lost so many already.

Haha... fair enough. And it sounds fair that you got those pts back. I interpreted what you said as more like a 2-part question where you basically gave some sort of answer along the lines of "The second half of this problem is unnecessary due to the fact that in the first part we found X. As a result, it is obvious this answer is Z." If you never solved Y, there is no way to know you understand that process -- who knows, maybe you just copied the guy's paper next to you or something. Also, there might have been other reasons an instructor wanted to see Y (or why a TA might have counted off due to a rubric requiring work being shown).

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

OHHH, okay! Now I totally understand. Thank you so much. You've really shined a light on my situation. I appreciate your sincere, heartfelt and deeply thought-out response. I'm not one for sarcastic comments, but how else would YOU honestly respond to answers like this?

I got my answer to this question, so there is no point in any more arguing about how stupid I am. Like I said before, under your veil of sarcasm, I do appreciate your responses. But please, go on and continue to call me a whiny, pathetic, undignified baby. Why not go further, and analyze everything I've ever posted on SDN, and use it to prove that I'm stupid as well? Get over it. It was a question, all I needed was some input. I didn't ask for a judgement of my personality traits.

i dont know who you are and I dont care who you are, SDN is an extremely useful website when the right questions are asked but when you post a dumb thread on how to woo your professor in bumping you three points..that's just dumb/ thread.

 

[LawNonTrad]

Haha... fair enough. And it sounds fair that you got those pts back. I interpreted what you said as more like a 2-part question where you basically gave some sort of answer along the lines of "The second half of this problem is unnecessary due to the fact that in the first part we found X. As a result, it is obvious this answer is Z." If you never solved Y, there is no way to know you understand that process -- who knows, maybe you just copied the guy's paper next to you or something. Also, there might have been other reasons an instructor wanted to see Y (or why a TA might have counted off due to a rubric requiring work being shown).

Hey, no problems, dude. And the 74 was pre-grade adjustment. Now I'm rocking a still-****ty 78, haha. You're fairer than a lot of people on here. I posted this in another thread in SDN pre-med and you wouldn't believe how many people actually thought that it was okay for a professor to give credit for HClO2 as an answer on a multiple-choice question asking for a strong acid, while not also giving credit to every other weak acid choice that he listed. He justified giving credit for HClO2 as a strong acid because he never mentioned HClO2 in class. They told me that I was being whiny and that it's perfectly okay for a professor to give full credit for an incorrect multiple choice answer while awarding no points for the other, equally incorrect answers (like the one I picked). I'll give the prof credit though. He gave in on this one right away when I took it up with him. I don't think he had any malicious intent, I just don't think that he stopped to consider the unfairness of awarding full credit for one incorrect multiple choice answer but not the others, you know? Plus he didn't just raise my grade for that question when he changed his mind and agreed with me, he raised the grade of everyone in the class. So everyone in the class was benefited by my discussion with him. This is actually the first time that I've ever challenged a grade given to me by a teacher or professor. I went through almost 15 years of secondary and post-secondary education without doing it.