One bad semester :(

[samvillian]

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Okay so i've been doing pretty well up until this semester!

I had a 3.8 cGPA with about a 3.84 sGPA..

this semester though, I got a B in ochem lec, C in ochem lab, B in bio, B in kines class, and A in stats.


what sucks is that the B in bio was 4 points (out of 900 points) away from an A and the jerk teacher doesn't want to give me those 4 points. I'm going to go to his office next semester and go through the final and look up every god damn question and find a couple mistakes... he always makes mistakes...

Also, the B in kines was a few points away from an A..


but either way, none of that matters anymore.

My cGPA now is 3.62 and my sGPA is probably around the same mark.

Just finished junior year.

Would this one bad semester (which is the last one they'd see) be a red flag or what? I'm kinda pissed that my professor's not budging but what are you gonna do right?

Any advice on how I can sweet talk the teacher (He's british). I needa give him an apple.

 

[PressPforPi]

Tea and crumpets?

 

[curt656]

If you think he might like sports, ask him what football club he supports. Whatever you do, do not say "soccer" although he might get a little confused hearing you call it football (as all Americans call it soccer). It is football to him, and nothing else. Do yourself a favor and spend an hour or two reading up on English Football, i.e. the English Premier League. Pick a team to pretend to like. If you are going to ask, you need to know at least the basics...

It might not work especially if he doesn't like football, but I have broken the ice with many people from the UK with that question. It also wouldn't hurt if you can find good English bacon. It is vastly different than the bacon over here and I guarantee he is missing it, lol! It is a breakfast staple even more so ever there.

 

[CurrySpice]

Recognize that you earned the grades you received, then dust yourself off and try harder next semester.

Easy-peasy!

 

[afreaknamedpete]

If you think he might like sports, ask him what football club he supports. Whatever you do, do not say "soccer" although he might get a little confused hearing you call it football (as all Americans call it soccer). It is football to him, and nothing else. Do yourself a favor and spend an hour or two reading up on English Football, i.e. the English Premier League. Pick a team to pretend to like. If you are going to ask, you need to know at least the basics...

It might not work especially if he doesn't like football, but I have broken the ice with many people from the UK with that question. It also wouldn't hurt if you can find good English bacon. It is vastly different than the bacon over here and I guarantee he is missing it, lol! It is a breakfast staple even more so ever there.

That seems like it'd be extremely awkward... maybe you could pull that off if you meet the professor by random in a supermarket or something. In all likelihood OP will have to get an appointment, and suddenly asking the professor about football during an appointment will probably sound the creep alarms. For some professors feigning interest in their research seems to be the best path towards getting in their good graces... It'll probably come across as transparent but it's at least better than randomly asking about football.

Your best bet is probably to try and find errors in the test grading, but more likely than not you'll have to just live with it.

 

[Quizlet04]

I'm actually a prof who is considering med school, so here's the deal on grade changing:

When most professors sit down and do grades, there is that moment of looking at a 79.4 and figuring out if it is a C+ or a B-. In many cases, my knowledge of the student's strengths and weaknesses, attendance, effort, and so on is what ultimately decides the final grade if it is on a borderline. I have, though, been known to make very small adjustments when I know a scholarship or enrollment is at stake, especially if the student is one whom I know has generally good effort or participation and just had one really awful testing day.

If your professor isn't budging those points, though, he doesn't like you. 🙄 I kid, I kid. It's most likely that he doesn't know you very well or thinks you didn't put in significant, notable effort. As a result, there's nothing to sway him in your favor. Search out the points. If you don't get them, move on. There's a student riding me for a grade change that isn't going to get it because she did nothing all semester.

 

[curt656]

I agree craps, it has to be timed right, at the end of an appointment as you are leaving and almost like an afterthought.

 

[SN1]

Okay so i've been doing pretty well up until this semester!

I had a 3.8 cGPA with about a 3.84 sGPA..

this semester though, I got a B in ochem lec, C in ochem lab, B in bio, B in kines class, and A in stats.


what sucks is that the B in bio was 4 points (out of 900 points) away from an A and the jerk teacher doesn't want to give me those 4 points. I'm going to go to his office next semester and go through the final and look up every god damn question and find a couple mistakes... he always makes mistakes...

Also, the B in kines was a few points away from an A..


but either way, none of that matters anymore.

My cGPA now is 3.62 and my sGPA is probably around the same mark.

Just finished junior year.

Would this one bad semester (which is the last one they'd see) be a red flag or what? I'm kinda pissed that my professor's not budging but what are you gonna do right?

Any advice on how I can sweet talk the teacher (He's british). I needa give him an apple.

You are fine my brother.

 

[samvillian]

If you think he might like sports, ask him what football club he supports. Whatever you do, do not say "soccer" although he might get a little confused hearing you call it football (as all Americans call it soccer). It is football to him, and nothing else. Do yourself a favor and spend an hour or two reading up on English Football, i.e. the English Premier League. Pick a team to pretend to like. If you are going to ask, you need to know at least the basics...

It might not work especially if he doesn't like football, but I have broken the ice with many people from the UK with that question. It also wouldn't hurt if you can find good English bacon. It is vastly different than the bacon over here and I guarantee he is missing it, lol! It is a breakfast staple even more so ever there.

Funny story. He's actually a chelsea fan, and during class one day I was telling my friend about how I'm a huge blackpool fan (they just happened to be playing chelsea that day) but it was just a joke... But I said it loud enough for him to hear (that was the point)... Now I feel that wasn't such a good idea 😀


@ the professor dude, thanks for the inner workings. Yeah he probably doesn't like me much because I pointed out a few other errors in his tests during the course of the semester. The first time I pointed one out, i said "I have a question, on the test you asked (blahblahblah).. I didn't know that X happened.. I thought it was just Y and Z.." he responded with "If you are worried about one question, you're in worse shape than you'd think".

Also, he had this matching 'question' that all it said was "gills"... Possible answers were 'water', 'snails', and some other animal that has gills... He couldn't have made it more vague. The answer he was looking for was water though... lol.


So tea and crumpets it is 😀

 

[Person0715]

recognize that you earned the grades you received, then dust yourself off and try harder next semester.

Easy-peasy!

+1

 

[samvillian]

+1

Yep 🙁

I think thats the route i'm taking. Just not gonna give up yet though. My major is Kines, so I don't want to talk to the kines professor too much about the issue because well I've got a class with her next semester... and the semester after that.

 

[blizzah]

Professors appreciate honesty. I'm 1/2 on just walking into office hours and politely saying that the extra 0.5% would make a great difference in my medical school applications, and I would really appreciate if they could help me out. This works well for little differences, ie. 84.2 --> 84.5 = 85

The one miss was because she already submitted the marks to the faculty, and she wasn't allowed to change them anymore (dam keener profs).

 

[deleted357625]

don't worry its fine, pick it up next time and your good.

 

[samvillian]

don't worry its fine, pick it up next time and your good.

Your post count is 1337.


And thanks guys. I'll ask for an appointment with him.

 

[samvillian]

Just a quick update on my bio grade... I went into his office today and right when I opened the door he yelled my name as if to come on in...

I walked in and he said "So I decided to just give you the A"... i said SWEET. (not sweat).


He said it was because he was being too mean about it. He told me that I was right on the border and that out of all the A's he gave, mine was the lowest! lol.


I like to live dangerously i guess...



cGPA now is 3.674 which i can live with.

 

[vanillabear55]

Just a quick update on my bio grade... I went into his office today and right when I opened the door he yelled my name as if to come on in...

I walked in and he said "So I decided to just give you the A"... i said SWEET. (not sweat).


He said it was because he was being too mean about it. He told me that I was right on the border and that out of all the A's he gave, mine was the lowest! lol.


I like to live dangerously i guess...



cGPA now is 3.674 which i can live with.

nice!

I'm guessing you emailed him prior to seeing him, what did you say in the email? haha I've been wanting to talk to a few professors about grades, but have only emailed in the past and I don't really live close enough to warrant a commute during the summer.

 

[Ponger]

Happy for you that you got the bump but you're attitude sorta stinks. Read your own posts: "cGPA now is 3.674 which i can live with."

Seriously? You can live with it? That reeks of pre-med entitlement. Your prof didn't owe you anything.

Honestly though, I did a similar thing when I was in college but looking back it seems so pointless. A single A/B grade point difference will never sink any application.

 

[Geekchick921]

I've decided this should be a sentence completion for the title. I'm going with "will not ruin your application so chill out."

 

[samvillian]

I've decided this should be a sentence completion for the title. I'm going with "will not ruin your application so chill out."

lol, yeah. I hope you're right.

nice!

I'm guessing you emailed him prior to seeing him, what did you say in the email? haha I've been wanting to talk to a few professors about grades, but have only emailed in the past and I don't really live close enough to warrant a commute during the summer.

Yeah I emailed him asking what my final percentage was, then I asked him if I can talk to him about the final and my grade and if he has office hours during the summer. He said sure come in at so and so time. I went in and he just started off the convo by saying that he changed it.

It's always worth a shot.

Happy for you that you got the bump but you're attitude sorta stinks. Read your own posts: "cGPA now is 3.674 which i can live with."

Seriously? You can live with it? That reeks of pre-med entitlement. Your prof didn't owe you anything.

Honestly though, I did a similar thing when I was in college but looking back it seems so pointless. A single A/B grade point difference will never sink any application.

It's nice to judge people based on text. Believe me, I'm ecstatic that he changed the grade... How can I not be? Entitlement? lol.

"I can live with" was my way of saying that I'm happy with it. I approve of it. It gets my stamp of approval.

Next time i'll try to throw in all my excitement into the post.



but yeah, i know a single A/B won't change much... but if I had that mentality throughout college... well it wouldn't be good, to say the least.

 

[Ponger]

It's nice to judge people based on text. Believe me, I'm ecstatic that he changed the grade... How can I not be? Entitlement? lol.

"I can live with" was my way of saying that I'm happy with it. I approve of it. It gets my stamp of approval.

Next time i'll try to throw in all my excitement into the post.



but yeah, i know a single A/B won't change much... but if I had that mentality throughout college... well it wouldn't be good, to say the least.

What other interaction do I have a basis to form an opinion other than the words you write? The tides? The overcast of the sun? This is an anonymous forum.

I would hope that idea would help most people. Try as hard as you can and if it things don't go perfectly, accept it and move on.

The absolute grade grubbing that goes on in pre-med is one of the most unappealing aspects of it.

 

[samvillian]

What other interaction do I have a basis to form an opinion other than the words you write? The tides? The overcast of the sun? This is an anonymous forum.

I would hope that idea would help most people. Try as hard as you can and if it things don't go perfectly, accept it and move on.

The absolute grade grubbing that goes on in pre-med is one of the most unappealing aspects of it.

Well, thats why you don't judge people based on text... i thought you got that from my last post 😕

And its not our fault the system is the way it is... But if the teacher thought I deserved the A... then I deserved the A.. I don't understand what you're getting at.

 

[Iso4ane]

Well, thats why you don't judge people based on text... i thought you got that from my last post 😕

And its not our fault the system is the way it is... But if the teacher thought I deserved the A... then I deserved the A.. I don't understand what you're getting at.

well depending on the size of the class, you were probably one of many who sent him an email. Additionally, like you said if the teacher thinks you deserve it he will give you it. I've heard of a cases where two people are the same number of points away from the next grade up , but the teacher would only bump up one student and not the other due to other factors (participation, whether there is improvement throughout the semester, etc. )

 

[samvillian]

well depending on the size of the class, you were probably one of many who sent him an email. Additionally, like you said if the teacher thinks you deserve it he will give you it. I've heard of a cases where two people are the same number of points away from the next grade up , but the teacher would only bump up one student and not the other due to other factors (participation, whether there is improvement throughout the semester, etc. )

lol, that was one of the things he told me. He told me that he had 130 emails in the past 3 days... and its been a month since finals.

the class was 80-100 students.

 

[NightGod]

I'm actually a prof who is considering med school, so here's the deal on grade changing:

When most professors sit down and do grades, there is that moment of looking at a 79.4 and figuring out if it is a C+ or a B-. In many cases, my knowledge of the student's strengths and weaknesses, attendance, effort, and so on is what ultimately decides the final grade if it is on a borderline. I have, though, been known to make very small adjustments when I know a scholarship or enrollment is at stake, especially if the student is one whom I know has generally good effort or participation and just had one really awful testing day.

If your professor isn't budging those points, though, he doesn't like you. 🙄 I kid, I kid. It's most likely that he doesn't know you very well or thinks you didn't put in significant, notable effort. As a result, there's nothing to sway him in your favor. Search out the points. If you don't get them, move on. There's a student riding me for a grade change that isn't going to get it because she did nothing all semester.

One of my professors told us a story about when he was a TA during his post-grad days and he actually went to the professor and argued one of his students DOWN from a 81 to a 79 because he didn't feel the guy deserved a B (for instance, he would consistently leave in the middle of labs). First time I've ever heard of that happening, but it makes a point.

 

[samvillian]

One of my professors told us a story about when he was a TA during his post-grad days and he actually went to the professor and argued one of his students DOWN from a 81 to a 79 because he didn't feel the guy deserved a B (for instance, he would consistently leave in the middle of labs). First time I've ever heard of that happening, but it makes a point.

What point would that be? what if he studies his ass off outside of lab/lecture?

That student has a right to go to the dean...


Cool story though, never heard of that!

 

[NightGod]

What point would that be? what if he studies his ass off outside of lab/lecture?

That student has a right to go to the dean...


Cool story though, never heard of that!

I'm forgetting enough details of the story to make it sound like the guy was screwed over a lot more than he actually was. Half-finished labs and incomplete homework-his point was that the guy gamed the grade system rather than put in any real effort and he felt the work was average quality (C) instead of above average (B) and he convinced the professor of the same. I also misspoke a bit earlier when I said 81 to 79, it was actually more like 80.5 to 79. And the professor did flat out tell him that if the guy appealed it he would reverse the decision without any hesitation, but that never happened.

 

[gerrymcgraw]

The grading is weird. If you get an 84 or 81, it is the same grade. But aside from that, I don't think any simple demand "to help out with applications" is ethical (and I hope I won't have to do them in the future).

The best strategy if you think you deserved the A is to email the prof saying you weren't satisfied with your grade, and to schedule office hours to go over the exam. Last time I did that, the prof. seemed very reluctant to meet me. Once in his office the 2-3 weeks later on the day the OH were scheduled, he told me he had been over my exam, gave me the augmented grade I deserved, and was generally a really nice guy. I guess theology professors get lonely though. 😛

If you did good on the test, you will get what you deserve (hopefully). If you didn't though, that's another story. Then because of the first thing I said, you wish there was a different reward system.

 

[sirRad]

Ask and ye shall receive...

 

[samvillian]

The grading is weird. If you get an 84 or 81, it is the same grade. But aside from that, I don't think any simple demand "to help out with applications" is ethical (and I hope I won't have to do them in the future).

The best strategy if you think you deserved the A is to email the prof saying you weren't satisfied with your grade, and to schedule office hours to go over the exam. Last time I did that, the prof. seemed very reluctant to meet me. Once in his office the 2-3 weeks later on the day the OH were scheduled, he told me he had been over my exam, gave me the augmented grade I deserved, and was generally a really nice guy. I guess theology professors get lonely though. 😛

If you did good on the test, you will get what you deserve (hopefully). If you didn't though, that's another story. Then because of the first thing I said, you wish there was a different reward system.

Yeah What I basically emailed him was that I wanted to meet with him about my grade and about my final.

He was nice enough to change it. I never even asked him to change it.

He told me he changed it because I was so close to the A and because I got a B on all his tests and I got a high A in lab, which should have balanced out to an A. (that was my plan the whole semester, get a B in lecture and get a high A in lab.)