Need some personal advice

[RocketDawg]

When I was at MSU back in the dark ages, personal computers did not exist. Everything was done on paper so a machine malfunctioning was non-existent. Computers have advanced productivity many orders of magnitude, but there are occasional obvious drawbacks.

I don't think your personal family situation should make any difference one way or the other, but the professor's policy seems a little over the top. Are there no rules the University has for grading? Surely everything's not left to the professor's discretion. Also, I don't think I've ever heard of a graduate class with such low grades. When I was in grad school, you had to repeat the course with a D, and even a B was considered substandard. An F might even get a person kicked out of the program.

As a aside, when I was at MSU I took undergraduate Calculus III from a notorious teacher named Merideth Minga Temple. It was a 5 hour course that met at 7 in the morning every day of the week (we also had Saturday classes then, so there were MWF and TThS in 3 hour courses). He locked the door at 7, and if you were seconds late you couldn't get in. And he had an attendance policy. There were 27 students in the class, and when it was all said and done, there were 24 F's, 2D's, and one C. No curves back in the "good ole days". Harsh graders have been around for a long time.

 

[cowbell88]

You got a lawyer friend that write em a letter for you? A certified letter usually gets someone's attention. Throw the bluff card if the meeting with the Dean doesn't pan out.

 

[Shamoan]

the program is nationally renowned and a meat grinder. as I stated, we have all cumulative finals that take place over one week. I have a stack of papers a foot and a half thick of which i was responsible for in minute detail for my courses combined (books not included). I suspect that is somewhat commonplace in grad school, but its not something your average motivated person would want to do. I think the major issue with the low grades (keep in mind, it was only a lab course) was that the cumulative final had over 100 questions (based on multiple answer questions, it would have been 120 questions or so) with a time limit of only an hour and 15 minutes. A similar course we have had a 3 hour time limit. it just so happens this course isnt allotted the full 3 hours that the other courses are allotted. It is borderline do-able, but really, really moving it and if you have some unforeseen issue, forget about it.

things are starting to look promising. thanks to everyone for your input. some of you may have made a very real impact on some lives of people that you may never meet...pretty cool if you ask me. I am truly grateful.

 

[BoomBoom.sixpack]

GREAT info and I will certainly look into this matter. Assuming that my university is the one you are referring to or that mine has a similar policy, how would one go about finding out whether or not my school within the university is subject to this policy? would this university policy supersede my school's policy? that will ultimately be the determining factor, as the policy of your particular example may or may not apply to my particular situation, but assuming that mine is the same or similar, it CLEARLY states that an "F" must be awarded based on the full semester's work. I have notified my classmates of the existence of this policy.

I have little doubt that the administrators will suggest that they are not subject to this, but whether or not this is true will be clearly laid out somewhere. I need to find out where that is.

THANK YOU for your efforts thus far!!!! this might be the turning point in my case. Its going to be difficult for them to refute such a policy, assuming my university has this one or a similar one....which it does.

other university's policies would have to be examined if you attend a different university than Ole Miss, i just went with that based on what another poster assumed. i really was just looking for the appeal process policy and stumbled on that. from what i read, the policy applies to all schools within the university, including grad schools.

don't get your hopes up too far, it's likely this appeals process is about as fair as traffic court: even when you are in the right AND can prove it, you still only win 1/3 times at best.

 

[Shamoan]

Well, the dean and associate dean have stressed that they are looking to do what is fair by the student, professor, and university and abiding by the university's policy would do exactly that, assuming my university has one identical or similar to the one you linked. That is a step in the positive direction and the existence of such a policy will be hard (nearly impossible) to refute given the school is in fact subject to university policy based on what I have seen in the student handbook. I certainly believe I have some legal grounds now, but I think the school will do the right thing, but time will tell.