By: Claire Yan
As the end of the semester draws near, students feel pressure to do exceptionally well on their last few assignments in order to bring their final grades up. But despite their efforts, many students are all too familiar with the disappointment of getting a lower grade than expected on a final paper, or being mere decimal points away from a different letter grade.
Photo by Emily Hooper
Students can try coaxing their professors to reconsider something like a final grade, but it seems most professors will refuse to do so if it does not fall under the course policy.
“I unsuccessfully tried to salvage my grade in a computer science class,” said Chelsea Jordan, a junior journalism major. “During the last week of the semester, I found out that I received a zero on one of my projects that hadn’t been submitted correctly, and it ended up dropping my grade down by a whole letter. I talked to my professor, but he didn’t really have any sympathy for my situation.”
Jordan called her experience “tragic”, but acknowledged that the situation was her own fault and that nothing could really be done to fix it.
“Maybe I could have fixed it if I had caught the situation earlier,” Jordan said.
Kyle Garton, an English teaching assistant at the university, said multiple students have asked him to reconsider grades “with no rationale behind it”.
“I had a student who got a B+ in one of my classes, and he sent me an e-mail after the semester ended asking if there was anything he could do to raise his grade,” Garton said. “He said he needed to keep a certain GPA or his parents would stop paying for his college education, but I said I couldn’t do it because it wasn’t justified in the way the course is set up.”
Garton said that the only way he would reconsider a final grade would be if the student “proved one of their assignments deserve a better grade”. He also said he would only grant extensions on assignments for the same reasons as excused absences that are outlined in the course policy, such as illness or a death in the family.
Though it may not sound comforting, it appears there is little students can do to convince professors to grant higher grades or extensions on assignments, especially so close to the end of the semester. However, there are several things students can do from the very beginning of the semester that may improve their chances.
“I was the teaching assistant for a criminology professor who will bump your grade up if you’re on the border, but only if he knows you’ve had great class attendance,” said Lyndsey Keyte, a senior criminal justice and psychology major. “Some classes say attendance doesn’t matter, but it can still Keyte also emphasized the importance of getting to know your professors.
“It can really help if you take the time to talk to your professors throughout the semester and seek help for assignments during their office hours,” Keyte said.
