Important Question To Ask Fellow Students

[FreshTea]

I'm thinking of doing a grade appeal at my University based for medical reasons (nothing to lose right ...Prof said that I wouldn't be burning bridges since many students appeal to committee). Anyways, my mark is pretty low and apparently if the appeal goes my way, I have some options.

Background: PolySci sophomore with 70s average last year...

I missed an online midterm worth a quarter of my grade because of an emergency surgery and was hospitalized for a few days and recovered in few weeks. Since I got nearly 80% on my my final, I spoke with my academic councillor and was told to talk to my Professor. My Prof said that had I asked for a rewrite last semester or reweighing the final by email, that would be 100% OK but since it was two months ago; tough luck. The prof also said I also didn't hand in a 25% essay during my weeks off (I have a copy of it but prof has no record of submission) or really participate during the 15% online discussion (1% gained) leaving me with about 30% in the class.

If the appeal goes through, my prof said that I'd could rewrite the essay but in order to pass the course the paper would have to be stellar.

My question is the following...

1) Do you think I could win an appeal?
2) If this mark doesn't change, will failing last semester mess up grad school prospects or getting a job out of university even if I achieve good grades until graduation?
3) If I get the appeal, should I go for a passing mark OR just cut my financial losses, loose the class credits + receive no grade BUT save my GPA average? I had a 70s average before this and now I have a 59% because of this one semester :roll eyes:

FWIW, my grad goal is to work for the government or get a masters then work for the gov't, NGO or UN.

Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it! Hope to excel this semester.

And to all those in Uni right now, good luck on your midterms

[magictrickx]

So if I'm understanding this right - you had emergency surgery and were out of commission for a while but you didn't inform the prof about it? Isn't that one of the first things you do especially since you know you're losing 25% for not writing the midterm?

1) Yes you should be able to win the appeal. Nobody is going to say no when you show proof of your surgery. They let people off for a lot less than that.
2) You only failed one course, not the semester. It should not affect job prospects and you can just retake the course if need be.
3) Key is to get your GPA up. You are only in 2nd year too, plenty of time. Go for whatever raises your avg. For jobs they don't usually look at grades but for grad school they do.