Important Advice for College Students Regarding Grades

The semester has just ended and I have received emails from several students inquiring about their grades.  Most of these emails have asked me to reconsider the grades that I reported to the university registrar and are now released to students.  These emails have become increasingly more common and also more brazen in their requests/demands.  I would like students to think long and hard before sending these end-of-semester emails and consider a few questions:

• Did you attend this class? If you answer "yes", but you missed more than 10% of class meetings (in my classes this would amount to missing more than three out of our 27 class meetings), how many classes did you miss?  Did you miss them for a family emergency? Due to illness? Or because you overslept or had more important things to do? Most of us have policies that allow flexibility for illness and family emergencies.  It is also good to learn what university offices can assist you with these matters. At Miami, the Dean of Students can serve as a liaison between students and faculty during these times.  If you were ill, a note from your doctor can also be helpful.  If you missed class for other reasons, you might reconsider your priorities at school.  If you know you have trouble getting up early, then don't register for 8:00 or 8:30 (or maybe 9:00) morning classes. Try to take classes later in the day, when possible.
• Did you miss any classwork?  This varies a lot between classes and every instructor has their own policies on homework, labs, papers, projects, etc. Learn these policies from the course syllabus and assignment instructions! We spend many hours writing syllabi and assignments to clearly explain expectations, so answers can usually be found there. If it isn't clear, ask the instructor EARLY in the semester- not at the end or after the course is over.
• Did you take the course for a letter grade? Many universities allow students to take a certain number of their courses as pass/fail or credit/no credit. Learn the policies for what is considered passing for major requirements, general education and especially for the pass/fail or credit/no credit option. At Miami, students taking a course for credit/no credit must earn a D- (usually ~60%) or higher to get credit. For letter grades, D is usually passing.  Make sure you know how your university determines these issues!
• Do you understand the grading policies for the course? When in doubt, it's always a good idea to CHECK THE SYLLABUS or course website.  If the grading policy is not clear, ask the instructor EARLY in the semester- not at the end or after the course is over.
• Did you review feedback from your instructor on all assignments? Most of us add comments and feedback on student work and there is nothing more frustrating and annoying than grading another assignment with the same mistakes, making it quite clear that the student couldn't be bothered to review feedback on earlier work.  You will often lose more points for repeating the same errors on subsequent assignments, so make a point to review this feedback.

If you feel that you put in your full effort to the course, attended class, turned in all assignments, but your grade is not what you had hoped, you might be tempted to email the instructor and ask about the grade. There is only one reason to do this:

• Do you think there was a calculation or recording error in your grade? Since many of us post grades on course websites, it's usually pretty easy to keep track of your progress over the semester.  If you check your grades over the semester, you will be able to catch any errors as they arise. If your final grade doesn't match what grade you think you earned based on the syllabus, then you might want to email the instructor and ask if there was an error. 

However, there are some things you should NEVER ask in an email to your instructor, especially once the semester is over and grades have been submitted:

• I was wondering if you could bump my grade up to the next one since my points are so close.
• I know this is a long shot, but is there any way I can get an extra 28 points to bump my grade up to a C with extra credit or another assignment?
• I would really appreciate if we could work something out and I am willing to do anything to pass this class.
• I really would do anything to make up any number of points.

First of all, it is really unprofessional to make these requests.  Most of us review grades carefully and have policies that allow students who are close to the next grade to be "rounded up" based on attendance or extra credit. For my courses, I calculate final grades, then review the point totals to see if anyone is less 0.5% away from the next higher grade and consider attendance, etc- especially if it's a course with a lot of subjectively graded assignments. If your instructor is more rigid with these calculations (which is a perfectly reasonable, legitimate, and likely explained on the syllabus) you should consider where you missed points in the class (see the bullet points at the top of this post).  See the course syllabus to make sure you understand the grading policies and if your instructor made additional accommodations that are not even on the syllabus, then consider yourself lucky!

One final word of advice- don't look for shortcuts to everything.  Work hard in your classes and EARN good grades.  If you don't earn a good grade because you didn't put in the effort, then just take the grade you earned and move on with your life.  It is not the fault of your professors if you didn't do your work.  It is not the business of your parents.  Life (including college) is about making decisions and setting priorities.  Many of us slack off from time to time, and that's great- by all means, enjoy life and college- but if that leads to missing work and earning lower course grades, that is your own doing.  Take responsibility for your actions.