Annoying me. But will it matter long term?

Graduate School
1

Grades are beginning to post for my winter semester. I go to a community college, where I had a 3.95 GPA coming into this semester, my last at CC. All A’s and three A-'s from 2013 and 2014.

Going into the last week, I had a 92% in my Spanish II class. Verge of A-/A. A part of the class is basically online busy work, completing about 30 worksheets, just for participation, which made up about 20% of the grade, 4% per chapter. I really hated it, but I did it anyway, because of the points tied to it. The last week, these were due the same day that I had a tire blow out on the freeway, had to get $1500 of work done on my car afterwards, had all my other finals to worry about, and it didn’t get done. I just totally and completely forgot. It’s not a good excuse, because it was assigned plenty of time in advance, but it IS just busy work. You could literally just look the answers up online if you want to.

I was hoping my professor would take pity on me, see that I got a 100% on the quiz associated with the homework, and give me a grade based on knowledge (which would be an A-/A) not what the points broke down to, but I checked today, and she gave me a B+, my only ‘B’ of any kind since high school.

It sucks, and I’m pretty annoyed both with myself and the professor, but it’s not like I can do anything about it, because the math, syllabus, and course outlines are all on her side. It just sucks. My GPA will probably drop to about a 3.85 after this semester, as I will finish with 3 A’s, an A- (in Anatomy/Physiology), and that stupid B+.

I do have either grad school (for psychology of some sort) or med school in mind for my future. Will this last semester drop at my community college greatly impact my chances when that time comes?

2

As you stated, you knew about the assignment and had plenty of time to complete it, even if it was busy work. However, I sympathize with you in regards to the fact that stuff happens, and sometimes we get so caught up in things that we simply do not have the time to accomplish everything we need to. I’m sorry your professor didn’t take pity on you, but also its college. You still have over a 3.8 GPA. It is a B+, not a B, not a C, a B+. It will not matter for graduate school, trust me.

3

No. You’ll be fine.

4

One B+ isn’t going to ruin your chances. You have a 3.85; that’s a great GPA.

But this.

…why would you think that? Professors give you the grades you earn. If you didn’t turn in a homework assignment, why would the professor give you a 100% on it? You didn’t do the work for it. Why would you be annoyed with the professor for that?

5

I feel a grade should be indicative of a student’s knowledge of the subject matter. I clearly mastered the material of the Spanish II class to at minimum an A-, as displayed by my scores on quizzes and exams. It would have been nice of her to adjust the grade accordingly, though of course not required of her.

Furthermore, I’m annoyed with the professor for requiring meaningless busy work for assigned points, when clearly students such as myself, getting 100% on a quiz associated with the same subject material, do not need such work to be assigned. Available sure, but assigned for points? This is college, not 7th grade. It should be on us to have the motivation.

Please don’t think I’m throwing a pity/woe is me/my prof screwed me party over here. I COULD have gotten an A- in the class. It WAS my fault I didn’t.

But I am a bit justified to be annoyed, or at least knowledged not to take this course or Professor again, with those expectations in a college course.

6

It can have a lot to do with fairness and consistency. If your professor bumped up your grade because she felt you mastered the work without earning all the points, she is applying subjective feelings without the assignments/grades to back it up. Imagine if another student had the same mastery but she overlooked them in the subjective assignment of grades and just graded them on points alone…I hope you see the issues that can arise from that. I’m not saying some professors aren’t more subjective than others, and some grades are subjective to a point anyway (essays for example might earn different scores from different professors). But minimizing the “that’s not fair” complaint makes teaching a bit easier. The expectations are clearer and professors can rely on those expectations if they need to justify a grade.

As for the busy work, I can understand what you’re saying. Some professors I had did that I think to help students who were poor test takers but were putting forth the effort to do assignments. It gives more wiggle room to mess up once or twice without screwing up your grades too much. I had a very research active professor who only gave two assignments - a midterm paper and a final paper, so he didn’t grade much. If you messed up on one of those, your grade took a massive hit. Each prof has their style and their reasons. You can certainly choose not to take her classes again if you can avoid it.