<p>A mental illnes can have the added disadvantage of being difficult to diagnose, it can be unexpected(although it isn’t unexpected in this student’s case)and as the previous poster said, easily faked. A “horrible car accident” is generally considered to be unexpected and can easily be documented. In this case, as BPDgirl tells us, this student has a long documented history of illness, yet chose not to register. </p>
<p>As for the Op’s opinion on an F: Could it be the profs see an F as a failure of results, rather than a failure of effort?</p>