<p>I’ve always been a good (enough) student, had some difficulties with organic and molecular like everyone else but I’ve always passed my classes and kept my GPA hovering around 3.75. In my last semester of college, I’m taking three classes, maintaining A’s in two of them and about to fail the third (biochemistry). I’ve barely scraped by with C’s on the first two exams (each worth 25% of my grade) and took a third today that I had studied for hours every day for the past week, yet still didn’t know half the answers. It’s lots and lots of picky memorization without testing knowledge of the overall process; I could describe in detail the light reactions of photosynthesis, where the electrons go, the difference between cytochrome bf in plants and its ancestor in bacteria, calculate the energy needed to make any sugar in the RPP cycle, but despite two lectures devoted to all that there was a single question on the exam: “How many photons are required to separate water into oxygen and protons?” The rest of the test was “name this enzyme” or “name that intermediate,” things that I don’t really attribute importance to when I’m studying. I know the structure, I know what it does, what it’s function in the overall process is, but have great difficulty just pulling its name out of thin air. If I’m really lucky, I’ll get a 60%, bringing my average down to a precarious 70.5%.</p>
<p>With my average dropping, I have little hope of getting out of the final with a C-. Since I’m not going into science for graduate school, they won’t care about this particular class, but they probably will care if I can’t graduate. So what do I do if this happens? Don’t send in my final transcript and hope I can repeat the course in summer before I start my program? Tell the school or not?</p>
<p>If the professor will not work with you (some won’t) check with your grad department on when they need the transcript - most do not require it until the start of your first semester, which would give you time for a summer class.</p>
<p>Is this true? Does anyone have experience with /heard of this actually happening? If a professor sees that the student is trying very hard and working as hard as they can but just never get over the hump (I’ve had classes like that), will they be more lenient if there is a circumstance like this?</p>
<p>Wait, your school won’t let you graduate if you get a C- in one course, even though your overall GPA is well above 3? While a C is definitely not a good grade, in most cases it is defined as a passing grade, so you shouldn’t have problems graduating with a C- as long as your overall GPA still exceeds a minimal threshold (and given that your GPA is 3.75, a single C- by no means would bring your GPA below any reasonable minimal threshold).</p>
<p>to yummit, astrina put it well, if you been slacking all term long and showed up at prof’s door after final exam is graded and begging for a good grade—good luck with that</p>
<p>on the other hand, if you SHOW your prof you are trying hard, show commitment and effort, then it’s totally different story. there are kids can skip all classes and ace o-chem, there are kids can never get B no matter how hard they study, but the profs will tend to help the students who work hard.</p>
<p>The problem isn’t my GPA–it’s that this class is required for my degree and a C- is the bare minimum they will accept for credit. I can maintain this C- only if I do decently on the final, but if I repeat my performance from today that won’t happen, thus the concern.</p>
<p>Evo, the problem is that all exams aren’t like that. Half of each exam has been stuff I can handle–diagrams, calculations, conceptual questions–and the other half has been straight vocab regurgitation (the half I always get half wrong on to bring my grade down to a C). This time, unfortunately for me, it was all regurgitation, probably because the professor thought that the material was more difficult and he would cut us a break by making it “easier.” I never understood why teachers insisted memorization was the lowest rung of learning; labeling always came last for me after I understood the concept.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I can show the professor I’ve been working. Our grades are based 100% on exams, there’s no homework, and I don’t have questions to ask him after class because he explains everything well. I’m also adverse to going to his office and whining about how hard I’ve worked but I can’t get good grades on the test, or begging to do extra work to make up for it. He’s a pretty impressive person–was part of the principle team that created synthetic insulin, now head of the chem department–and I’m pretty sure he’d just say to make flash cards and do better on the final.</p>
<p>Ah, I see. I would still recommend going in and discussing your situation with him - it couldn’t hurt. Ask for his advice and see if he has any recommendations or suggestions. You may be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>You had a bad grade in a biochem course at the University of Indiana??? Stop freaking out! You should have had a bad course by now but whatever…you won’t fail, you won’t get kicked out of your new department, you won’t ever see this crap again. Learn to deal with setbacks or you wil never succeed in research. Wait until you get your final grade, if it is in fact a fail, you will be admitted as a grad student with “deficiency” that you will have six years to make up. Likely, your committee won’t care if you have a deficiency or they will force you to take biochem for nursing majors as punishment. Buck up and walk it off.</p>
<p>Before I begin, let me say that in my humble opinion, belevitt has almost invariably been a very wise and thoughtful contributor to this board, and I have nothing but respect for him.</p>
<p>I must say, though, that his latest post seems to be unwarranted. Maybe I’m just reading it wrong (which is entirely possible because it’s almost 2 AM here) but it seems excessively harsh from my POV. I am not sure why the name of the OP’s undergrad institution is relevant, and I have not seen any indication that the OP isn’t mature enough to ‘buck up’ or deal with setbacks.</p>
<p>The OP isn’t concerned about getting a bad grade in a course; he would be happy as long as he passes (which means getting at least a C-). He is concerned about not graduating on time. This is a valid concern as many graduate schools actually require students to have a baccalaureate degree before matriculation. I would advise the OP to check with the graduate school in question and see what their deadlines are for receipt of the final transcript. Generally, in the worst case scenario, you will have to retake the course in the summer and you will graduate late but you will still be able to matriculate on time. Again, though, only the specific graduate school can advise on their specific rules and requirements regarding this.</p>
<p>if you don’t go talk to him, I’m 200% sure you won’t get any “special care”, just like Aceflyer said… won’t hurt</p>
<p>a prof may seem cold and careless to you, but sometimes they are just waiting for students to knock on their doors they can have some idea which ones actually care about the course and deserves some extra attention. Myself have been teaching for a year now, so I know how that feels. (I know TA is different as professor, but you never know what is your prof like)</p>
<p>Don’t let your fear get in the way of your dreams. Professors are humans and most of them like the idea that their students are going on the graduate school.</p>