I might have just flunked out of college

[01d55]

So it turns out a thing I thought was due monday was actually due friday and you only get 24 hours to turn in these things late. Homeworks are overall not a big part of the grade but if you don't get a passing grade on any segment (homeworks, tests, final project) of the class you don't pass the class, and there's only 4 of these so a 0 on one is pretty dire for my prospects in this class. The deadline to withdraw from a class was this past Wednesday so I can't back out to keep the F off my transcript if this incident makes the class unpassable for me.

I'm in exactly 2 classes this quarter so an F in one is almost certainly gonna throw me into academic probation, which I've already been in once so they might decide I'm just not cut out for this shit and give me the boot.

I basically have nothing to count on but the instructor's mercy and the fact that the shit isn't actually complete (suggesting that I put it off to the last minute which is maybe not entirely inaccurate) isn't going to endear me to the instructor.

I dunno maybe I can do really well in that class going forward and it will all turn out basically okay but I'm already in the big capstone class that demands a lot of time and also a group of folks are depending on me to pull my weight and I really don't need a second super high pressure class on top of that.

[Azisien]

If you can miss one deadline and fail out of college entirely that's a problem with the system. (Unless it's like, your thesis defense or something?)

That being said, do the assignment, appeal to the prof, and then you won't fail out.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Talk to the prof. They should understand. I've had friends get the times wrong on exams and miss them and still pass with full credit.

[bluestarultor]

Yeah, having actually flunked out of a school before, and been on probation besides, I've learned the most important thing is to actually talk to people. Actually, I'm planning on talking to an old teacher tomorrow to see if I can get a grade changed from two years ago. It's an F, but only because it defaulted when she didn't put in my grade and time ran out. I need to see if I can find the paper that says what she said she'd give me (at least a B), but if she remembers me, I might end up with an A.



Edit: Just spoke to her today. My grade is now a B+. If I can get a B+ from an F after 3 years, I think you have a chance of getting a bit of slack.

[MasterOfMagic]

I've completely missed a test before, and the instructor let me take it at a later time because I asked.

So yeah, I'd say something to him/her.

[Ecks]

Being someone who's "technically" flunked out of college (GPA dropped and lost a huge scholarship, couldn't get a loan, couldn't find the money elsewhere, had to withdraw) before, yeah, talk to people. I had a paper super late (by about an hour) and appealed to the instructor... didn't exactly get a super good grade, but the paper itself was good and it had passing marks because of that.

Make sure to speak with your instructor about this. It is imperative that you at least let him/her know what your situation is. Don't freak out on them and gush "oh woe is me, I'll flunk if I don't get a good grade on this" but at least give them a "hey, I goofed up on a due date, thought it was Monday, instead it was Friday, I kinda screwed up" and they should at least understand that everybody makes a mistake sometimes.

And if they don't, you should put Dungbombs in their car.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

If you need to learn the art of seduction beforehand send us a buzz.

[Magus]

I'm surprised you didn't just pull an all-nighter and finish it to turn in within 24 hours. I've written papers the night before and gotten As. True, I'd already done the other things like research or whatever, but it's not hard to BS a paper out in a night if you just work at it. Unless it was an evening class on that Friday, when you found out it was due that day you should've hit the computer lab (or whatever you use) and just sat there for five hours until you were done, and then printed it out and put it in their mailbox. You would've been docked some points for it being late, probably lost a letter grade, but it's better than a zero.

Anyway, talk to the professor, you can probably work something out.

EDIT: If you guys doubt the five-hour method, I have a 3.94 GPA. Five hours is enough time for any undergraduate paper. True, there were plenty of papers I finished at least a few days before they were due, but sadly looking back I probably could've waited until the night before to actually write the things. Universities are not as stringent as they maybe should be.

[01d55]

I'm surprised you didn't just pull an all-nighter and finish it to turn in within 24 hours. I've written papers the night before and gotten As. True, I'd already done the other things like research or whatever, but it's not hard to BS a paper out in a night if you just work at it. Unless it was an evening class on that Friday, when you found out it was due that day you should've hit the computer lab (or whatever you use) and just sat there for five hours until you were done, and then printed it out and put it in their mailbox. You would've been docked some points for it being late, probably lost a letter grade, but it's better than a zero.

A. We're not talking about a paper. We're talking about a program, and you can't bullshit GCC. That's why us engineering majors are skeptical of the humanities.

B. I was about to pull a last minute all-nighter when I noticed that the last minute had been 2 days earlier (1 day if I was willing to take the 1% late penalty).


So I e-mailed the instructor and got the go-ahead to e-mail my work to the grader. In retrospect my "Oh shit I didn't get to turn in anything" panic obscured the fact that at best I'd get 10% for what I had done, but I still feel much better for having shown that I did more than zero work on the assignment, far out of proportion to the actual impact on my grade.

I'm also making a point to be a lot more diligent about starting my next program (programs due every 2 weeks, assignment described shortly before previous assignment is due) this week.

The final project thing is a bit worrying though, I hate having to write my own assignments and it appears the instructor is looking for something a bit more ambitious than was in my first attempt.

[Hanuman]

I think we need to burn all the books and brainclean the teachers, then start the education system over... on $350 notebook laptops.
It's the age of information, we seriously need a better way for people to learn, that all people can take... why should there only be a certain number of slots in a class, why pay so much that the majority of all classes you can take on average negatively impact your net earnings at the job you get vs just working in that time and getting credentials through experience?

We need less fossils and more artists teaching.

[Magus]

Pssh, don't be skeptical of the humanities, everybody in the humanities are already more than skeptical of our own self worth. I can barely find a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Fortunately, we can BS good essays on why engineering is bad and why we should all be luddites and live in caves, possibly while quoting Thoreau. So don't even try to be skeptical, buddy, we'll give you what for.

Anyway, glad you're working something out there. Remember not to put off until tomorrow what you can do today, unless you would like to switch over to the humanities, in which case you can slack off a lot more.

I think we need to burn all the books and brainclean the teachers, then start the education system over... on $350 notebook laptops.
It's the age of information, we seriously need a better way for people to learn, that all people can take... why should there only be a certain number of slots in a class, why pay so much that the majority of all classes you can take on average negatively impact your net earnings at the job you get vs just working in that time and getting credentials through experience?

We need less fossils and more artists teaching.

You sound just like that commercial for that one online college that's been advertising recently. It's so hilarious. This black professor in a bowtie of all things pauses while writing on a chalkboard in some New England lookin' classroom, takes off his glasses and goes, "I...no, we have failed you. The educational system has failed you!" etc. So what you should do is apparently apply to their diploma mill.

[Azisien]

I think we need to burn all the books and brainclean the teachers, then start the education system over... on $350 notebook laptops.
It's the age of information, we seriously need a better way for people to learn, that all people can take... why should there only be a certain number of slots in a class, why pay so much that the majority of all classes you can take on average negatively impact your net earnings at the job you get vs just working in that time and getting credentials through experience?

We need less fossils and more artists teaching.

Yup.

I hear and discuss stuff like this day in and day out in the teacher education program.

The problem? It's kind of like saying "Hey lets just up and like, change the entire government." It's not that easy. Education is a pretty deeply rooted institution and change is slow. And us ambitious hippie graduates start at the bottom of the chain, taking 20ish years to become administration. But it will adapt. Eventually.

[Wigmund]

I think we need to burn all the books and brainclean the teachers, then start the education system over... on $350 notebook laptops.
It's the age of information, we seriously need a better way for people to learn, that all people can take... why should there only be a certain number of slots in a class, why pay so much that the majority of all classes you can take on average negatively impact your net earnings at the job you get vs just working in that time and getting credentials through experience?

We need less fossils and more artists teaching.

Screw that, we need the GOAT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydTIHlcpTEk).
http://www.aeropause.com/wordpress/archives/images/2009/01/fallout3_goat_w_shadow.png
All college will be then is preparation for your future career as prescribed by a test you take at the end of high school.

[Hanuman]

Yup.

I hear and discuss stuff like this day in and day out in the teacher education program.

The problem? It's kind of like saying "Hey lets just up and like, change the entire government." It's not that easy. Education is a pretty deeply rooted institution and change is slow. And us ambitious hippie graduates start at the bottom of the chain, taking 20ish years to become administration. But it will adapt. Eventually.
Humans have quite the talent of making things much more difficult than they actually are.

You sound just like that commercial for that one online college that's been advertising recently.
Most of it is actually TED insight.

[Magus]

What is TED?

[BloodyMage]

Yup.

I hear and discuss stuff like this day in and day out in the teacher education program.

The problem? It's kind of like saying "Hey lets just up and like, change the entire government." It's not that easy. Education is a pretty deeply rooted institution and change is slow. And us ambitious hippie graduates start at the bottom of the chain, taking 20ish years to become administration. But it will adapt. Eventually.

They're teaching Beat Literature at universities, isn't that enough? Clearly some of the hippies before you got something done.

Screw that, we need the GOAT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydTIHlcpTEk).

All college will be then is preparation for your future career as prescribed by a test you take at the end of high school.

I'd be up for that. Beats writing an essay on a vague statement about a book I didn't read for two hours.

[Magus]

Beat Literature? All I had was an assignment to read "Howl" for American Literature Part II. It'd be neat to take an entire class on it, I guess...personally I'm going to try and get into the science fiction class, though. Yes, my university offered a science fiction literature class this past semester, it was apparently awesome.

[Hanuman]

What is TED?
Like youtube, except 100% of the content is specifically designed to make the world better and help you be awesome.
http://www.ted.com/

[synkr0nized]

I am waiting for someone to make a thread like this (about turning in work late) and then for me to realize it's one of my students.

[BloodyMage]

Beat Literature? All I had was an assignment to read "Howl" for American Literature Part II. It'd be neat to take an entire class on it, I guess...personally I'm going to try and get into the science fiction class, though. Yes, my university offered a science fiction literature class this past semester, it was apparently awesome.

Ok my university must be the complete opposite because we have a entire module devoted to Beat Literature. Howl is on the text, as well as novels like Junky and On the Road. I'd like a Science fiction literature module though, because the most we had for that was one lecture in the American Literature and culture module last year and I only got to write one essay on it, so that was disappointing. I think there's another American Literature module in my third year, so hopefully there will be some science fiction in that.

[katiuska]

We also had Science Fiction, but no Beat Literature.

Yeah, part of the problem is that systems become self-replicating; in other words, if school didn't work for you, you probably aren't interested in education as an institution. So as a result, the people who do become educators tend to be more conservative in that respect than the average outsider. Change happens, it just does so really slowly.