Worried about bad grades
November 7, 2010 11:30 AM   Subscribe

Very concerned about bad grades and honors standing in college.

I'm in the honors program at a large state college. Currently, my GPA is just on the required honors threshold due to some bombed final exams last semester. This made me especially worried when I got a D on a midterm this semester (in a class I already was getting a B in.) I feel like I'm learning the material, but obviously there's not way to make up a midterm and I'm just extremely worried that the grade will permanently taint my record.

This is especially worrying because I need a 3.5 GPA to do undergraduate research - and I'm not going to get there anytime soon. I know that research is more important than grades when it comes to getting into a good program, which makes me even more worried - that a C in a Circuits class last semester invalidates me to do research in psychology, which is the field I'd prefer to do research in.

Basically I'm concerned that a few bad grades are going to have a rippling effect on both my honors standing and my ability to get into a good graduate program, and I'm panicking because I know there's no way around a messed-up midterm. What can I do?
posted by LSK to Education (12 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Avail yourself of your professors' office hours. Ask them what you need to be doing more of/differently to improve your grades. Also avail yourself of your university's tutorial and study skills resources.
posted by rtha at 11:36 AM on November 7, 2010


What can I do?

Get off Metafilter and start studying so that you get do great on the final. Go talk to your professor about your concerns; she is much better qualified to help you, especially if she sees you making an effort and knows your motivation behind getting a better grade.

As far as research goes, talk to the PIs of the labs that interest you – it's very important that they know who you are (that's how I got involved in a lab as a sophomore), and grades don't really matter much. Even if it's some sort of departmental requirement, or funding depends on your GPA exceptions can be made if a professor really wants you in their lab.
posted by halogen at 11:38 AM on November 7, 2010 [3 favorites]


Calm down. Breathe. One poor midterm won't destroy your GPA. Above all you want to do the best you can moving forward and not dwell on things you can't change.

Another thing -- you feel like you're learning the material, but your grades aren't reflecting that at the level you want. Why not talk to your professor and ask for advice on what you might be doing wrong, what you can do better, etc.? Either you don't understand the material well enough, or your test-taking skills aren't up to par, or some combination of those or some other factor is at play.
posted by J. Wilson at 11:38 AM on November 7, 2010


I need a 3.5 GPA to do undergraduate research

This seems unlikely. You might need it to do undergraduate research as part of an organized honors program at the university, but you can probably still do the research if you can convince your desired adviser to take you on as a student.

You need to start talking to people. First, talk to the professor of the class about your options. What do you need to do to get a better grade in the class? Is it too late to drop it? Is it possible to take it as an incomplete and repeat the class the next semester. If those things aren't possible, what are his suggestions for getting the best grade that is possible?

Then talk to your honors program staff about your situation in general. These people generally want to see you succeed. Do they have dedicated advisers? If so, I strongly advise going in to talk to them. If not, then talk to the director of the program.

You also need to figure out what the deal is with these "bombed" finals and "messed-up" midterms. Were you doing poorly in these classes before? Did you simply fail to study right before the exams? You should not be waiting until just before the exams to start studying. If your college has a learning skills center or the like, you should talk to them about strategies for studying all semester long.
posted by grouse at 11:41 AM on November 7, 2010 [1 favorite]


First, you can chill. I know that seems like trite and almost insulting advice, but you're not going to do any better if you're fretting about the general situation instead of concentrating on your specific subjects.

Now, being an honors student is a byproduct of good grades. So stop thinking about the 'honors student' part; if you get good grades, you'll be an honor student and if you don't you won't. It is as simple as that.

Does your school offer grade replacement? I was allowed to retake a class, even if I did not fail it, up to two times. I was also allowed to replace a grade for a core (i.e. non-elective) class with a Pass, retroactively. Look into these options. Taking some extra time to re-do a class you know you could have done well in and getting a P instead of a C in a class you know you can't do better than a C can really boost your GPA. Yes, these things appear on your transcript, but it also means you're trying. An A is an A even if it was a B- at first.

Finally, you can sit down and figure out exactly why you have been bombing. Don't know the material? Your school should have a tutoring center. Was there an after-class review session for an exam you didn't go to? Show up next time. It's not fair, but doing these little things will make you seem like a better student in the eyes of the professor, which is always good, as well.
posted by griphus at 11:44 AM on November 7, 2010


First, talk to the professor of the class about your options. What do you need to do to get a better grade in the class? Is it too late to drop it? Is it possible to take it as an incomplete and repeat the class the next semester. If those things aren't possible, what are his suggestions for getting the best grade that is possible?

Be careful about the way you phrase this, though (grouse's suggestions are a good start). In the few years that I taught college, I had countless students tell me that they needed to get a certain GPA for their scholarship or to stay in an honors program or for medschool or whatever--almost always after they had already dropped the ball on doing the requisite work. This would make me grumpy sometimes because the most obvious answer to, "What can I do to get the grade I need?" is "You could have been doing the work all along." So a good way to avoid incurring grumpy-professor wrath is to carefully phrase your questions as, "What work can I do to earn a (B or whatever grade you're hoping for)? Do you have any advice for studying more effectively?"
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 11:49 AM on November 7, 2010 [4 favorites]


Yes, office hours, but also see whether you can retake courses for a higher grade if necessary. Some schools replace the grade without notation, with some you can delete courses if you've changed majors (though this is becoming rare), but others don't allow anything of the sort. That might be a question for your university registrar, but also check with your honors program to see if they accept the re-take.

Yes, bad grades can affect both the things you're concerned about, but plenty of non-honors people go to grad school (especially since different schools do their honors programs differently), do research, and get good jobs, so all is not lost. If your grades aren't high enough for honors, they're not high enough for honors. One midterm won't change that either way if everything else is in place, but if other things aren't in place (multiple bombed finals, for instance, or cramming or skipping classes or missing study sessions or having a terrible TA or something else), it may be the last straw that pushes you out of honors. That sucks, but it's not the end of the world. Most people don't graduate with honors, and most of them go on to happily do productive things with their lives, so don't let this one criteria define your academic passions and pursuits, and certainly don't let it define your identity.

On preview, PhoBWanKenobi is right on. My favorite was a student who asked for a high B at the end of the semester instead of a low C because she had failed another class and the B would make her GPA high enough for some scholarship. Not a great way to approach me during finals week. I'm not a grade vending machine, and even if I were, if you pushed the button for a Twix when you really wanted a Snickers, sorry, but you're stuck with the Twix this time. Your midterm is the Twix--you got what you didn't want, but you have to figure out how to do better for the final so you get the Snickers you want.
posted by BlooPen at 11:56 AM on November 7, 2010


"Get off Metafilter"

um, maybe he usually is off metafilter and is coming here for help? no need to lecture someone who is already at their wits end trying to figure out how to make things work, especially when they are aware that they need help and are trying to get it.

or did college just go amazingly smooth for you?

Anyway, to the OP, as others have said, talk to your professor. They won't necessarily give you extra credit, you probably already know that hard to come by in college, but they can either spend time with you during office hours to go over things that you seem to have difficulty with or direct you to someone else who can help (a TA, tutor, etc). I would consider bringing that D-grade midterm with you to office hours and going over the areas that you lost points in with your professor. Maybe there are areas of material that you thought you understood, but are actually missing some vital part of. Your professor can point that out to you.

A lot of students underestimate the value of working with their professor during office hours. I just started teaching and I'm surprised at how little students avail of my office hours (even though I offer them at different time slots during the week). It's also kind of irritating when students start bombarding me with emails asking about projects the weekend before they are due. So, even though it might be too late to worry about that now, keep that in mind for the future~! It's a lot easier to work with a student over the course of the semester, when they haven't had a chance to form too many misconceptions about the material.

Even so, I'd talk to your professor about your situation. They might offer you some solutions that you weren't aware of.
posted by joyeuxamelie at 1:01 PM on November 7, 2010


This seems unlikely. You might need it to do undergraduate research as part of an organized honors program at the university, but you can probably still do the research if you can convince your desired adviser to take you on as a student.

This has been my experience. You might not be able to write an honors thesis or paper, but if you have a good relationship with a prof you want to work with, ask if you can do some research for him/her. I think the key is to cultivate this good relationship. So if there is someone whose work interests you, take their class, or attend a seminar or talk they are giving, and try and speak to them afterward. Read up on their work (papers, books, some background info), and make an appointment to meet with them.

Grades still matter a little bit though, so try to keep them up from now on (I know, I know, easier said than done).
posted by bluefly at 1:52 PM on November 7, 2010


I'm a grad student in a research lab and my boss has agreed to have several undergrads in our lab working who, while they don't have terrible grades, are not straight A students either. But they work hard in lab because they like it, and they are learning a ton--which is why she does it.

All of them got in by simply emailing her and asking her if they could work in her lab. You should figure out a few profs who you'd like to work for, and just email them.
posted by rio at 2:19 PM on November 7, 2010


Also, if you can't do research for credit or for pay, for one reason or another . . . you can always volunteer.
posted by endless_forms at 5:17 PM on November 7, 2010


Professor here. When you go to see your professors DO NOT tell them that you need a higher grade, or are not satisfied with your grade, or anything like that. It comes off to us as entitled and whiny, particularly when it comes from an honors student. Honors students have a terrible reputation for being unimaginative grade grubbers.

Instead, tell the professor that you want to do a better job of mastering the material, that you are unclear on concept X, that you would like a suggestion for additional reading on Case Study Y. Talk about learning, not about grades.

Also, see if you can't befriend some folks who are acing your courses and take a look at their graded tests and assignments. How are they presenting their work that is different from your approach?
posted by LarryC at 5:37 PM on November 7, 2010


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