What would you do?

[Roccoriel]

So, I was finally accepted into a PhD program, with funding, and was totally excited.

Until now. I'm graduating from my Master's program in May, which would be awesome. Except for one little problem. Instead of taking the final thesis course, which was basically how to write and such, I took a more difficult course to feel like I was getting everything I could out of the program. And now, halfway through the semester, I am not passing it. There are multiple reasons for this, the top two being that a. it's really broad, but the homework tends to involve specific questions which weren't necessarily well covered and are hard to find information on (and sometimes aren't clear) and b. my partner for the major projects is not the best at writing in English. We have a second project to work on together, and I'm not sure what to tell her, because I literally had to spend more time re-writing her sections of the first one than I did writing my own sections. What also didn't help is that, while we answered the questions, the prof thought we should have read more papers, and took off close to 10 points for not using enough sources (and there wasn't a requirement about this stated in the assignment).

If I don't get my grade for this course together, chances are, they'll revoke my admissions to the PhD program. I am meeting with the prof tomorrow (though, when I emailed him, he told me his best advice was to "do well on the rest of the assignment", so I don't know what I will accomplish with this meeting). What should I ask him? Should I say anything about my partner, since I ended up doing a ton of extra work so that our paper made sense? I feel awful because she did help out as best she could, but because she doesn't write English well, I basically wrote the whole paper myself (and didn't have time to fill it out as much as I would have liked to). I don't want to throw her under the bus because she's not an English speaker, but it's not fair that I should have to submit lower quality work because I spent my time correcting her either. I feel terrible about the whole situation, like I feel ill about the prospect of hurting my partner AND about possibly losing my chance at a PhD (in a totally different subject than this, no less). Any advice?

Edited March 28, 2011 by Roccoriel

[eklavya]

If I don't get my grade for this course together, chances are, they'll revoke my admissions to the PhD program.

being from a similar field, probably i can relate to your problem. so first off, are you planning on attending the phd program at the same school? if yes, then you can start the phd on a provision that you will pass that class another semester/year. if no, then it's little complicated. however, my experiences with most, if not all, grad level classes tell me that NO graduate student is given a failing grade as long as the student is putting effort to do whatever they can to learn the subject material. seriously, i've scored 50% in some of the tests during my MS, and ended up passing the class with an A-. the teachers understand how hard the subject material is, and pre-calculate how much effort they want from each student. as long as the student demonstrates hard work and showing satisfactory improvement, they will not fail the student. the degree of satisfaction varies between us students and the teachers - probably they are way more understanding and lenient when it comes to grading us students if the class is difficult/obnoxious.

my advice is talk to your teacher, and explain your situation (which you are going to do tomorrow). i am sure the teacher will understand what's going on, and maybe grade you differently than your partner. ask the teacher how you can get a passing/better grade - extra work, presentation, and so on. most teachers are understanding, but if this teacher isn't willing to cooperate, talk to your MS advisor, and/or your department. something should work out.

i really feel sorry for your situation. but i hope that you will get a good grade, and will be able to move on to your phd. my best wishes!

[Roccoriel]

Thank you for your good wishes. The PhD is actually at another school, so I really need to do well for this class.

I am going to go to the professor and explain everything tomorrow. I hope he is understanding, like you say, but I am nervous, especially after I emailed him and he told me the best way to improve my grade is to do well on the homework, which, while true, isn't extremely helpful... I've also looked at the second project and it seems to involve more calculating and less writing, so I imagine my partner will be able to help a bit more than she could in the last one. I took the portion of it that involves writing, so she could do the calculations rather than the writing. *fingers crossed* that my meeting with the professor goes well tomorrow, he offers better advice, and my partner is good at math!

[rising_star]

I'm not really clear on your question. Why would a bad grade in one course cause them to revoke your PhD acceptance? Do you know this for sure or are you just guessing?

[Kojo Kgosi]

hi,

she's right I don't think one low grade will cancel your PhD. But if you really want to stick around, prepare a proposal they cannot resist. It must show your worth and the reason why they should not let you go.

[Roccoriel]

I was just guessing, based on them wanting my final transcript from the school I am currently attending. I just assumed that if they wanted that, there was a chance that they'd see the bad grade and boot me out.

Plus, I need this course to have enough credit to get my Master's...so I'm not sure what the PhD program will say when I send my transcript and am all like "Yeah, so you know that Master's I was going to receive this spring....yeah. Not so much."

I think I've learned my lesson about taking tricky electives in other departments.

I'm going to talk with the prof today, explain my situation, and ask where my work needs improvement and if there is any additional work I can do to improve my grade. Although, I am also not sure where the rest of the class stands, grade-wise, so for all I know, I could be okay... Is it fair to ask him if it looks like I am a likely candidate for a B (my dept's required passing grade)? I know percentage doesn't always equal a specific letter grade.

[neuropsychosocial]

Is it fair to ask him if it looks like I am a likely candidate for a B (my dept's required passing grade)? I know percentage doesn't always equal a specific letter grade.

Oh goodness, yes. Professors can get annoyed when students harp on "Does it look like I'll get an A?", but "Does it look like I'll graduate?" is a totally different situation. If you're not already aware of the scale in the class, definitely ask. You may be panicking because your average is a 42, but that might turn out to be an A-. Good luck!

(Obviously I can't speak for your Ph.D. institution, but I can't imagine that a single bad grade would influence your acceptance, as long as you received your degree, your GPA stayed above 3.0, and it didn't indicate a pattern of slacking off. I once heard of a med school acceptance being rescinded for straight Ds in the final semester, but this seems completely different.)

[LJK]

If for some reason the worst happens and you get a grade low enough that your class won't count toward your degree, would you be able to take credits over the summer to finish the credit requirement for the MS? An independent study with your advisor perhaps? Your school will want to graduate you - it would be a waste of their time and yours to have gone through all but ~ 3 credits of an MS and not to finish it. I don't know how your field works but I remember a thread on here about someone who still hadn't finished their pre-PhD institution MS years later - your advisor/home department will likely want to work with you to make sure that doesn't happen.

[rising_star]

I was just guessing, based on them wanting my final transcript from the school I am currently attending. I just assumed that if they wanted that, there was a chance that they'd see the bad grade and boot me out.

The final transcript is usually just to confirm that you've received whatever degree it was you said you would have before you started.

Plus, I need this course to have enough credit to get my Master's...so I'm not sure what the PhD program will say when I send my transcript and am all like "Yeah, so you know that Master's I was going to receive this spring....yeah. Not so much."

What about taking summer research hours or a summer course? I'm just saying that that could (and probably should) be your backup plan in the event that you don't pass this class.

I'm going to talk with the prof today, explain my situation, and ask where my work needs improvement and if there is any additional work I can do to improve my grade. Although, I am also not sure where the rest of the class stands, grade-wise, so for all I know, I could be okay... Is it fair to ask him if it looks like I am a likely candidate for a B (my dept's required passing grade)? I know percentage doesn't always equal a specific letter grade.

Talking to the prof and explaining the situation (worried about whether or not you will be able to graduate) seems like a good idea. Just don't make it come across like you're begging for a grade.

[Roccoriel]

What about taking summer research hours or a summer course? I'm just saying that that could (and probably should) be your backup plan in the event that you don't pass this class.

I think that would be an option, and I would probably do so, if needed. It's just so frustrating that I've been just fine with every other class I took and now, in my last semester, I'm having a hard time with a class that I am taking as an elective. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm freaking out (even though I am). I'm just super frustrated that a class I didn't even have to take might prevent me from graduating on time, especially because I could have taken an extremely easy class instead.

Talking to the prof and explaining the situation (worried about whether or not you will be able to graduate) seems like a good idea. Just don't make it come across like you're begging for a grade.

Yeah, I definitely want to avoid that, but at the same time, I would learn how to do back flips, train tigers, and build a rocket ship to pass this class so I can graduate. I just want to let the professor know that I will improve anything that needs improving and do additional work, if need be, to pass. But I also need to understand the scale of the class, because my grade isn't too far below a percentage B, there's a chance that I am already passing and going out of my mind for no reason. I don't want him to hand me a passing grade, I want to earn it, but at the same time, I need to find out what I'm doing wrong, because I haven't been slacking and feel like I am actually putting extra work into this course (because it is outside what I normally do) and doing worse. I won't say that to him (that I'm putting in extra work and doing worse), because I realize I shouldn't, but it makes the whole situation even more frustrating.

Ah, well, I guess I'll see how my meeting with the prof goes.

Thank you all for your advice

EtA: Another thing I'm not sure if I should mention is that my department requires a B to pass, whereas his department requires a C, on the off chance that he gives me a C, thinking he's passing me, and he's not. Is this something I should mention subtly (as in "I need a B to pass, and I was concerned that I currently seem to be a bit below that. What can I improve or do differently on my assignments, etc")?

Edited March 29, 2011 by Roccoriel

[jynx]

I think the best thing you can do is just be candid about this. Everything you've said sounds completely reasonable to me, and I think if you explain it to your prof the way you've explained it here, you should be fine. Your heart is definitely in the right place, so there is no need to excessively edit yourself. I also think it would be fine to mention that your department requires a B to pass, because that's entirely relevant to your concern about passing.

[Roccoriel]

Thank you all again for your advice.

I am actually passing (whew!), so I am going to work on improving what I need to improve so that maybe I can bring my grade up even higher (so I don't just barely make it). But at least I know that I am currently doing well enough to get my B.