Freaking out about a grade...any advice?

[Francophile1]

Hello all!

 

Just received one of my grades for a lit class, and it is a B, and after having read many forums on how B's are bad, really frustrated!

 

I am in a foreign language department, but we do not have here A- grades, so our options are A, B+, B, C+,C. This is my first semester in the Ma program.

 

How bad is this?

This class was taught by a foreign professor from abroad and it was not clear at all (as other students noted as well). But what is done is done. I just need to know now if this is really as bad as I think it is.

 

ANy advice? From humanitities fields or others?

[PsychGirl1]

Depends on the program... my adviser actually told me if I have an A average, I might be working too hard on my classes (versus research), whereas if I have a B-/C+ average, I need to work harder on my classes. So it's really program/field-dependent as to how much people care about those grades, what they are used for, etc. I'd try talking to other people in your dept (older students if possible).

[Loric]

The further you get away from the hard sciences the less a lower grade means to anyone of importance. I'd say the far end is art/theater where you're essentially expected to have failed dramatically at some point as a learning experience in and of itself. You'll also find most of the profs who wont give anyone an A because "no one's perfect" in those areas.

 

If you're really concerned, you should talk to your advisor. Everything i've heard says that a B is a baseline to keep funding and continue in many programs. Why other grades even exist beyond that if that's how they decide failure really just baffles me.. but ask your advisor if you're worried.

 

You should have any terms of a contract or funding spelled out very clearly somewhere.

[TakeruK]

The further you get away from the hard sciences the less a lower grade means to anyone of importance. I'd say the far end is art/theater where you're essentially expected to have failed dramatically at some point as a learning experience in and of itself. You'll also find most of the profs who wont give anyone an A because "no one's perfect" in those areas.

 

If you're really concerned, you should talk to your advisor. Everything i've heard says that a B is a baseline to keep funding and continue in many programs. Why other grades even exist beyond that if that's how they decide failure really just baffles me.. but ask your advisor if you're worried.

 

You should have any terms of a contract or funding spelled out very clearly somewhere.

 

It may not be a good idea to generalise grading in the hard sciences in this way. While it's true that a failing grade is hardly ever a good thing in the hard sciences, the goal in our grad programs isn't to get all As and A+'s either. Grades are also produced/awarded differently I think. Unless the student did not complete the work at all, when a student gets a failing grade in the hard sciences, I would see it as a sign that the instructor has failed in some way. 

 

In my hard science graduate program, professors constantly tell us that we should not worry about getting As. Getting a B but spending a few hours per week more on research is more preferable than getting an A. Of course, they would say this since they pay us to do research, not take classes, but ultimately it's in our own best interests too--few post-PhD positions will want to see our transcripts.

 

In my opinion, grades are good for indicating a student's level of mastery of the course material and I would award an A to any student who masters everything I wanted the student to learn. So, if I am 100% successful at my job, every one of my student should have an A (i.e. an A isn't "perfect" to me, it means "meets all standards"). But I know another school of thought awards letter grades to distinguish/comparatively rank students against the class.

 

At the graduate level though, I agree with you, Loric, that passing vs. failing really is the only important outcome of a class, especially in the hard sciences. Some graduate programs do only award Pass or Not-Pass/Fail and I think that's probably the way all graduate classes should go. There is no need to recognize or reward going beyond a "Pass" in a graduate class, in my opinion. 

 

But we're digressing into grade philosophy! For the OP, definitely check the "fine print" in all of your fellowship or offer letter materials. You should also talk to people in your actual program, rather than worrying about what people on the forums say about what each grade means because as I mentioned above, many different programs do it many different ways! 

[Seeking]

To give another perspective, I have seen quite a few Art History and Fine Art students from different schools who have got only As and A-s and when I talk to them, I find them very average in their understanding of their subjects - which means that their grades are highly inflated. And this includes the crop from the Ivies.

 

To Francophile1, a letter grade has different meanings in different departments and also in different schools. So, you need to talk to your Advisor or Graduate Co-ordinator about it to get a perspective on this. Normally, B should not be too bad if you're making a GPA above 3.7.

[sansao]

Francophile1, you didn't mention if you're in a Master's or PhD program, which could make a difference as to how a grade or your GPA could affect your future.

 

I've never heard of a program where a B is the end of the line or anything like that.  But it is generally equivalent to getting a C in undergrad (at least in my program, and the others where I made it far enough to read their graduate student manuals).  I would take it to mean that you completed graduate level work at a level acceptable for passing a course, but that the instructor thinks you could (and probably should) manage even higher-level work, and is trying to let you know that you need to work a bit harder and/or spend some additional time studying.

 

Some schools/departments may want you to apply for certain fellowships/awards down the line, and you may need a 3.7 or 3.8 GPA to be competitive for these. Even if you're not required to do so, receiving an award like this could make your life (and possibly your advisor's as well) a lot easier in a year or two.  It could mean the difference between that type of funding and having to TA/RA for 5+ years consecutively.

[VioletAyame]

Francophile1, you didn't mention if you're in a Master's or PhD program, which could make a difference as to how a grade or your GPA could affect your future.

 

I've never heard of a program where a B is the end of the line or anything like that.  But it is generally equivalent to getting a C in undergrad (at least in my program, and the others where I made it far enough to read their graduate student manuals).  I would take it to mean that you completed graduate level work at a level acceptable for passing a course, but that the instructor thinks you could (and probably should) manage even higher-level work, and is trying to let you know that you need to work a bit harder and/or spend some additional time studying.

 

Some schools/departments may want you to apply for certain fellowships/awards down the line, and you may need a 3.7 or 3.8 GPA to be competitive for these. Even if you're not required to do so, receiving an award like this could make your life (and possibly your advisor's as well) a lot easier in a year or two.  It could mean the difference between that type of funding and having to TA/RA for 5+ years consecutively.

 

S/he did, "This is my first semester in the Ma program." Would it be better or worse then? I would think apart of the value of the grade itself, the Master GPA also impacts his/her chance of getting into a Ph.D program in the future if s/he so chooses?

[sansao]

S/he did, "This is my first semester in the Ma program." Would it be better or worse then? I would think apart of the value of the grade itself, the Master GPA also impacts his/her chance of getting into a Ph.D program in the future if s/he so chooses?

 

Ah, so s/he did.  Clearly, I'm super attentive.     But yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking - that the Master's GPA could make a difference, depending on the competitiveness of the programs of interest (or possibly just in general).  For all of that though, I don't think one B is going to be the end of the world, unless the program specifically states that in the curriculum.  If there's a real concern, consult your advisor.  Otherwise, I would just take it as an indicator that more effort is required in future classes.

[Loric]

Every time I scroll past the title of this thread my guy reaction is to reply: "Get over it."

 

As said, it's not a big deal.

[Guest |||]

Every time I scroll past the title of this thread my guy reaction is to reply: "Get over it."

 

I think your advise escapes you. 

Edited January 4, 2014 by |||

[Francophile1]

So just to follow up on this...turned out to be a big deal! Basically was told one B is ok but no more! So it seems to be a big nono:(

[bsharpe269]

The further you get away from the hard sciences the less a lower grade means to anyone of importance. I'd say the far end is art/theater where you're essentially expected to have failed dramatically at some point as a learning experience in and of itself. You'll also find most of the profs who wont give anyone an A because "no one's perfect" in those areas.

 

To add to this discussion of hard sciences vs arts, I am in a hard science and As are expected. A couple Bs is fine but a B means that you understand less than 90% of the material which is definitely a problem in the sciences. I can see where humanies and arts might be more accepting of Bs since grading is more subjective anyway.

 

To the OP, a B wont kill you. Like others said, maintaining a 3.7-3.8 is important but a B every other semester or so shouldnt be a huge deal, no matter what the field.

[Vene]

To add to this discussion of hard sciences vs arts, I am in a hard science and As are expected. A couple Bs is fine but a B means that you understand less than 90% of the material which is definitely a problem in the sciences. I can see where humanies and arts might be more accepting of Bs since grading is more subjective anyway.

 

To the OP, a B wont kill you. Like others said, maintaining a 3.7-3.8 is important but a B every other semester or so shouldnt be a huge deal, no matter what the field.

I got in without any problems with a couple of Cs and I'm in basically the same field as you are. Granted, those were during my sophomore year and I both raised my GPA and gotten work experience since then, but wasn't lead to believe it was a problem during interviews. It could have been a problem if I was dead set on a place like Stanford, but that's a different discussion entirely.

[bsharpe269]

I got in without any problems with a couple of Cs and I'm in basically the same field as you are. Granted, those were during my sophomore year and I both raised my GPA and gotten work experience since then, but wasn't lead to believe it was a problem during interviews. It could have been a problem if I was dead set on a place like Stanford, but that's a different discussion entirely.

 

I am working on my masters so I more mean for that level. I agree that at the undergrad level, grades can be a bit lower without a problem. I plan to apply to phd programs from here and I think that more than a couple of Bs during the masters could decrease my chances a bit. It does of course also vary with experience and the weight that schools and advisors put on specific aspects of the application.

[Vene]

I am working on my masters so I more mean for that level. I agree that at the undergrad level, grades can be a bit lower without a problem. I plan to apply to phd programs from here and I think that more than a couple of Bs during the masters could decrease my chances a bit. It does of course also vary with experience and the weight that schools and advisors put on specific aspects of the application.

I can't really speak for the important of different grades for somebody moving from a MS program to a PhD program.

[Vene]

I got in without any problems with a couple of Cs and I'm in basically the same field as you are. Granted, those were during my sophomore year and I both raised my GPA and gotten work experience since then, but wasn't lead to believe it was a problem during interviews. It could have been a problem if I was dead set on a place like Stanford, but that's a different discussion entirely.

I can't really speak for the important of different grades for somebody moving from a MS program to a PhD program.

I realize now that I totally forgot what section this topic is under. Ignore everything I said in here.