Can a Prof. Do This? Forum

[npe]

Just got my grade back for a 9-person 2L class. 8 of us (including me) got an A-. One person got a B+.

Has anyone heard of professors just not giving A's to anyone in the class? Seems pretty BS to me. It's also not like the class was full of slackers, where nobody deserved an A. I plan to take this up with the registrar, but does anyone have any advice before I go on the offense on Monday?

[PirateCap'n]

Just got my grade back for a 9-person 2L class. 8 of us (including me) got an A-. One person got a B+.

Has anyone heard of professors just not giving A's to anyone in the class? Seems pretty BS to me. It's also not like the class was full of slackers, where nobody deserved an A. I plan to take this up with the registrar, but does anyone have any advice before I go on the offense on Monday?

Definitely depends on the school. At my school, nobody has to receive an A (or A+ or A-) -- profs just have to meet a numerical 85 average/curve in any manner that they choose (meaning that the professor could give the entire class an 85).

[splitmuch]

Just got my grade back for a 9-person 2L class. 8 of us (including me) got an A-. One person got a B+.

Has anyone heard of professors just not giving A's to anyone in the class? Seems pretty BS to me. It's also not like the class was full of slackers, where nobody deserved an A. I plan to take this up with the registrar, but does anyone have any advice before I go on the offense on Monday?

You mean have a class GPA of 3.65? I dunno that does seem ridiculously unfair for all the people who took real classes.

[blurbz]

I think you need to find out what the curve at your school is for upper level classes and if it's mandatory. If it is mandatory and your class needs adjusting, they might adjust it (but I wouldn't even count on that; I think they'd be more likely to tell the prof to be more careful next time). If the curve is not mandatory, then you're just out of luck.

Be careful, too: If the prof needs to adjust the grades and you happen to be one of the lower A-Minus recipients you might end up with a lower grade....

[goodolgil]

You're gonna go to the Registrar when you got an A- in the class?

[3ThrowAway99]

That sounds to me like BS grading, but at least it sounds like you may not be personally harmed by it (unless your work was truly stellar and would have yielded an A or A+ if prof had decided to give them).

At my school I heard there is one prof (who is now a high-ranking admin member at the school as well) who gets around the mandatory distribution (of only up to 30% A range per class) by giving students incompletes and then being able to give everyone an A after a certain wait period. I heard this from a classmate so I'm not sure it is 100% accurate, but I would be surprised if she was just making it up or completely wrong about the prof doing this (or something like it). She was thrilled by it (and taking him for a bunch of classes for the 'guaranteed A'); I didn't say so to her, but it really pissed me off to hear that. 'Helping' his students in that way would obviously be directly hurting others. The prof is apparently a well-known scholar, but I didn't get the best impression of him during a lecture he gave to the school, and hearing that hasn't helped what I think of him.

[uzpakalis]

You're gonna go to the Registrar when you got an A- in the class?

[npe]

You're gonna go to the Registrar when you got an A- in the class?

Here, yes. It was a 9-person class, and the whole grade was based on presentations and such, so it was easy to see where everyone fell. I was confident that I should have gotten an A, and pretty surprised that the lowest grade was a B+.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'll look into the grading guidelines and see what I can do. It may not be actionable, but at the very least, it's definitely "BS grading," as Lawquacious said.

[prezidentv8]

I was confident that I should have gotten an A, and pretty surprised that the lowest grade was a B+.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'll look into the grading guidelines and see what I can do. It may not be actionable, but at the very least, it's definitely "BS grading," as Lawquacious said.

Somebody takes school super srsly.

[Gideon Strumpet]

I am betting your school has a policy that only requires the professor to follow the curve in classes over a certain size. With a tiny class, they can usually do any damn thing they want. One class at my school third year, some crotchety old bastard just gave each of us in his seminar a random unpronounceable symbol. You wouldn't know it to look at them, but it turns out these guys take that whole "academic freedom" business seriously. I predict you get zero traction with the registrar on your complaint.

[goodolgil]

The uncurved class giveth, and the uncurved class taketh away.

[Holly Golightly]

I am betting your school has a policy that only requires the professor to follow the curve in classes over a certain size. With a tiny class, they can usually do any damn thing they want. One class at my school third year, some crotchety old bastard just gave each of us in his seminar a random unpronounceable symbol. You wouldn't know it to look at them, but it turns out these guys take that whole "academic freedom" business seriously. I predict you get zero traction with the registrar on your complaint.

lolwut. How do they factor that into your GPA?

[maf70]

...

[09042014]

The uncurved class giveth, and the uncurved class taketh away.

The class average was 3.65. That's pretty fucking generous no matter where you are.

[goodolgil]

That's the "giveth" part.

[09042014]

That's the "giveth" part.

Ah, gotcha.

[npe]

I predict you get zero traction with the registrar on your complaint.

I predict you're right, but no harm trying. Oh well, beer is taking most of the frustration away anyway. Mostly I just needed to vent. Thanks folks.

[World B. Free]

where do I sign up?

[Borhas]

I predict you get zero traction with the registrar on your complaint.

I predict you're right, but no harm trying. Oh well, beer is taking most of the frustration away anyway. Mostly I just needed to vent. Thanks folks.

give it 1 star in yelp

[09042014]

I predict you get zero traction with the registrar on your complaint.

I predict you're right, but no harm trying. Oh well, beer is taking most of the frustration away anyway. Mostly I just needed to vent. Thanks folks.

You'll look like a retard trying. So that's a decent reason.

[Cupidity]

Your best wasn't good enough to impress. Deal with it.

[soaponarope]

Your best wasn't good enough to impress. Deal with it.

+1. What a douche... going to the registrar to bitch about an A-.

[BarbellDreams]

I always joke with people and say that I'm not greedy so if they wanna just give me all A-'s I will gladly sign off on a paper saying I am fine never even being considered for an A. Sounds like it was one of "those" classes and you got a nice gift of an A-. Live with it.

[uzpakalis]

OP, what is wrong with you?

[LSATfromNC]

Please tell me you are at UNC. If so, I'm registering!