I am doing really well in my program, had a 90% at the time this happened as well as good relationships with instructors and students, but something personal happened in my life and I could no longer finish the lab portion of my course. In a meeting with the program director, they told me I would be removed from the program after this semester ended and that I could reapply a year later. For my current course, I was told that:
A: I have an option of taking a “W” on my transcript which can be offered up to the end of the course, or at best a “D” if I chose to stay and finish the course
- In the meeting I asked the director which one would be better for academic purposes, they referred me to speak to my professors about that.
B: I would not get a refund because that date has expired, but the instructor signed Withdrawal period lasts until the end of the course
- I agreed, and asked if it would be okay to keep going to lecture to get the experience while I gathered information to make an informed decision, and they said this was okay.
It’s been a stressful and difficult time as I have never faced anything like this before and have never received a D in my life. I didn’t know which option would be worse for my current scholarships/students loans/future applications. It took time to facilitate meetings with both of my professors, academic advising, financial aid. It was four weeks later that I finally had a meeting with my professor and they say the “W” option is no longer available, I would have to take a “D” or a “Y” (withdrawal fail). Their reason for not offering the “W” is because I clearly chose to stay in the course, when to my understanding, I was only acting in good faith as to what I understood was agreed upon in meeting, that I could attend lecture for the experience while I sought out the information to make an informed decision.
Do I have a case for appeal here?
*Edited to be more precise with details/policy and remove fluff and unnecessary information
thanks to those who pointed that out
Comments
If you keep going to class, I’m going to assign you the grade that the university stipulates, which is not a “W”.
You chose the risk option (at best a D) and ended up with a worse grade.
There are deadlines and restrictions put into place, which you ignored taking your sweet time making a decision. It’s never open ended. Your academic calendar spells this out.
Unfortunately you assumed the W and D options were open to you at any point during the semester. The “W” is only available until a certain date (in most universities).
I am sorry, there is no appeal here. You chose to stay without actively saying you want to withdraw. No taking action was, in this case, a decision to remain in the course
Nope. You chose to attend class and not withdraw. 4 weeks is a long time to make a decision, and since you atrended class it’s quite reasonable that your decision was to stay in the class. Lesson learned: communicate. Never assume. Especially at the graduate level. We expect a small degree of personal responsibility and proactive communication. You made your choice and must now deal with the consequences.
>I continued to go to class for the experience as discussed
Everywhere I’ve been, this means that you would no longer be eligible for the W after a certain date. The decision point was like…1-2 days after the conversation with the professor.
An appeal or exception of this policy would require some extenuating circumstances. I have supported these appeals in the past where a student has been really trying to make it work but they e.g., keep ending up back in the hospital for a chronic condition (but have been engaged and trying up to that point) and just narrowly miss the date cutoff by a couple weeks.
There’s probably not grounds for an appeal here. A W isn’t a tool to let people attempt a course (or the majority of a course) and then bail out to avoid getting an F…otherwise everyone would do this.
>Should I escalate this issue to the director’s superior first for a potentially quicker resolution…
Look up the appeals process at your school if you want to appeal. The general approach of “talking to a manager” doesn’t apply here the way people often think it does. You’ve already escalated it once above the professor by talking to the director. “Just keep going up the chain until I get the answer I want” is not a winning strategy long term.
You can of course try to appeal, but it’s very unlikely to work.
Check the official student handbooks and rules, see what the rules are regarding withdrawing from individual courses or completely from a semester. That’s what you should expect (and that’s probably what they are offering you now). Arguing for more isn’t going to accomplish much except piss them off.
It sounds like there was a miscommunication. You asked if you could continue attending in the sense of, like, auditing the class. You were asking to keep going so you could absorb the material since you’ve already paid for the course, but make a decision about withdrawal later. The administrator understood “can I keep attending for the experience?” as “can I stay enrolled and take the D? I’d prefer the experience to the withdrawal.”
You should have asked if you could continue the class to gain knowledge and understanding for the future but should have stressed, as an Audit of the class.
You do have options. Depending on the family situation your advisor could have allowed for additional time. There is typically a contract which is signed by you, the advisor and Academic Affairs and they place time restraints and also potentially will give a short extension after the 1st.
You can also go to the school to request to have the grade and course removed. You have to fill out an application with the college and you can choose to have between 4-6 classes removed. I had to help a student complete his application. The application was detailed, but was not overly hard and about 2ish weeks later he received a letter showing the grades being removed. The letter explained this option would not be a continual thing and provided directions to resources on campus to help avoid this situation in the future.
So, I will not say you have an appeal option, but colleges and universities have several options available to help their students. Some schools are better initiating the help than others are
At my school you have to withdraw yourself in the computer system, whether you go to class or not.