I understand that teachers do different things—I attended another state school b/f while I was working on contract in that particular state and found Orgo I to be the most challenging—went to my professor’s office hrs when I can—studied hard—got a B+…difference: there was quizzes and a curve to help which such a hard subject. This school however…i tried the same approach–even gave up the mcats to help focus on this subject…tried to meet this professor to understand him–he refused…funny the only people with B’s were those who has him b/f…other students got out past the drop with military excuses ( I wish I was in the military )–i just wanted to be done as strong as I could. My Professor claims that other professor who uses multiple choice on half their exams are lazy ( other orgo teachers at this school)…he wants us to think through—this man works for the government and the questions he asked were on PHd levels–seriously—I was like --what? only the straight forward mechanism would be what I get right—there was mass spec questions and ir every exam and he expected us to memorizes every signal—everything where as other professor for this same semester during the day gave it to their students–again–he thinks they are lazy…my whole thing is that we are returning adults with lives—he only teached 3 hrs once a week—he just refused to come out of his way to be on campus when he doesn’t need to and that is what I am fighting…everytime I go to class–it’s a 2hr+ commute andI attended classes 4 x a week…and I pay a professor to be there…I spoke out to my premed counselor --she wants me to go to the program director…now the fun is about to begin…
I was suppose to apply next month–now I have to see what my advisor thinks about everything…
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I understand that teachers do different things—I attended another state school b/f while I was working on contract in that particular state and found Orgo I to be the most challenging—went to my professor’s office hrs when I can—studied hard—got a B+…difference: there was quizzes and a curve to help which such a hard subject. This school however…i tried the same approach–even gave up the mcats to help focus on this subject…tried to meet this professor to understand him–he refused…funny the only people with B’s were those who has him b/f…other students got out past the drop with military excuses ( I wish I was in the military )–i just wanted to be done as strong as I could. My Professor claims that other professor who uses multiple choice on half their exams are lazy ( other orgo teachers at this school)…he wants us to think through—this man works for the government and the questions he asked were on PHd levels–seriously—I was like --what? only the straight forward mechanism would be what I get right—there was mass spec questions and ir every exam and he expected us to memorizes every signal—everything where as other professor for this same semester during the day gave it to their students–again–he thinks they are lazy…my whole thing is that we are returning adults with lives—he only teached 3 hrs once a week—he just refused to come out of his way to be on campus when he doesn’t need to and that is what I am fighting…everytime I go to class–it’s a 2hr+ commute andI attended classes 4 x a week…and I pay a professor to be there…I spoke out to my premed counselor --she wants me to go to the program director…now the fun is about to begin…
I was suppose to apply next month–now I have to see what my advisor thinks about everything…
Hi there,
As others have suggested, be sure to do a total inventory of your performance in this class before you go to your program director. Your organic chem class does not sound any different from my organic chem class. I was not fond of organic chemistry but I got it done by finding a way to make it practical. It wasn’t easy but it was doable.
Don’t play the memorization card anywhere. You have to memorize so many useless things in medical school, you will be praying for undergraduate. You 2-hour commute might have had something to do with your performance. It is very difficult to do that much driving and study for anything (even Basketweaving 101 much less organic chemistry)efficiently. That’s a very difficult situation.
Your professor not having office hours or refusing to meet with you is a problem. Did other students have difficulty with this situation? If so, then you need to have some input from them. Was anyone able to do well in the class? If so, find out how they were able to master this class.
Otherwise, there is virtually no way to force a professor to change a grade. One of the prices that you pay for academic freedom is that your university hired this professor and gave him the freedom to teach and conduct his classes and grading in any manner as long as he was teaching the course material. It sounds like he did teach the material. If he was inadequate, the university has the option of not renewing his contract. The price of all of this is that you as a student suffered the loss and it was incumbent upon you to address the problem as soon as it arose and not after you received a D in the course.
Sorry that you did not do well but you face a battle that may be long and hard to deal with. I hope you have the time and the energy. Good luck and try to find a way to take this course where you can have a more meaningful academic experience.
njbmd
Here is it…
Now whether or not this is a cover up --who knows but these people have confirmed that I have a case ( I believe) that this professor did violate university policies. I go in and this director was awaiting my arrival…very strange (because I am still awaiting for an appointment since Sep. she never called back on), had already talked to the prof. and everything and I am wondering if it’s b/c my attorney is on board on this but whatever. She tells me that she feel sorry for what happens but she want to make me a “DEAL”–redflag–I can retake the class over–free- and the D will be gone off my transcript and replaced by the new grade and I need not take the lab over–the twist–My application will be pushed back to next year b/c this teacher is the only teacher for the evening program-which means Apring 2005…she also tells me that this is not publicized but she has done this b/f–for the same prof.'s student? Then she quickly typed an email confirming this agreement then sending a cc to me. I am wondering they know that he is clearly wrong but it’s better to hush me I suppose then rid of him…I have requested an appointment with the premed advisor again and may have to take this to the Dean…but does all this seem weird? Today was a really weird day but it assures me that once again—always trust my instincts …
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she want to make me a “DEAL”–redflag–I can retake the class over–free- and the D will be gone off my transcript and replaced by the new grade and I need not take the lab over–the twist–My application will be pushed back to next year b/c this teacher is the only teacher for the evening program-which means Apring 2005…
That is indeed an interesting story, and I agree, it sounds like they have had to deal with this before. (Shame on them that this is the best solution they can offer when clearly they have a faculty member who should not be employed there - but it may be that they’ve been unable to find another faculty member to replace him, and they are committed to offering o-chem. But anyway…)
There are several different issues you need to separate out here. You seem most concerned with the delay in your application. Quite frankly, I remain extremely skeptical that you would be able to make a successful application this year - I know this is what you’ve been working toward, but you need to acknowledge that it would be quite a feat to even get an interview offer with a D in a prerequisite course and an overall sub-par GPA. The other thing about applying now is, you haven’t given your o-chem learning the “acid test” yet of the MCAT, either - and so I submit that it is very hard for you to know if you’ve learned what you need to know in o-chem given the circumstances of the class you’ve just finished.
I do think that you need to consider very seriously whether you will be able to learn what you need to know by taking a course from this same professor again. Free is nice - but if it doesn’t help you LEARN the material AND get a good grade, it is worth exactly what you are paying for it, which is nothing.
On the other hand, if you’ve got ANY chance of doing substantially better taking it again, the offer to remove that D from your transcript is solid gold. There are lots of folks on this board who would gladly postpone their application for a year if they could do that kind of damage control.
Good for you that you took it to them and put them on notice that their services were, to say the least, inadequate. You got a surprising concession out of them - now the trick is to figure out what to do with that.