HELP: Spring rush and error on transcript
 

Hello all,

Thank you so much for the advice and help you are about to give me. I am a freshman at a school with a deferred spring rush and I am freaking out because grades were just released and there is a GIANT error on my transcript for one of my grades, which makes my gpa just under what the college requires to participate in recruitment. I know that there is an error, I know the reason is because I missed an exam because of an excused absence (deathly ill with notes from dr. and infirmary) and I believe (due to my calculations) that the missed exam was put in as a "0", instead of just left out which is what my professor had said he would do. The school is on break now and I can't reach my professor. I have emailed every day and called, but no response. When I get back to campus there is only 4 days before rush starts!! This professor keeps very limited office hours, but is super nice and I know once I track her down, it will get fixed, but it will probably take longer than a week or two. I know that it will eventually get fixed and I will be above the minimum gpa required, but I am worried about it all getting changed in the system before rush begins. What do I do???? (fyi..I entered college with a 3.9 high school gpa, and high sat's) I am freaking out and this is absolutely ruining my break as I have wanted to rush a sorority for so long and I have made such great friends going through the fall process of recruitment. I don't think I could accept being kept out of rush because of an error that was not my fault! Please help!!!!!! any advice is appreciated.

It looks like you will have to depend on the teacher getting the grade fixed when the break is over. Once you hear from your professor contact Greek Life office and let them know what is going on.

Sorry this has happened, but try not to let it freak you out too much. It is what it is so concentrate on all of your good qualities during recruitment. While grades are very important they are not the sole factor.

I'm sure the school is essentially closed right now, but there may be a few things you can do. Besides contacting your professor, try contacting your advisor. You can probably also email or call the Greek Life office at your school and explain the situation and ask them for advice. They may have seen this situation before and since recruitment is gearing up, they may be reading emails more frequently. Good luck!

thank you for your response, and the advice to focus on my other qualities. I really appreciate the time you have taken.

My biggest concern is that I will be ABLE to participate in recruitment at all. Will they let me go through rush while it is in the process of getting fixed. From what I have been able to research, there is a lot of paperwork involved in grade changes (even when there is an error) and it takes time. It is out of my hands because it is up to the professor to change it.

I have already gone through all the fall sorority stuff, been with my pi chi group a lot, attended "dates", made a lot of great contacts, etc. I felt really confident going into rush before this issue came to light.

Thanks for your kind words of support..

If you've already begun rushing, let your pi chi know ASAP, as well as the Greek life office. I'm sure similar situations have occurred before.

Another reassuring piece of advice: it is highly probable that the Panhellenic Officers and Greek Life Advisor/Panhellenic Advisor are staying on top of things during the semester break. This is especially true given that recruitment is starting right as spring semester starts. No rest for those ladies. I say this based on the fact that at my campus, they work all summer long, after taking a three-week break just after the spring semester ends. They aren't sitting around popping bon-bons.

What can you do? Write informative, polite emails, request an acknowledgement/response, keep the right parties informed as you hear from the professor re: status of your grade change. Keep things in perspective; do not let this ruin your semester break, holidays, etc.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your encouraging replies. I have just left another message for my professor, and I have emailed my pi chi to keep her in the loop. They couldn't possibly keep me out of recruitment because of this, could they? That would be so devastating to me, emotionally and socially..

If the college requires a minimum GPA, and your official transcript shows that you do not meet that minimum GPA, I think that's a question that you need to have answered by your college.

We can speculate, but that won't really be helpful.

It's really out of your hands now; you have done as much as you can. The worst thing that can happen is that you will not be able to participate in recruitment. You know that already, and obsessing over what you cannot control isn't going to change anything.

Perspective: this is not the most devastating thing in the world. It really isn't.

People are on break, so give it a little time. Go out and do something that will take your mind off this.

I'm pming you with some advice, from a professor's viewpoint.

Call the Dean of Students. If you had a legit family emergency, you should go through them.

It wasn't a family emergency. I was very ill for over a week, severe mono, was told by the infirmary, that i was NOT allowed to attend classes for atleast 48 hours. I think they thought I was contagious. The missing of the exam was already ok'd by the professor and he told me I wouldn't have to make it up. the problem now is that he gave me a "0" and used it to factor in to my final grade. I know it was just a mistake.

Getting it changed is another matter. I don't feel that I should be penalized and not be able to participate in Rush over an ERROR. I feel that would be tremendously unfair to me.

I would go ahead and email your advisor as well, I know that some campuses they are still around this week. Perhaps they could help get in touch with your professor..

Okay, I don't know what school you are at, but I teach at two universities, and I would tell students at either one to go through the Dean of Student's office for this situation. I assume you have some sort of documentation of your illness.

Also, if you have not already, email your professor via his/her school email account and through your grade server/program. Our university uses blackboard and students can email me via blackboard and the messages are sent to my university account. I know that if I made an error in a student's grade, I would be able to correct it until tomorrow evening. After that, I may have to wait until after the new year. How soon is your recruitment? Do you have to report right after the new year or a little later in January?

I have emailed the professor on school email, as it is the only email I have for him. I have also left 2 phone messages. I have contacted my pi chi to alert her of the situation and she has forwarded my emails to the person in charge of the recruitment.

We have 4 days after school starts before rush begins, along with a busy first week of classes. From what I understand, there are lots of forms involved, so if I get it revolved with the professor, it most likely will not be in the system.

I just can't believe they would not allow me to go through RUSH when there is an ERROR involved. It really is not fair at all, as my ACTUAL gpa after the grade change is fine.

I also might add, it is a small school with a not terribly competitive rush, from what I understand last year %92 had bids. I have no idea if that is high or low, as I have not done it before.

^^If this is the case, then most likely your issue won't get lost in the shuffle as it might at a school where 1500 girls go through rush. Like others said, you've done all you can, and you should be able to get it resolved, so just relax.

Also, take the "not terribly competitive" and "92%" figures with a grain of salt. It stops being "ntc" when 20 girls want to get into the sorority you want and the sorority is at total and quota is only 10. Keep an open mind to all the groups.

Thank you for your advice, and I will take it to heart. I will be honest and say that I really don't know a lot about how recruitment works, I am just repeating what others have told me about my school. I am from an area where sororities are not common and I don't have any family members who have been in one, so I am quite a "newbie". I am going into rush (hopefully) with a VERY open mind and I will try my best to be myself and let my personality shine. I have not picked a certain "house" or place where I feel I need to be, although some of the charities interest me more than others, but that would be my only preference criteria at this point.

I still have not heard back from my professor, dept. chair, or head of recruitment. I know that it's break and I will try and be patient. Thanks again for your kind words of support and encouragement.

Informing your Pi Chi was a wise move and it sounds like she has acted on your behalf by contacting those in charge of recruitment.

As for this preventing you from taking part in recruitment, hopefully the decision in how to handle this won't be that drastic, even if it takes several weeks for the grade change to make its way through the school's system and become "official" on your transcript. Maybe Greek Life will accept confirmation from the professor that he made the grade change...you say he's very nice and will remedy this, so maybe he will shoot the director an email stating that your grade in his class was changed from a ___ to a ___. I am not saying this is the for sure solution to your dilemma, but it's a possibility and worth asking about.

I agree that it would be unfair to keep you out of recruitment due to an error on the part of someone else. I would be very shocked if those in your Greek Life office feel differently and blow you off with a "tough luck, kid." So -- try to relax and enjoy the holidays. Accept that you probably won't hear from anyone until at least after Christmas and possibly not until after the new year. You have done all you can do at this point, so give it a rest for the time being.

Do make sure you have documentation of your visit to the infirmary. I am not sure if the Greek Life office just sees your GPA or if they see what you earned in every class...but make sure to print out your actual grades to show Greek Life in the event they only see your GPA. That way, if they accept confirmation from the professor that he has made the grade change, you can show them what you earned in all your other classes as well. This will show them that your GPA flies even if its change is not yet showing up in the system. Best wishes to you!

Thank your for your words of advice and encouragement. I feel I have demonstrated myself to be responsible and proactive in remedying this situation. As soon as I became aware of the Grade Error, I called my professor, backed it up with email. Contacted my pi chi, who contacted head of recruitment. I have since emailed my professor 2 more times (I will stop now until after the holiday) and have forwarded my emails to the dept. chair. I don't know of anything else I could do. What is concerning is the amount of time that has already taken place (I know the holidays isn't helping). It has become obvious to me that it will be a fix that takes time. If it has been over a week and still no email has been returned, I think it is not going to be fixed in the 4 days that I will have to get it done before rush starts. I feel that as long as I have my illness documentation (which I do) and I will copy all my emails and correspondence, etc. that I don't see why they wouldn't let me participate as long as the ball is rolling in the right direction. I am now going to try and relax and enjoy my holiday:) Thank you all for your support. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Yes, you've been very proactive in trying to get this cleared up. I am willing to bet that the slow email response has everything to do with the holidays. As for how long it takes the school to process and post your grade change, it may not take as long as you think. An incorrect grade can impact a student being able to start a subsequent class the following semester, qualify to continue scholarship assistance, or in the case of a senior, even graduate. I like to think that colleges and universities rectify these situations quickly, but could be wrong. Those on here involved in academia, or who have had your same experience, know more about how the internal workings could possibly flow in this case, based on their schools.

Remember, too, Greek Life offices are not about keeping students OUT of recruitment. They want interested, qualified students to have every opportunity for successful outcomes, along with Greek systems that grow and thrive. This is why it's hard for me to imagine them being difficult over an error that is not your fault. I'll be real surprised if they don't work with you on this, i.e. accepting confirmation from the professor and other things I mentioned in the other post.

These things always seem to happen during holidays, summers, breaks and other times when people are hard to reach! I understand the frustration, as I am someone who likes things "settled" right here, right now and with nothing hanging in limbo. Things will be back to "business as usual" soon enough, though, and you can get to work on wrapping this up. In the meantime, rest easy over this and Merry Christmas!

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy holiday time to help guide me with you words of advice. It really is helpful and I wanted to take the time to say a big "Thank You" to all of you that have helped. It means more than you know. It reassures for me my commitment to Rush because I want to part of this amazing group of women.

I am hoping for a quick resolution but from what I've been told, grade changes have a formal process to go through, even for errors, and it takes time so I am not confident that it will be done in time for recruitment, but I feel good with how I've handled it and I really really hope that if they know the process is underway, they will let me continue in recruitment. Also, this professor, although really nice and understanding, is absolutely notorious for being found out of the classroom and reading emails. There are no office hours, etc and only teaches 2 classes so is not on campus very often. So that will work against me. I specified in my phone emails to call me ASAP and schedule an appt so hopefully after the holiday, that will be done.

Again, thanks again for your words of wisdom. One more question, My Pi Chi is aware of the situation, etc. but when I go through recruitment..should I mention it during the "parties" etc.? Any advice is appreciated..

Ummm I would not bring it up in conversation.
One zero on one exam is not enough to put you grades as low as the minimum to go through recruitment unless you werent taking a full courseload or got Cs in other classes too? You might also still be recovering from mono? That can take a toll on your ability to participate in classwork too.
You might want to consider taking a semester to work on your grades?

I'm going to throw out some numbers here. The OP mentioned strong HS grades/SATs, so it's possible that she tested out of some things.

So let's say you're a freshman taking 13 credits- three 3 credit classes and a 4 credit science with a lab, or calculus, or an intensive language class, or whatever. You tested out of things like freshman comp and your non-lab science so you had some room to take a lighter first semester, took an AP science class but didn't test well enough to get out of it but you still felt confident enough to take the college version right off the bat, things like that. You've got two As and a B in your three credit classes, but that lab is really kicking your butt.

With those first nine credits, two As and a B is a 3.66. Let's say now you've got a midterm or a final that's 20-30% of your grade in that lab class. If you've got a shaky B or C in that lab and that big test grade is put in as a zero, you're getting a D and that 3.66 is suddenly a 2.8. If you work hard and pull out a B, you've got a 3.5 and everything is fine. All Bs and a D and you've got a 2.38, all Bs and a C is a 2.69, etc etc. I didn't do spring formal so I don't know what the hard minimum would be from experience, but from reading here it seems like it would be in the 2.5-2.75 range with a 3.0+ recommended?

This is all totally hypothetical and I have no idea what the OP's deal is of course, but it's potentially plausible. Mariemilly, it would be a good idea for you to have strong and positive answers to all of HQWest's questions regardless of the details of your situation. :)

All fair questions, which I don't mind answering. Also, I might add, my college is EXTREMELY rigorous with serious grade delfation. A D is 70, for example. I entered college with 5 Aps, 3.9 honors gpa, and high sat and ACt scores. I have no worries about my potential to be successful in college and graduate school. I am taking a very challenging pre med program with high level chem and bio both with labs. I have taken 4 classes this paste semesters earning the full 16 credits. The class in question has a strange grading system. only 4 grades for the whole semester 3 exams and 10% for one paper. I was not allowed to take one of those tests, so a 0 completely tanked my grade for that class. and in turn, killed my gpa. I got sick with MONO in early NOvember, right at mid terms. I didn't know I had mono at the time, but I was sicker than a dog. I went to class none the less. Did it effect my classwork, of course it did. I am after all only human. About a week after getting sicker and sicker, I fainted one day getting out of the shower. I ended up in the infirmary that morning and was given orders from the DR. to go back to my room and stay there for atleast 48 hours, no classes at all. I was devasted but too sick to worry at the time. After thanksgiving I was diagnosed with mono and am actually just now feeling better. I am still on medicine and have to go have my spleen checked before I head back to school. My Dr. scared my mom because i was much sicker than I thought. I am not asking for preferential treatment. I just don't want my ERROR on my gpa to keep me out of rushing. I would be devastated as my best friends are rushing etc. and I am passionate about joining a sorority. Do I think this past semester is an indicator on how well I will do in college: Absolutely not! I can't believe that I busted my butt all through high school and just because I got sick, it's all for nothing. Also, I was told to expect an adjustment period and that not to expect the same grades that I got in high school, so I was happy that I actually got the grades i did, considering how sick I was for over a month. I just want the error to be dealt with which will give me over the minimum to participate in recruitment. It might just happen that I get cut because of my grades anyway, there is nothing I can do about that I guess. I am very heart sick over this past semester, not because I am lazy or stupid, etc. I know I'm smart and have a lot to offer, I just got sick at the wrong time and the wrong place. The original question was: Will this error on my GPA keep me out of recruitment..if the answer to that question is "YES", then I will be devastated and I truly feel that it is unfair and not very welcoming or "sisterly" at all. I have felt so much support and love from all of the sorority functions that I have attended that I am now shocked that these are the same people that rip the rug out from under me. I just can't make sense of it all and am looking for guidance since my school is closed and I can't get anything done to remedy this. Thanks for your time.
'

Q.F.P.

Step away from the keyboard.

Grade deflation? Haha I think it sounds more like being in college. High school was waaaayyyyy easier. Now you are starting to sound like someone who blames everything on everyone else.

My school doesn't have a minimum to rush but has a suggested GPA since most won't end up successful without it. That GPA is lower than a lot of the house minimums so even if a PNM has that suggested GPA she can still get dropped by a lot of houses for grades. This can still happen to you to even if they correct your grade and you make the school minimum, so just be aware of that too.

Jinx, buy me a coke (or coffee to go with the cinnamon sweet rolls I'm baking for Christmas? Delicious. The Pioneer Woman is my North Star of late).

Disregarding most of that, this
has been a pretty normal grading system in my experience. Sure, professors will assign other things and suggest study/practice material, but the actual grading has been just a few big exams/papers.

advice well taken..I probably should not be responding to posts using my phone while riding in the back of a car at 1:00 am, lesson learned.

As for the grade deflation, I had never even heard that term before, but a professor at my school mentioned it to me. Apparently my school is quite well known for it.

Actually, I have found my college classes to be on par with my AP classes. Challenging, but very manageable.

I think this post took a side turn, because I am not blaming my grades on anybody but myself. My last post probably sounded a little whiny..I apologize. The original question was due to an error that was not my fault. Complicated by my illness, of course.

I am not looking for special treatment, or to "bend" the rules at all. I just want my transcript to be truthful.

Happy Holidays Everyone and thanks again for your words of wisdom..

Mariemilly -- let us know how it all works out. I hope it gets resolved, and think it will since it is a legit error. Wishing you a great recruitment!

I did not think anyone was being disrespectful. I think they were trying to be honest. High school students that do well compete to get in to the best school where there are other good students. Then they seem surprised that their grades are not as good because now they are an average student at a top school. (This would be one of the reasons many "top" schools like the idea of deferred recruitment.)

So just a reminder - there might be good chapters willing to take a grade risk that had a bad semester - but not a grade risk and a bad attitude....

point well taken and I apologize if came off as whiny as complaining. It has been a stressful couple of weeks.. I live very close to Newtown CT and the sadness is immense everywhere you go. It is like a dark cloud has descended upon us and nothing will ever be the same. I know my problems are small compared to what others are experiencing, but in my little corner of the world at school, it is a problem with huge consequences and I just want to be able to fix it... I apologize if I have given anyone a bad impression.. Happy Holidays to everyone!