Professor said rounding my 79.1 would be unfair to other students, but she rounded another student. should I appeal?
I just finished a class and ended with a 79.1, while an 80.0 is required for a B. I emailed my professor respectfully asking if there was any possibility of reconsidering my final grade because I was less than one point away.
She said no and wrote:
“Per the syllabus, there is no extra credit. It would simply be unfair for me to allow a student to improve their grade after the semester has ended, since there are other students in similar situations (i.e., close to the cutoff for the next letter grade).”
I understand that reasoning, and if the policy is applied equally to everyone, I don’t really have an issue with it.
The problem is that my friend in the same class emailed her for the same reason, and she agreed to bump his grade up. So now I’m confused because she specifically told me it would be unfair to allow one student to improve their grade after the semester ended, but from what I was told, that is exactly what happened for another student.
I already contacted my professor directly to try to resolve the matter, but she refused. When asking why another student had special treatment, she cited grading policies that are not in the syllabus. At this point, my concern is less about the 0.9 itself and more about consistency and fairness. I pay a lot of money to attend Rutgers, and I expect to be subject to the same treatment and grading standards as every other student.
I’m not asking for special treatment. I’m asking why one student was allegedly given an exception while I was told the syllabus does not allow exceptions and that doing so would be unfair.
Since I already tried to resolve it with the professor, the next step would be going to the department. Would it be reasonable to submit a departmental grade appeal based on inconsistent application of the grading policy, or should I just leave it alone and move on?