Failed my COSC Cornerstone.

[GoodYellowDogs]

Appeal it - you have nothing to lose. Pull yourself up, brush yourself off, and get back in the game.

Thanks for the form bldclot2! I definitely give it a try. I kept the doctor's note for my work absences, so I have that, at least. My instructor has been very considerate and helpful, so I hope she doesn't get offended. I never saw the late work policy that I said anything about final papers, so I assumed it was the same as for regular assignments. (up to six days with point deductions).

Either way, I don't have a problem taking the class over, but it's kinda of a wasted effort since I would be turning in the same assignments. Thanks for your help and encouragement!

[mobiusbox]

Thanks for all your help, folks!

I emailed my advisor and asked for her take on the situation, plus I have my appeal form ready to go, pending her response. I'm at 79% in the grading scale, which is a D but on the brink of being a C. I don't expect to get an A for a late paper, but if some of the points were applied, that would at least be passing.

I'll keep everyone updated. I have never done an appeal, so I'm a little hesitant. But it definitely is worth a shot.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Stay in the game! You've come too far already. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Charter Oak's advisors are fantastic and will work hard for you. Of course they work for the school and uphold school policies, but meet them halfway, etc.

It's common to read here about advising at TESC, where apparently for any given phone call or email you deal with whichever advisor receives it out of the pool. At Charter Oak each student has an assigned individual advisor. I've only heard of, and personally experienced, great things from CO's advising team.

[mrs.b]

I hope the appeal works in your favor, but whatever the outcome, look at it as a lesson learned rather than a personal failure. You did not get sick on purpose, or neglect the assignment in favor of a shopping trip. For your next go 'round, you know to a) try to stay ahead of due dates for these unforeseen eventualities that will come up, b) communicate with your course mentor if something interferes with timelines to see if you can be allowed wiggle room, and c) if push comes to shove, turn an assignment in incomplete because some points are always better than none. I doubt many of us made it through the process without at least one hiccup, so consider this yours and move on.

Take a look a year or so into the future, and imagine how disappointed in yourself you'll be if you let this setback stop you completely. Dust yourself off, and do better next time. Can't wait to see your "I'm done!" message!

[mobiusbox]

Well, I did finally get a resolution to this. After receiving a notification from one of the deans, saying that I had failed the class...I asked my advisor about the appeal process and she actually called my instructor to work it out. How awesome is that?!? My advisor told me that my instructor was aware of my situation and that she was willing to work with me for a reduced grade.

I had all of my documentation from work and the doctor ready to go, as well as the appeal form that bldclot2 posted. However, my instructor told me that it was not necessary as long as I worked with her to resolve it as soon-as-possible. The end result was that my paper was graded at a 93% (my academic formatting could use some polishing) and knocked down 10% (the standard for any work that is late in the cornerstone class). That brought my final grade from a D to a B for the semester.

I can't thank my instructor enough. She was very kind about the whole thing. I was majorly worried that she was going to be upset or offended esp. since this happened smack-dab in the middle of the holidays, but she was very understanding. In the future, I hope that they post the late finals policy somewhere in BlackBoard, so that if an emergency or illness happens the students can take that into account. Otherwise, like me, they might think they can turn finals papers/projects in a little late with a minor penalty, instead of a failing grade.

Despite the screwy policy, I can say...I am very smitten with Charter Oak thus far. It has been a very positive experience and I might even graduate this time around! Ha. I have never had so much great communication from a school, ever, not my whole entire life. At another school, if something like this happened I wouldn't have even had the chance to explain, it would have been a ton of paperwork and no resolution. I was expecting the worst from this school too, but I'm glad I took all of your advice to be an adult and simply deal with it.

It seems like Charter Oak is very laid back in the sense that there is not the hellacious amount of paper shuffle for administrative stuff. Plus, every one I have dealt with ACTUALLY CARES. It also helps that I haven't dealt with anyone that doesn't have a doctorate of some kind, which wasn't always the case at my brick and mortar schools. They have been simply wonderful and so glad I didn't have to "battle" an instructor that I have high respects for.

Once bitten, twice shy...but I'm pretty sure I've found my school to finish up my undergrad degree (hopefully!).

I love Charter Oak. What a great school.

[defscarlett]

Congrats! that's fantastic news!

Good luck with the rest of your degree, you'll do great things

[rvm]

Congratulations! So glad you got it worked out. I had always heard COSC has great customer service, now we see it's not only the advisors but the professors - well at least this one - as well.

[rebel100]

I'm glad it worked out for you...no reason it shouldn't have in your case.

What's next for you?

[mobiusbox]

Hi rebel100!

Thanks for the advice! I'm glad it worked out too. Hopefully the take-away is....that this situation will have taught me plan ahead for emergencies better, especially in an accelerated 8-week formatted class. Also, maybe this instructor will note it on the syllabus for the course too. (It IS stated on the website, but to be honest, I had not visited the main website in a long while, just BlackBoard.)

Well, right now I'm waiting on my Technical Writing exam results to be posted to meet a prerequisite for my classes. This is another lesson learned. My very first DSST test and I didn't put the school code on the electronic form, so I had to fax in a manual transcript request. Ugh.

The registars office said that if they aren't there by Friday, to call and they will deal with it. Yeah, I am LOVING how great they are with the customer service. Never experienced anything like it. I'm kind of a "high-maintenance" student IMO, so the customer service thing is kinda big.

Once all that is received, I'm going to do two classes each 8-week term (with a few tests). So I should be on track to graduate a little after May if all goes well and hopefully grad school to be a Instructional Designer for online learning students. *fingers crossed*

Glad I found these forums. Can't even tell you how badly I was feeling about my past eff-ups, and then it felt like I was trying to do the right thing and got stuck on a technicality. So you all are my voice-of-reason. Haha. Thank you bunches.

[ryoder]

I quit school a long time ago and now have a gazillion things on my plate and couldn't be happier. You should not follow my footsteps, however. Just get back on the horse and keep going. Its not that big of a deal if you have to retake the course. But do try to get your appeal. Also, follow Rebel's advice and get ahead of the assignments. Its your responsibility to know what is due when.