Favorite student emails

[mythbuster]

I think the issue with grade calculation is the tendency of HS teachers to assign lots of "catch up" assignments at the end of the semester to get students to the finish line. The grade weighting and breakdown cam also be much more opaque in HS than it is in college. I don't remember ever being told how much any one test was weighted in HS, even the final exam.

[OneMoreYear]

As we head toward midterms, the student anxiety is increasing. I've received more than one of these:

Student email: When is [assignment] due? The due date on the LMS is [date] at [time]. So, I'm just confirming. Is that when the assignment is due?

They don't appear to be asking for extensions, just wanting me to confirm due dates.

[the_geneticist]

From a student who has been absent from their in-person classes the last few weeks:

I might be developing osgood schlatters, so it is really hard to walk today due to the pain.

Student, if you can't walk GO TO THE DOCTOR.  Also, if it really is "growing pains" they will tell you to take ibuprofen, ice your knee, and suck it up. 

[mahagonny]

Student: Dear professor, I'm sorry I missed class last week. Unfortunately, I will have to miss again today as I need to go home and renew my license before it expires. Is there anything I should be working on in the meantime?
Me: Yes. Getting yourself to class.

[Langue_doc]

Stu who "really can't be in danger of failing" has not only missed at least four assignments but also waits until the last minute to upload assignments. Stu, read the frxxxing modules instead of sending pleading emails. The due date for the assignment that prompted the flurry of emails is listed in the two modules preceding the assignment, and in four places in the module leading up to the assignment.

[arcturus]

From the trenches: an email from a graduate applicant "worried and curious" about their status. Sent to several different people in my department in *early February*. With follow-up reminders. While we try to make offers of admission in a timely manner, it does take time to read the applications!

[AmLitHist]

Stu who "really can't be in danger of failing" ....

Dream response:  "Stu, not only CAN you be, but you ARE."

Then again, my response to students saying that failure is not an option is, "Failure is ALWAYS an option.  It might be one you'd like to avoid, but...."

[darkstarrynight]

From the trenches: an email from a graduate applicant "worried and curious" about their status. Sent to several different people in my department in *early February*. With follow-up reminders. While we try to make offers of admission in a timely manner, it does take time to read the applications!

I understand this! I have been assigned to advise an international student who had to apply quite early to meet international student deadlines. Before applying, I met with hu two different times for an hour on video chat. Once admitted, hu reached out to me with lengthy emails about preparing for school, changing banks, and other random things, and then asked to move admission to summer. I contacted international admissions and got approval for the department to submit this request. Then the student asked if I could submit hu's progress form (which is required after a student enrolls in three courses in the masters, and includes the course plan and committee members). I told the student to wait until hu is enrolled before we submit paperwork on hu's progress! Ayiyi!

[AvidReader]

I have been assigned to advise an international student who had to apply quite early to meet international student deadlines. Before applying, I met with hu two different times for an hour on video chat. Once admitted, hu reached out to me with lengthy emails about preparing for school, changing banks, and other random things, and then asked to move admission to summer.

I have probably been this student, though I think I was emailing the dept. secretary rather than my advisor. Couldn't get a bank account (for an international wire) in Grad School Country without an address, and couldn't get accommodation without paying up front, so ended up putting accommodation and deposit on a parent's credit card (my limits weren't high enough). I was on the plane when the bank cancelled the payment because it was "unusual activity," so I landed in a foreign country where I knew absolutely no one to find I also had nowhere to live. All that to say: is there another grad student from this student's home country who could help the student know what steps and potential pitfalls to expect?

AR.

[darkstarrynight]

I have been assigned to advise an international student who had to apply quite early to meet international student deadlines. Before applying, I met with hu two different times for an hour on video chat. Once admitted, hu reached out to me with lengthy emails about preparing for school, changing banks, and other random things, and then asked to move admission to summer.

I have probably been this student, though I think I was emailing the dept. secretary rather than my advisor. Couldn't get a bank account (for an international wire) in Grad School Country without an address, and couldn't get accommodation without paying up front, so ended up putting accommodation and deposit on a parent's credit card (my limits weren't high enough). I was on the plane when the bank cancelled the payment because it was "unusual activity," so I landed in a foreign country where I knew absolutely no one to find I also had nowhere to live. All that to say: is there another grad student from this student's home country who could help the student know what steps and potential pitfalls to expect?

AR.

That is fair. The lengthy email about banks did not have a question in it for me to figure out so I did not address it. The situation is unique in that the student is not coming to study physically because our program is 100% online. That is why it was easy to change admit terms without any legal issue.

[jerseyjay]

I would hope that any school that is accepting international students has somebody who is able to help (or at least advise them) on such mundane but important stuff.

Several decades ago I went to work on my PhD in Britain. The banking situation was actually one of the hardest challenges I had to surmount. It took what seemed like forever to be able to open a bank account, because I had no credit history in Britain, and banks would not give checking accounts to people without credit histories because they much of their money extending overdrafts to students. I had a student job, but I couldn't cash my paychecks, even at the bank the check was drawn on, because evidently "cashing" checks was obsolete in Britain at this time.

Finally it turned out that one of the high street banks had a deal with the student union to allow students free checking accounts. Even so, when I deposited a $10,000 cashier's check--representing most of my life's saving--into the bank, the bank still managed to misplace it for several weeks. The end result was that I was almost broke in one of the most expensive cities in the world. And this is in a country where the language is (more or less) my native tongue.

Some time later, when I got a job in Latin America and tried to open a bank account, they wanted to reject my passport because (at the time) the US State Department let you wear glasses in your passport photo while in this country, glasses were not allowed in official photos. My point is that getting a bank account (and other things like healthcare, transport, accommodations, visa requirements, etc. ) do not fit into the standard job of an academic advisor, but are nevertheless quite important.  Hopefully there is somebody whom you can direct them to.

[ergative]

I had a PhD student who needed a driver's license, and in our country she needs a signature from someone who has a driver's license already. She asked us, her advisors, for that signature.

[apl68]

My point is that getting a bank account (and other things like healthcare, transport, accommodations, visa requirements, etc. ) do not fit into the standard job of an academic advisor, but are nevertheless quite important.  Hopefully there is somebody whom you can direct them to.

Stuff like this happens pretty often in the library world.  We're not doctors, tax or legal experts, social workers, etc., but we get asked for help on all of these and more.  People in need reach out to whoever they have to reach out to.  For students without many other local connections, that can be their prof.

Your story about the mix-ups you experienced as an international grad student remind me of why I've never been eager to travel overseas.  I think I'd be worrying about this sort of stuff and more all the time.

[mamselle]

My point is that getting a bank account (and other things like healthcare, transport, accommodations, visa requirements, etc. ) do not fit into the standard job of an academic advisor, but are nevertheless quite important.  Hopefully there is somebody whom you can direct them to.

Stuff like this happens pretty often in the library world.  We're not doctors, tax or legal experts, social workers, etc., but we get asked for help on all of these and more.  People in need reach out to whoever they have to reach out to.  For students without many other local connections, that can be their prof.

Your story about the mix-ups you experienced as an international grad student remind me of why I've never been eager to travel overseas.  I think I'd be worrying about this sort of stuff and more all the time.

Oh, but you learn so much about local culture...

;--》

M.

[the_geneticist]

Hope you are well! I wanted to let you know that I can't make it to [the basketweaving class] or the final during the week of March 7th. I will be away March 7th-12th for basketball championships in Vegas. I know our final exam is in class that Friday. Would I be able to make up the [presentation] and the exam the following week? There is no way for me to do either in advance.

Please let me know what you think.

What I think is that this is BONKERS.  And that I need proof of travel for you to earn an Incomplete.