What to do

Getting Sick In College: What Should You Do?

Jonathan Golding What Should You Do, What to do , ,

Many students think that when they go to college they will never get sick or suffer any medical condition that might make them miss class. Sadly, this is almost never the case. Whether it is the common cold or a broken leg, there are times when you will have to face missing class due to some medical condition. What can be tough when this happens, is figuring out what you need to do as far as your classes.

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To begin thinking about all of this, I feel that there are several critical questions you need to get answered. First what is your school’s policy concerning excused absences and medical conditions? For example, many schools will excuse you for a medical condition, but you need official documentation of your condition. This documentation is some letter, memo, etc. from a doctor or school health clinic—it is not a note from your parents. To find out your school’s policy on this point and other issues I will discuss you need to check an official school document. This is a case where you don’t just ask a friend or even your Instructor, you need get the official information yourself. I am sure that a quick search of the Internet, using keywords like “excused absence” and your school’s name will lead you to the information you need.

At this point, it is important to note that your school’s policy will typically not distinguish between different medical conditions. This could mean that a cold is typically viewed the same as have mono—sick is sick. The problem with your school thinking this way is that you are probably like most people and think that only some medical conditions are worthy of going to a doctor. That is, if you wake up with a cold it probably does not seem worth taking the time to visit a clinic or paying a clinic fee. Unlike a more serious illness, the cold will likely go away regardless of going to the clinic or not. You can also argue that it is better to hang at home for a minor illness because (a) it will be tough to pay attention when you feel so bad, (b) you want to get better quickly by resting and drinking plenty of fluids, and (c) you don’t may spread your germs to others.

Second, if you are miss class due to an illness are you required to inform the Instructor? Typically, the answer is yes. The reason for this is that being excused from class does not excuse you from the work you missed. Thus, if you do not make sure your Instructor knows why you missed class you will not get to make up any work and your grade of course will suffer. Remember, that just because you have an excused absence does not mean you get a free pass and a score of 100% on whatever graded activity you missed. I will add that (a) your schools probably has a time frame for informing your Instructor and (b) it is a good idea to contact your Instructor (e.g., via email) when you miss class.

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Third, is there any school policy that limits the number of excused absences you can have? You might think that if you have a serious illness and must miss a third of the semester, that’s not your fault and you should be able to make up the work you missed. It is likely, however, that your school has a policy that limits your excused absences to a certain percentage of classes in a semester. If you go beyond this limit you might be able to withdraw from a course or the Instructor may ask you to withdraw.

Fourth, are you always allowed to make up work you missed due to an excused absence? In general, you have the right to make up any graded work (e.g., a quiz or exam) you miss due to an excused sickness in the semester you are taking a course. However, there may be specific rules about this and certain circumstances (e.g., getting sick right before a final exam) may make this impossible. In addition, there is a real problem if the course you are taking has a participation requirement. If you are missing class due to an excused absence you of course cannot participate and your grade will suffer. Your school may have rules about how you can avoid losing points, but it may be that there is no reasonable way to make up participation points; you may lose these points.

Let me add one other very important point about making up work. Having an excused absence does not mean you have the right to receive notes from the Instructor because you missed class. Although your Instructor may give you notes you miss, don’t count on it and make sure you have some alternate plan for obtaining notes from a classmate.

Finally, be very clear what your Instructor has to say about excused absences. It might be that you have an Instructor who is pretty rigid and follows the school policy on all aspects of excused absences. There is really nothing you can do about this, because they are simply following the rules. However, you might have an Instructor who shows more flexibility. For example, I do not require documentation for every illness. However, I expect my students to contact me before or right after class when they are ill. In addition, I keep track of these undocumented excused absences so that I am not allowing students to miss a lot of classes—there is a point where I will need to see documentation.

Related to how your Instructor thinks about excused absences, always make sure you check the syllabus for each of your classes to see if anything is stated about excused absences. Your Instructor may or may not list their unique policies. As always, it is important to keep in mind that your Instructor is not required to list all of the school’s policies on excused absences—you are expected to be aware of these policies.

In closing, let me say that getting sick in college is a drag. It can put you behind and force you into playing catch-up. Still, I hope reading this post will get you thinking about how to deal with any sickness and help you figure out the best way to keep up with your studies.

Dropping a Course: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Jonathan Golding Advising, Dropping a course, What Should You Do, What to do , ,

One of the toughest decisions you might have to face in college is whether to drop a course or not. The fact that you have this choice makes clear that college is a time when you have a lot more say over your education than in the past (e.g.., you can’t just drop courses in high school). However, it also shows that as you go through colleges there seem to be more and more decisions you need to make.

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Why would consider dropping a course? Believe it or not there are many possible reasons for dropping a course and they really range quite a bit in the circumstances surrounding the course you are in:

          You don’t like the Instructor 
          You feel the course is not meeting your expectations (e.g., too hard)
          You are not doing well in the course
          You are spending too much time on this course
          You are feeling stressed and anxious because of the course
          You have had significant life changes and can’t spend time on the course

Regardless of the reason, I feel it is very important that ultimately it is you who takes the responsibility for making the decision about dropping or not. Sure you should talk to others about your situation—an advisor, friends, family members, and/or the Instructor–but in the end you must be the person who decides to stay or go. Also, do not think that if you drop the course that it indicates some weakness on your part. To the contrary, this decision is a sign of strength, that you realized something was wrong and you took steps to deal with the situation and move forward with your college career.

As you consider your decision, here are a number of critical questions to think about:

1) If you drop the course, can you take it later? When you take a course you typically need it to fulfill some requirement. But, dropping a course does not mean you cannot take it another semester. If you need the course, check with your advisor and see when it will be offered again. It is likely that the course will be offered soon and you can retake the course with a better outcome.

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2) Should you just hang in there and hope that things will get better? In some cases this might be a worthwhile strategy. Perhaps you had a something relatively minor come up that set you back and you can overcome this “hiccup in the road” with renewed effort. However, this can be a risky strategy and all the work in the world may not overcome certain factors that indicate you should drop. For example, if you feel that you do not mesh with the Instructor’s teaching style it is probably best to drop and move on. It is unlikely the Instructor is going to change their style to suit you any time soon.

3) What are the financial implications of dropping the course? Now this gets a little more complicated because there are two issues to keep in mind: tuition costs and financial aid

a) Tuition costs. Most colleges have you pay tuition for a range of full-time credit hours. For example, you pay the same amount for taking 12-15 credit hours. Therefore, if you are taking 15 credit hours and you drop a 3 credit hour course, your tuition payment will not be affected. In this case, dropping a course is not going to set you or your parents back any money.

 b) Financial aid. For certain types of financial aid you must be taking a certain number of credit hours. Thus, if you drop a course you might fall below the threshold and potentially lose your financial aid—not good! For other types of financial aid, dropping a course is tied to financial aid dates. These dates indicate what percentage of financial aid you will lose—dropping early in the semester penalizes you less than dropping later in the semester.

4) Will your transcript reflect dropping a course? Maybe—it all depends on dates again. Whether you know it or not, there is an academic calendar at every college that indicates the deadlines for when certain things must get done, including dropping courses. For example, colleges allow you a short grace period at the start of each semester (typically a few days or a week) where you are allowed to drop a course and that course will not even appear on your transcript. However, as the semester moves on the “penalty” for dropping gets a bit tougher. This may include a grade of “W” (for withdraw) appearing on your transcript. Ultimately, there is a date where you basically cannot drop a course (and must accept the grade you are going to get) unless you have extenuating circumstances (e.g., an extended illness). The bottom line is to know your drop dates!

5) Does having a “W” on my transcript hurt my chances to be accepted to graduate or professional school or to get a job offer? Again, it depends. A student may worry that a “W” grade on a transcript will indicate to others that they were lazy or not able to deal with difficult material. However, it is typically the case that a “W” on a transcript does not give any indication for why a student dropped a particular course. Thus, a faculty member could infer something negative about a student who has a “W”, but it would be an inference with no actual evidence. Let me add this to hopefully make you feel better–in my 28 years as a professor, sitting on admissions committees every year, I never heard a colleague suggest not accepting a student because they had a “W” grade.

As you can see, dropping a course is not a very simple process. It requires a lot of thinking and ultimately a difficult decision on your part. However, with the help of others (especially your advisor) I am confident you will make the right choice.

Special Guest Writer–Dr. Diane Snow: Combine and Conquer – Using Peer Groups to Achieve

Jonathan Golding Starting College, What to do, Working with Others ,

This past Spring, I had the great fortune of traveling to China with numerous UK faculty colleagues. There were so many interesting, yet unfamiliar and daunting experiences.

I was awed and amazed by the Great Wall, and imagined what life must have been like when people roamed the endless steps and towers through their normal daily lives. There were places where the slope of the steps was negligible and climbing was easy. I barely had to pay attention to where or how I was walking, and discourse with others was relaxed. However, there were places where the steps were not adequately deep, forcing me to climb with only my toes to progress. In some cases, the rise of step after step was enormous, and I had to use of all four limbs and a lot of attention to the task to make the trek—truly demanding work.

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It occurs to me now these steps could be seen as a metaphor for the transition from high school to college—an unpredictable and variable journey. Having been a “big fish in a small pond” in my high school, I found the workload unremarkable, and my effort was commensurate. Getting an A in each class did not make me winded. But all of a sudden, there appeared in college a much steeper climb. Courses no longer required just the reading of a chapter by the end of the week, but the reading of a book and a reflective paper in that same span. There was no longer an emphasis on introduction, but a focus on depth, breadth and integration.

While I found this challenge exhilarating, and stepped up my game, this new world view was daunting and presented a paradigm shift. Although early college days are long in my rearview mirror, I still remember the way I coped with this trial of increased volume and demand—networking and team-building. I intentionally reached out and met new people, studied with them, and learned with them. We tested the new waters as a team. We divided up the work, talked about each of our contributions, learned from one another, and solved problems together. We helped each other during triumphs and “face plants” as well, and somehow, we all made it—together. The task felt more manageable when others were facing the same challenges, had the same vision, and agreed to work through it step by step in a unified effort. Likewise, the accomplishments, when they came, were a shared victory and an award that made us stronger and more capable for the next challenge.

So as you’re climbing your Great Wall, don’t feel you need to be a weathered and independent traveler just yet. After all, in a tourist spot like that, there are thousands of friendships just waiting to be made, and so many worthy journeys to take!