taking 2 days off -- college :-O

[zeke11]

I have booked a Thanksgiving week cruise for 2005 -- my concern is that my daughter will be attending a local junior college next year. Since she is my firstborn and my first to attend college - I have no idea about policies on taking off two days of school.

If anyone has kids in college that they could ask or if you have experience with this type of thing - can you give me some input? I would hate for the rest of us to be going off on a cruise which she is unable to attend because it would wreck her gpa or something.

Any input on this would be SO appreciated! I was going to spring my secret to the kids on Christmas, but now I'm almost afraid - not knowing if my daughter would be able to go. I would cancel the cruise if I thought there would be a problem.

Thanks for any help!

Kris

 

[JJsmama]

In my experience of attending college, graduate school and teaching high school,
**if your daughter is a responsible student who attends class regularly
**and if she discusses this will her teacher as early as possible, the teacher will work with her. She would need to be responsible for turning in due assignments Before she leaves for the trip and getting the notes she missed from another student.

You do need to check with the college calendar to make sure she would not be missing final exams. The teacher would not be able to alter that.

 

[GenieDana]

If JJSMAMA's suggestion doesn't work...

Cough...Cought....very sick...Might be the flu !

 

[professorandmom]

As a college professor I can tell you that your daughter will need to communicate well with her instructor. I have students who get married, have babies, get arrested, have surgery and all kinds of life experiences. I work hard to make things work for the student while still assuring that the course content is covered.

That said, most everyone knows that there are always a range of teachers and nothing is written in stone.

But wait-there is good news. Your daughter will know exactly classes she will miss when she signs up for classes. She can have a brief conversation with the professor on the first day of class to "test the waters." Although unlikely, if the instructor is a demon and unbending, you can always consider a different class (if possible), changing cruise plans, OR just go anyway and take the consequences.....

I personally think it will be just fine..
Barb

PS - Just an FyI about the flu...careful....might backfire....when I doubt a student's excuse I do ask for a doctor's note...I'd rather have the truth

 

[crisi]

I'm currently in college myself.

Most of my college courses (this time around and in the past) you are responsible for the material....you can learn the material any way you choose - it might be reading the book, it might be attending lectures, it might be cribbing someone elses notes, but usually, 40-60% of the grade is the final. Somewhere around 20% of the grade is a midterm, and there may be a requirement for a paper as well.

Sometimes, there is a "classroom participation" or "lab" component - if so I've never seen it worth more than 20% of the overall grade - and more often 10%. College courses tend to be pretty formally defined with regards to this - and professors are allowed to set their own rules. Both my last classes were typical - 10% classroom participation and attendance, you could miss one class without it affecting your grade. More than one absence you'd want to talk to the instructor - and make sure that your "participation" when you were in class was good. A biology lab course will be different than a English lit course in this regard. Or you might take a speech course with a speech due - if its due the week you are out - its often one letter grade on that assignment for doing it the next week. All this - the classroom participation, missing a class or being late on one assignment - probably won't make a difference if you do it once and have a high A. But if you are scrambling for a C, you can be kicking yourself.....

I took classes where I'd miss 1/3 of the classes and still got an A - but others where I would have been really in trouble having missed a single class - as the professor tested pretty exclusively off his lecture material - and missing the wrong lecture could turn an A into a B (or a C into a D). Also, classes like languages and math tend to build - its really hard to catch up from a missed lecture.

(I'd also caution about the flu....colleges have rules on integrity. At one of my former colleges (I'm on my forth) I saw classmates pulled before disciplinary committees for similar infractions. BTW, at the same college I saw kids do perfectly well (B averages) attending one class out of four and drinking themselves silly - that was fine - lying was enough to get you kicked out. Colleges are odd institutions - they often have more students than they really want and don't really care if your kid flunks out or gets kicked out for rule violations. A professor is completely within his rights to fail you for lying. This isn't public school and there is not the same sort of "responsibility" towards making sure kids do well. Though a junior college will probably be much more lienent than some top ranks four year college.)

As for final exams - I missed one of mine to go to Europe my Sophmore year. The professor graciously allowed me to take the test a few days early. 'Course the class was Medieval European History - so the Prof may have felt it was a good trade.

 

[Rombus]

I’m a junior at Kent State University. Here is what I can comment on:
As soon as she gets her schedule, she will know what classes she will miss. Talk to those professors. If it’s a huge lecture, chances are they will just say get the notes from someone else. If you get a good professor with a well planned course and a good syllabus, she will know EXACTLY what she is going to miss unless the class starts getting off schedule. Tell her to go talk to her professors during office hours; she will get a much better response in person one on one rather than after class or via email.

If worst comes to worst, unless there is an attendance policy or a test/quiz/homework turn in, she won’t even be missed. College is a lot different than High school, No one is going to get on you to study or go to class, it’s all up to the student. Yes, There is a STRONG Correlation between going to class and having a high GPA (Depending on the person, it is this way for me), but as long as you study what’s covered, and don’t make it a habit, you will be fine. Heck, here at Kent, Thursday night is party night, and most people go home early on Friday so Friday classes are usually empty anyway.

 

[zeke11]

I so appreciate everyone's input! It looks like it will probably work out ok. I took my high school junior and senior out of school for one week in September and the teachers acted like it was the most horrible thing I could do. Even though my girls are great students and made up all of their work. I'm feeling so much better about the two days now.

Thanks a bunch!

Kris

 

[westjones]

I’m a junior at Kent State University.

Hey, DH and I both graduated from Kent State! But that was 11 years ago (12 for me). Small World!

I agree that it is easier to arrange an absent for college. I use to teach college classes and I would make arrangements with students who had to miss (as long as they talked with me ahead of time).

My twin DDs are going into Middle School next year, and so DH and I have finally accepted that we must try to follow the school schedule for the next 7 years with regards to vacations. The Public Schools are not very cooperative about missing school days for vacation (at least not in our area).

I think you will be fine! Enjoy your trip!
DJ

 

[mmouse37]

My DD is a juinor in college this year and she was offered a chance to go to the UK for a week...fully paid for....she spoke to her professors and as long as she made up the work they were fine with that. She had not missed any days before that....it all depends on the professor and the student's ability to make up work.

MJ

 

[Bethipooh4]

My DD and I recently went on a cruise(Carnival). She is in her 2nd year at our community college. All of her classes she knew from the start the attendance requirements each professor had. She was going to miss one of her midterms to go away with me, so she talked to the teacher, who was kind enough to let her take the exam the night before we left.
It never hurts to talk to the professors.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I teach at a college. As a professor, I would want the student to tell me as soon as they knew they would be absent -- the earlier the better. The start of the semester would be ideal. Then the student would have to promise to make up the work within a reasonable amount of time so as to not fall behind -- this time period and specifics should be agreed upon immediately. Contractual of sorts. Whether than meant taking work with them on the vacation or doing some heavy studying upon return, that would be the student's responsibility.

Although, I do not think I'd tolerate more than one week's worth of classes missed no matter the case (aside from illness, death in the family, etc.). Then aside from that, they'd have to have near-perfect or perfect attendance the remainder of the semester.

PS - Just an FyI about the flu...careful....might backfire....when I doubt a student's excuse I do ask for a doctor's note...I'd rather have the truth

I do as well. It usually has to pass through the Dean of Student's office first. They send out an official form/letter excusing the student from class absences during a specified period of time that would otherwise adversely affect the grade.

 

[myboysmom]

I agree with the others. She will have her sylabus right away and will know if she is missing an exam or an important assignment. Due dates for assignments are that, a due date. Usually they can be turned in earlier.

One other reason college/univeristy professors are less strict in the attendance policy is that they expect much more outside the classroom learning then high schools do. At the major Univeristy I work at our professors expect 2-3 hours per credit of outside work (homework) per week. A full time student (12 -18 credits will have 30-40 hours of homework per week).

Many of our professors have their notes on web pages and do power point presentations that can also be down loaded. Some of our discussion groups are also now done via the web. Depending on the courses she takes perhaps she can still "participate" in discussions if they are on the web.

 

[zeke11]

I want to extend my deepest thanks to all of you for the input! I was really dragging my feet on this Christmas surprise not knowing what the situation would be for my daughter in college next year. I am so relieved now and am sure that it will work out just fine.


Thanks a million!

Kris

 

[pediatric-rnp]

Communicating with the professor early on is the key. I do think most are willing to work with the student, however, my son had a prof this semester who told the kids on the first day of class in Sept that he would allow each student only one day of misssed class - after that their grade would drop (significantly) with each missed class. I don't know if maybe this prof would work with a student who came to him with a specific request for missing class, but just as there are flexible professors, there are also those that, for whatever reason, are not.