Grades matter. Of course, you know that already. You’ve probably been focusing on your grades since at least your freshman year of college, and likely long before that. It was your strong undergraduate grades and your high MCAT scores that helped earn you a spot at the Washington State University Floyd College of Medicine in Spokane. Of course, just because you’ve made it to medical school doesn’t mean you can stop paying attention to your grades. They still matter, especially when it comes to your residency match and future positions afterwards.
This is why, if you receive a grade or an assessment that is not what you think you deserved, you should consider appealing it. You might be tempted to let it go, but each grade matters, and you owe it to yourself and to your future to do what you can so that your record reflects your actual performance. The LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team can help you with that. We have the experience and skills to work with you to help you make your best case for an improved mark or assessment. Call us at 888.535.3686, or fill out our online contact form, and we’ll set up a confidential consultation so you can tell us about your grading issues, and we can explain how we can help.
Don’t Be Afraid to Question Your Grade
Let’s get this out of the way first. Many of our student clients are concerned when they contact us with questions about appealing a grade or a clinical assessment they’ve received in medical school. They worry that if they question their marks, the faculty member responsible for giving them will be upset and even take it out on them in the future.
It’s a reasonable concern if you’ve never appealed a grade. In our experience, however, if the grade appeal is handled properly, it won’t cause you problems with the faculty member whose grade you’re appealing. That is because the best way to approach grade appeals is with evidence and solid arguments that support your position. What you want to avoid is making an appeal that is based on what you “believe” you “deserve” just because you worked hard on something. You need more than that. And when you work with the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team on your grade appeal, we will make sure you have support for your position and a clear and strong argument based on the facts of your case.
It is also worth knowing that medical students across the country are increasingly appealing their grades. They’re doing this in part because grades are now more important than ever when it comes to residency matches. That is because certain components that are used to evaluate students applying for a residency, such as the USMLE Step 1 exam, are pass/fail. While there are many benefits to pass/fail evaluation systems, they make it more difficult to distinguish one student from another on paper. Anyone evaluating a medical student for a residency match will naturally turn to something that allows one student to stand out from others: grades.
The Floyd College of Medicine follows the Washington State University grade appeal process, which exists precisely because the university understands that grades sometimes do not reflect the work that the student did. The very fact that there is an appeal procedure that students can follow further supports the idea that it is not automatically a bad thing to question your grades. And with an attorney from the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team by your side, you will be much more likely to make a stronger case for your grade appeal than if you attempted to navigate the medical school’s process on your own.
The Grade Appeal Process at Floyd College of Medicine
The grade appeal process at Washington State University follows different paths depending on the type of grade that is being appealed.
Early on, before any grades have been issued, a student can raise concerns about course policies that are outlined in the syllabus of a particular course. Those concerns need to be raised in an email to the instructor that is sent within 5 business days after the first day of class.
This is an important point to keep in mind. Addressing questions about a course syllabus before the class really gets going can help reduce the likelihood that there will be a misunderstanding later on that could result in a lower grade. Make sure you take a close look at your course syllabus as soon as you have it, and if you have any questions about it, raise them with the faculty member.
If you have an issue with an assignment grade, you should email the faculty member “in a timely way,” which is “typically within a week” of when you receive the grade, so that the matter can be addressed.
Final grade concerns need to be raised in an email sent to the faculty member within 10 business days of when the final grade is issued and posted to your transcript.
The faculty member has 10 business days from the time you email them to address your concerns. During that time, it is possible that the faculty member will ask to speak with you about your grade appeal. If that happens, the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team can help prepare you for that conversation, so that you have your arguments and your support ready to share in a clear and convincing way.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your initial grade appeal efforts with the faculty member responsible for the grade you are questioning, you can contact the chair of the relevant academic department with your concerns. The chair should give you a decision within 10 business days of when you raise the matter with them.
Finally, if the department chair does not approve your grade appeal, you can raise it with the Dean of the medical school. That must be done within 10 business days of when you have the chair’s decision that you are appealing. Your appeal to the Dean should be in the form of a written statement. It must include:
- A description of your concern about the grade or assessment you received
- Evidence showing how you attempted to resolve the issues
- An indication of how the grading issue affects you as a student
- What remedy you are you seeking from the Dean
The Dean will make a decision on your appeal within 10 business days of when you submit it. This decision is final and cannot be appealed. In some cases, when the issue relates to a final grade, the Dean may refer your appeal to the University Grade Appeals Board – but this is up to the Dean. Students are not able to make a grade appeal directly to the Board.
It is important that you understand each of these steps and what is involved if you want to appeal a grade or assessment you’ve received. And because each of these appeals must be in writing, what you put in that written appeal is extremely important.
The best way to make sure your written appeal at each stage is clear, convincing, and well-supported is to be working with one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team. When your written appeal is your best shot, you want it to be as strong as possible, and by working with us, your chances of that happening increase considerably.
The LLF National Law Firm is Here to Help
It can feel intimidating to appeal a grade that you’ve received from an experienced member of the Floyd College of Medicine faculty. You want to make sure you follow university grade appeal procedures while at the same time providing as much support as possible for your arguments. As for your arguments, they need to be clear, convincing, and tied to your evidence.
Our attorneys regularly prepare grade appeals for our medical student clients. We know what evidence works in these cases, and how to draft appeals that work. When you have the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team on your side, you will know that you – and we – have done everything possible to make a strong case for your grade appeal.
In addition to grade appeals, the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team can help if your grades have reached a level where the Floyd College of Medicine is considering dismissing you from the medical school. Dismissal is not always a foregone conclusion, however.
We can review your case with you and help you prepare for any meeting you may have with the school’s Student Evaluation, Promotion and Awards Committee (SEPAC). It is the SEPAC that is responsible for deciding whether students whose grades have fallen will be dismissed from the medical school. When you’ve reached that stage, you have a right to appear before the SEPAC, with a student or faculty advisor. You don’t want to go into that meeting unprepared – and your attorney from the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team can work with you to help you prepare for that meeting.
Whether you want to appeal a grade or are concerned that you are facing possible dismissal from the Floyd College of Medicine on academic grounds, the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team is ready to help. Don’t hesitate – contact us at 888.535.3686 or fill out our online contact form so we can set up a confidential consultation. When we do, you can tell us about your concerns, and we can explain everything we can to help you protect your future.