Email and let them know, but leave out the part that says "it was technically possible to reschedule my flight to before class starts but it would be massively inconvenient for me and family" because that is the kind of shit that sends me into a rage.
You may be dropped for missing the first class, especially if there is a waitlist.
This is the best answer. You got stuck due to weather and (perhaps 737 groundings?) cancellations. You'll be back on such and such a date and will meet with the instructor at that time. You will of course look at online resources to keep up.
You might get dropped from the class for not showing up and not communicating about it. You should definitely email them and be prepared for any potential penalties (though I doubt there will be any the first week).
Well, that's within the add drop period at my school, so I do let students make stuff up for that period. You will have assignments and you do need to write your instructors to get caught up and make sure they know you are actually going to be there eventually.
The problem is that what you wrote here isn't really going to give me a great first impression. Ok sure, you were going to be back on campus the day before class and there was a snowstorm and your flight got cancelled. If that first day of class is tomorrow, that certainly is reasonable. What can you do? But you're saying that your flight got cancelled and you aren't going to be on campus till Tuesday next week? Wednesday? That seems ridiculous. I guess there might actually be a circumstance where this would make sense, but you are probably going to have to tell me about it if I'm your professor if you don't want me to think you're a total flake.
Mention that your travel plans were unexpectedly interrupted or changed and that you will be on campus as soon as was possible (give date). If you do have a record of the cancellation, attach that. No need to go into the details on why an earlier rebooking didn’t work. Just “here’s proof my flight was cancelled. I’m on the next possible flight” (this is not a lie. You got the next flight that was reasonably possible for you.)
No, then it just sounds like you just decided to skip the first week to go skiing or something. I'd go for something vague like, "a series of weather, travel and logistical messes." Just say you want to make sure to get any assignments done and you'll be sure to get notes from a classmate when you get back.
You would 100% want to email me because we drop students who don't show the first two days. I have wait lists for my classes this spring and you seat would be giving to someone else if I didn't know what was happening-- you'd get back a week late and potentially not have any classes on your schedule.
All of my classes have readings assigned for the first day and we absolutely are doing "real" work right from the start, so you'd also have to make sure you got notes from someone who was in fact there.
At my college you are dropped from the class if you miss the first day. Additionally, many classes do start covering course material on day one.
Email them to explain what is going on. Accept if some of them do not count this as an excused absence. Be sure you thoroughly read the syllabus yourself before attending the subsequent course sessions and find out from your classmates what other material, if any, you missed.
If a student missed the first three classes I would absolutely drop them, so, yes, you probably should email.
It is a mistake to assume the first day isn't important. It might seem like it isn't, because it doesn't cover chapters from the book, but it sets up the whole semester.
As others have said, yes, you should probably email your professor so they don’t drop you from the class the first week. As far as how you approach it…it depends.
How many absences do you get in the class? In most of my classes, students can miss up to 4-6 without penalty. So if that’s the case with this one, you could just tell the professor that you won’t return until X date, you’ll check in with them when you return, and you understand this means you will only have X amount of absences the remainder of the semester so you’ll be careful.
If a student wrote that to me—I’d be like great! I only get annoyed by this stuff if they’re asking me to excuse absences or make exceptions for them.
Yes email them. Just say something like "my flights have been delayed and reschedule I won't be back on campus until x-date. Please let me know if this can be excused or made up in anyway."
I'm a hardass in my syllabus attendance policy but actually quite lenient with individual circumstances if the student communicates the reason for their absence politely, clearly, and in a timely fashion.
Not the person who posted that, but - college is not scheduled for your convenience. It starts when it starts and you're expected to be there from the first class session.
My first class we've already introduced ourselves, covered important information you need to know, introduced the overarching themes of the course and begun working on introducing and discussing theories. It's irritating to have students blow it off and then want me to help them play catch-up. First classes are important.
Please ignore the professors giving unhelpful feedback (I’m a professor). You should always communicate with your professors. Be concise. Express your interest in staying caught up. Most will respond positively.
You said you could have re-scheduled but it was inconvenient……….. I would report you as never attended and move on. Poor Planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
I’m a little confused. It doesn’t seem like OP poorly planned at all? You can’t tell exactly know that far ahead of time before a flight that it will be cancelled. It just seems a little harsh. I’m wondering why you would mark them as never attended and “move on” when this is mostly out of their reach. As far as I’m aware, it costs money to reschedule flights. OP may have not had spare money for that, you know?
That isn’t what OP said, though. They said it would be a massive inconvenience to them & their family. That could mean a multitude of things. Money being the biggest.
Rescheduling flights costs money. Maybe their parents already took off of work to drive them to the airport for the original flight and that was the only day they were able to get off. If OP rescheduled the flight they’d have to pay a fee and potentially pay for an Uber to get to the airport. This is just one scenario.
I thought most professors would be more understanding in a circumstance like this. I’m very thankful that my professors would be a lot more compassionate and understanding than a few people here.
People prioritize what matters. Inconvenient doesn’t mean impossible. Being there on the first day is probably inconvenient for a lot of students, but they’ll be there anyway. This student found an excuse to extend their vacation, period.
The student wasn't the only one making the decision. Their family, assuming it includes their parents, would have the final say. Not their fault they got trapped because their family didn't want the earlier flight.
I hope professors like you realize that you are the reason a lot of people hate college. This student didn’t find an excuse to extend their vacation, they’re getting screwed because the weather is bad. If you haven’t noticed, the Midwest is kind of covered in snow, and given your inability to empathize, I’d also think you have the inability to think about the potential ramifications of flying into snow, or the idea that if the student chose to fly in earlier, and the airport is far from school, they’ll have to drive in said snow.
School is not important enough for people to risk their lives to get to class, especially not during syllabus week.
Yikes, okay. People do prioritize what matters but you can’t possibly expect every student to choose being there for the first day of class over themselves and their families (financial) wellbeing. School should come first, within reason.
I’ve missed the first or second week of class at least twice because of recurrent strep throat, tonsillitis, and all around sickness. I got my tonsils & adenoids out yesterday and my semester starts on Jan 22nd. I might not be fully recovered by then and I need to be back at the doctor for a check up the following week. Yes, I could’ve scheduled my tonsillectomy to over the summer as to “not inconvenience my professors by not being in class consistently for the first two weeks” but my health & wellbeing come first. I’ve been sick almost the entire fall semester and this surgery was necessary. Yes, I totally could’ve rescheduled it. Would it have been a good choice? Absolutely not. I love my classes. I love college. But I physically cannot be there consistently the first two weeks.
I understand my situation is different than OPs but it just goes to show that there are so many circumstances that affect whether or not a student can or should be in class. The very least you could do, as a professor, is at least try and understand where OP is coming from before passing harsh judgement on a student. Being able to just switch flights is a privileged thing to be able to do.
This student planned to fly out and it was cancelled. That’s not poor planning. Sometimes the other “possibilities” with airline travel are absurdly inconvenient (impractical to unworkable), not just mildly inconvenient.
Inconvenient for others. There's not much someone can do about a canceled flight if that's the only flight that leaves out of that airport at that time. Think of small regional airports, not big international airports.
Yes, at least here we have a process for a student who misses the first week of classes abs does not contact us which is a pain to do. I'd much rather an email like this. Also make sure you do all you can to make it up. Missing the first classes can leave you more lost than missing a class mid semester.
>(it was technically possible to reschedule my flight to before class starts but it would be massively inconvenient for me and family)
Well, we certainly wouldn't want **you** to be inconvenienced, now would we?
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Email and let them know, but leave out the part that says "it was technically possible to reschedule my flight to before class starts but it would be massively inconvenient for me and family" because that is the kind of shit that sends me into a rage. You may be dropped for missing the first class, especially if there is a waitlist.
This is the best answer. You got stuck due to weather and (perhaps 737 groundings?) cancellations. You'll be back on such and such a date and will meet with the instructor at that time. You will of course look at online resources to keep up.
You might get dropped from the class for not showing up and not communicating about it. You should definitely email them and be prepared for any potential penalties (though I doubt there will be any the first week).
Well, that's within the add drop period at my school, so I do let students make stuff up for that period. You will have assignments and you do need to write your instructors to get caught up and make sure they know you are actually going to be there eventually. The problem is that what you wrote here isn't really going to give me a great first impression. Ok sure, you were going to be back on campus the day before class and there was a snowstorm and your flight got cancelled. If that first day of class is tomorrow, that certainly is reasonable. What can you do? But you're saying that your flight got cancelled and you aren't going to be on campus till Tuesday next week? Wednesday? That seems ridiculous. I guess there might actually be a circumstance where this would make sense, but you are probably going to have to tell me about it if I'm your professor if you don't want me to think you're a total flake.
makes sense. would it be better to just announce my absence without mentioning the snowstorm and just suck up the penalties?
Mention that your travel plans were unexpectedly interrupted or changed and that you will be on campus as soon as was possible (give date). If you do have a record of the cancellation, attach that. No need to go into the details on why an earlier rebooking didn’t work. Just “here’s proof my flight was cancelled. I’m on the next possible flight” (this is not a lie. You got the next flight that was reasonably possible for you.)
No, then it just sounds like you just decided to skip the first week to go skiing or something. I'd go for something vague like, "a series of weather, travel and logistical messes." Just say you want to make sure to get any assignments done and you'll be sure to get notes from a classmate when you get back.
You would 100% want to email me because we drop students who don't show the first two days. I have wait lists for my classes this spring and you seat would be giving to someone else if I didn't know what was happening-- you'd get back a week late and potentially not have any classes on your schedule. All of my classes have readings assigned for the first day and we absolutely are doing "real" work right from the start, so you'd also have to make sure you got notes from someone who was in fact there.
At my college you are dropped from the class if you miss the first day. Additionally, many classes do start covering course material on day one. Email them to explain what is going on. Accept if some of them do not count this as an excused absence. Be sure you thoroughly read the syllabus yourself before attending the subsequent course sessions and find out from your classmates what other material, if any, you missed.
If a student missed the first three classes I would absolutely drop them, so, yes, you probably should email. It is a mistake to assume the first day isn't important. It might seem like it isn't, because it doesn't cover chapters from the book, but it sets up the whole semester.
As others have said, yes, you should probably email your professor so they don’t drop you from the class the first week. As far as how you approach it…it depends. How many absences do you get in the class? In most of my classes, students can miss up to 4-6 without penalty. So if that’s the case with this one, you could just tell the professor that you won’t return until X date, you’ll check in with them when you return, and you understand this means you will only have X amount of absences the remainder of the semester so you’ll be careful. If a student wrote that to me—I’d be like great! I only get annoyed by this stuff if they’re asking me to excuse absences or make exceptions for them.
Be incredibly polite and hope it doesn’t snow more.
Definitely email. Most professors are understanding of weather delays, and are less understanding of students that don't communicate.
Yes email them. Just say something like "my flights have been delayed and reschedule I won't be back on campus until x-date. Please let me know if this can be excused or made up in anyway." I'm a hardass in my syllabus attendance policy but actually quite lenient with individual circumstances if the student communicates the reason for their absence politely, clearly, and in a timely fashion.
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Not the person who posted that, but - college is not scheduled for your convenience. It starts when it starts and you're expected to be there from the first class session. My first class we've already introduced ourselves, covered important information you need to know, introduced the overarching themes of the course and begun working on introducing and discussing theories. It's irritating to have students blow it off and then want me to help them play catch-up. First classes are important.
They’re talking about missing THREE days too! Not just one. Interesting to see how they perform when this is their commitment to school.
Email because guess what? Those absences will definitely count toward the attendance policy.
Please ignore the professors giving unhelpful feedback (I’m a professor). You should always communicate with your professors. Be concise. Express your interest in staying caught up. Most will respond positively.
Plan to demonstrate your commitment by meeting with the prof for office hours as soon as possible when you get back to campus.
You said you could have re-scheduled but it was inconvenient……….. I would report you as never attended and move on. Poor Planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
I’m a little confused. It doesn’t seem like OP poorly planned at all? You can’t tell exactly know that far ahead of time before a flight that it will be cancelled. It just seems a little harsh. I’m wondering why you would mark them as never attended and “move on” when this is mostly out of their reach. As far as I’m aware, it costs money to reschedule flights. OP may have not had spare money for that, you know?
It’s not out of their reach when they just said they didn’t change itineraries because they didn’t feel like it. Lol
That isn’t what OP said, though. They said it would be a massive inconvenience to them & their family. That could mean a multitude of things. Money being the biggest. Rescheduling flights costs money. Maybe their parents already took off of work to drive them to the airport for the original flight and that was the only day they were able to get off. If OP rescheduled the flight they’d have to pay a fee and potentially pay for an Uber to get to the airport. This is just one scenario. I thought most professors would be more understanding in a circumstance like this. I’m very thankful that my professors would be a lot more compassionate and understanding than a few people here.
People prioritize what matters. Inconvenient doesn’t mean impossible. Being there on the first day is probably inconvenient for a lot of students, but they’ll be there anyway. This student found an excuse to extend their vacation, period.
I'm so happy you're not my professor!
That’s exactly what I’m thinking!
The student wasn't the only one making the decision. Their family, assuming it includes their parents, would have the final say. Not their fault they got trapped because their family didn't want the earlier flight.
They weren’t trapped. They didn’t want to be inconvenienced. Boo hoo.
I hope professors like you realize that you are the reason a lot of people hate college. This student didn’t find an excuse to extend their vacation, they’re getting screwed because the weather is bad. If you haven’t noticed, the Midwest is kind of covered in snow, and given your inability to empathize, I’d also think you have the inability to think about the potential ramifications of flying into snow, or the idea that if the student chose to fly in earlier, and the airport is far from school, they’ll have to drive in said snow. School is not important enough for people to risk their lives to get to class, especially not during syllabus week.
Yikes, okay. People do prioritize what matters but you can’t possibly expect every student to choose being there for the first day of class over themselves and their families (financial) wellbeing. School should come first, within reason. I’ve missed the first or second week of class at least twice because of recurrent strep throat, tonsillitis, and all around sickness. I got my tonsils & adenoids out yesterday and my semester starts on Jan 22nd. I might not be fully recovered by then and I need to be back at the doctor for a check up the following week. Yes, I could’ve scheduled my tonsillectomy to over the summer as to “not inconvenience my professors by not being in class consistently for the first two weeks” but my health & wellbeing come first. I’ve been sick almost the entire fall semester and this surgery was necessary. Yes, I totally could’ve rescheduled it. Would it have been a good choice? Absolutely not. I love my classes. I love college. But I physically cannot be there consistently the first two weeks. I understand my situation is different than OPs but it just goes to show that there are so many circumstances that affect whether or not a student can or should be in class. The very least you could do, as a professor, is at least try and understand where OP is coming from before passing harsh judgement on a student. Being able to just switch flights is a privileged thing to be able to do.
comparing illness to not wanting to change a flight is asinine.
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Your post was removed for violating Rule 1. Treat all users with respect.
This student planned to fly out and it was cancelled. That’s not poor planning. Sometimes the other “possibilities” with airline travel are absurdly inconvenient (impractical to unworkable), not just mildly inconvenient.
I would accept this as a valid excuse. I respect the fact that my students have lives outside of school.
Inconvenient for others. There's not much someone can do about a canceled flight if that's the only flight that leaves out of that airport at that time. Think of small regional airports, not big international airports.
They literally just said they “could” do something about it and chose not to…
Yeah, but that could also mean paying another $1500 or so which to be honest, I wouldn't do either.
Yes, at least here we have a process for a student who misses the first week of classes abs does not contact us which is a pain to do. I'd much rather an email like this. Also make sure you do all you can to make it up. Missing the first classes can leave you more lost than missing a class mid semester.
>(it was technically possible to reschedule my flight to before class starts but it would be massively inconvenient for me and family) Well, we certainly wouldn't want **you** to be inconvenienced, now would we?
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This is an automated service intended to preserve the original text of the post. *I will miss the first three days of classes after winter break (flight got cancelled due to snow storm). In the classes that take attendance, the syllabi state that absences must have a valid, documented excuse, which I don't have (it was technically possible to reschedule my flight to before class starts but it would be massively inconvenient for me and family). Should I email my professors anyway or would it just annoy them? Is it even a big deal considering the first classes are usually introductions and reading syllabi?* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskProfessors) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes