Is one of your professors ill and are you concerned about what might happen if they pass away? Or, perhaps this is a question that you have been carrying around and need some answers to.
Well, you can learn all about what would happen if your professor were to die mid-semester here:
What Happens If Your Professor Dies Mid-Semester?
If your professor passes away during the middle of the semester, then the university will reach out to teacher assistants or professors who teach a similar class to act as substitutes until a long-term replacement can be found for the course.
Do Classes Continue If Your Professor Dies?
Immediately following the news of your professor’s passing, one or two classes may be canceled. This period of mourning also allows the university to find a temporary replacement.
If it is an undergraduate class, then a teaching assistant may be asked to fill in for a short while. If there are other professors who teach the same or similar course, then they will be tagged to fill this position.
Your class schedule may change in this instance as you will have to accommodate the new professor’s workload.
If it is a niche course, then the university may need to look outside of the university for a professor. In this instance, it is possible that the teaching assistant will step in.
Do You Get Automatic As If Your Professor Dies Mid-Semester?
This is a popular myth that is perpetuated by college students. However, there doesn’t appear to be any truth to it.
More often than not, you will be graded on your performance and participation in the class. In some cases, your old professor’s grades for you may hold up and in other instances, you may be provided with a new grade from your new professor.
This will be based on the work that you have done from the moment that the new professor has taken over.
Some people believe that if your professor were to pass way in class or in front of you that everyone will be given A’s due to the stress and shock of the situation.
Once again, this is highly unlikely. At most, you can expect classes to be canceled or postponed for longer and for the students to get grief counseling.
Will the Course Be Cancelled?
It is only in rare instances that your college course will get canceled if the professor dies. This is because in most cases there is some form of substitute.
What’s more, if you are halfway through the semester, the university doesn’t want you to consider the last few weeks as lost time. They want to ensure that the course continues uninterrupted so that you can graduate on time.
If a replacement professor can’t be found, the university may make plans for you to finish your course at another nearby university.
Of course, this will only work if the two courses are comparable and if you have covered a similar amount of material. This is more likely to happen for grad students than undergrad students, however.
If there is no way for the course to be continued, then the course will be canceled. It is up to the university to determine if you get partial credits for the course or not.
If another professor is found before you graduate, then you will be able to take that course. Otherwise, you will need to take a different one to have the appropriate number of credits to graduate.
Will the New Professor Be as Qualified as the Old One?
There is no way of knowing this for sure. If it is a fairly common class or a prerequisite, then you may find a number of professors that can teach this course.
In this case, it is likely that you will find a professor who has a similar or equal amount of skill. Of course, their teaching methods and styles may be quite different.
If the course is a niche one, then your university may have trouble locating a professor with a similar level of skill and experience,
Will the New Professor Pick Up Where the Class Left Off?
Well, this will often depend on the professor. Sometimes they will start where the old professor left off. In other instances, they may want to go over material that you already covered.
Now, in some cases, the new professor may decide that the credits or grades earned for previous work will not count towards your final grade. If so, they will have you complete new assignments, exams, and quizzes.
This means that you will have to complete this with an appropriate amount of effort to ensure that you get a good grade on the new syllabus. Keep in mind that the new professor may grade based on different factors and criteria than your old one.
Whether or not your professor picks off where the class left off also depends on how prepared your old professor was. If they had prepared their syllabus properly and kept a track of everything that was covered, then the new professor will have no problem continuing with the work.
What Would Happen If Your Professor Died?
The most likely outcome is that a teaching assistant or other professor from the same university act as a substitute until a new professor could be found – if a replacement can’t be found then the course may be canceled or transferred to another university.
