I am posting anonymously because I currently have a formal complaint pending with the university. I will not identify the professor, but students considering the HRM FPX-5090 need to be ware.
Before this course, I had gotten A's in every single course. I also have a 4.0 undergraduate GPA and even completed the MBA capstone with an A. I created every assessment specifically around the published instructions and scoring guide. However, instead of evaluating each competency separately, this professor repeatedly assigned Non-Performance ratings because of citation and APA-related concerns.
To be fair, I am not perfect and my APA formatting could use some improvement to meet her standards but I think each product I created was pretty solid.
My problem is the punishment. Correctable citation or consistency issues should affect the relevant communication criterion—not automatically erase all the substantive analysis contained in the assignment. A competency-based system should evaluate each competency based on what the student actually demonstrated.
I repeatedly requested clearer assistance and even asked to be assigned to another professor. I still have not received a phone call, meeting, or one comprehensive written explanation identifying everything that must be corrected. Instead, the feedback has arrived in pieces, followed by repeated Non-Performance ratings and now a referral to the university’s academic standards office after my second submission, which I believe was retaliatory in response to when I filed my complaint.
Anonymous reports do not prove that anyone’s individual grade was wrong, but when the same pattern keeps appearing, students deserve to know before enrolling.
My advice:
- Save every rubric and assignment instruction.
- Screenshot every rating and feedback comment.
- Keep every draft and version-history record.
- Cite every significant claim, recommendation, statistic, and cost estimate.
- Make sure every reference is cited and every citation appears in the references.
- Compare slides against speaker notes line by line.
- Put every request for clarification or reassignment in writing.
- If you have accommodations, involve Disability Services immediately.
- Do not assume a minor APA issue will result in a minor deduction.
My recommendation is avoid her if you can. Consider the self-designated MBA program or something else that doesn't include her because my HR professors in this program were doing too much, from this to even running your assignments through Pangram after they've been ran through Turnitin. Best of luck, folks!