So the fun now begins

As posted on Yahoo Answers

University Grades Appeal: Do I have merit and can I win?

I'm a male nursing student. I just finished my first semester of studies and I was alarmed when I received my final grades for the semester.

Anatomy 74, Nursing Practise 73, Professional Growth 75, Self and Others 54.

Imagine my alarm that I learned I had failed a class (all grades must be 60 or higher to pass)

The class in which I failed was based on three essays. My scores on such essays were 98, 36, 45.
I do admit my second essay was not amazing due to the fact I followed the actual structure of a structured reflection and I failed to follow all the specific questions asked as part of the marking scheme (syllabus). I still felt that I should of received at least a B on this essay, yet I decided to pay it no mind and took it all in stride.

My third essay I reverted back to the original plan of answering the specific questions as part of the syllabus and put a little more effort into this essay than all the others because I wanted an A. (our professor notified the class that if we answered all the questions that the syllabus asked that we would always do the essays correctly and I continured to recieve 80's on my essays by doing this)

When I received my final paper back, I was a little shocked and tongue tied so I took a few days to reflect upon the score and to review my essay with the marking scheme to see where I had gone wrong. To my surprise, I could not find any problems with my essay.

I then reprinted another copy of the essay and used a legend system and circled specific passages in the essay and connected these passages with the specific questions of the marking syllabus. In my observation, I should of received an A on this paper (as I expected to do in the first place).

I then took this paper to some of my fellow students and had them review my work. They agreed that the marking was "strange".

I booked an appointment with my professor in regards to my grade on this essay and I showed my professor a copy of my essay and my second copy with the legend format. My professor refused to even look at my essay. She stated that she remembered my essay (even though she had marked over 100 of them during the break) told me that I didn't provide information about...(insert topic here).... I then read a passage from my essay that answered that very topic. My professor then said that I did not provide (blank) information and I again read a passage from my essay that addressed that very info. After this back and forth for five minutes, my professor asked me what I was expecting from this meeting.

I was honest with her and I said that I originally wanted an A on this paper but now all I want is six marks on this paper so I can achieve my 60, so I could continue on with the rest of my studies (a reasonable request because I'm not a person who wanted to milk B's for A's. I was willing to compromise even though I really wanted an A on this paper).

My professor stayed silent for a minute and stared at the cover of my essay and it looked like she would give in, but then she said she was unwilling to do that. I asked her to at least look over the essay again and to take special note to my rebuttals. She said she was unwilling to do that as well and she said if I wanted to appeal, I would have to go to the dean.

Now people, I am no slouch in my essay writing. My essay scores for this past semester are as follows.......87, 83, 84, 89, 85, 98, 37, 45 (in no particular order)

So, I am appealing my grade. Do I have a case and isn't it a little strange that she would refuse to review my paper at all even though I showed her I had merit?

Any feedback would be great.

Thanks