professors - Why would my teacher's dean care when I took the final?

The class was scheduled to take the final next week. I wanted to take the test this week, because there's some place I was planning to be on the day of the final. My teacher said that doesn't count as an extenuating circumstance, and that his dean wouldn't like it. His dean isn't even administering the exam, so why would she even care?

Answer

Allowing students to take finals at other than the scheduled time could cause the following problems:

1. 
   

   Complaints from other students (in other courses under other professors) that they weren't allowed to take their final exam at a nonstandard time. "My friend Johnny got to take Professor Smith's final early, why can't I take Prof Jones's final early."

   
   


2. 
   

   If the same final exam is used for all students, then students who take the exam early can leak information about the questions to other students.

   
   


3. 
   

   To avoid the problem in point 2, we often give a different final exam to students who must take the exam at a non-standard time. However, this can lead to complaints that the alternate exam is unfair. At the very least, it means extra work for the professor in writing the exam.

   
   

There are certainly circumstances where a student can't take a final exam at the scheduled time. For example, a student in one of my classes is ill, so we've arranged for a makeup final exam to be given in January at the start of the spring semester.