First semester of university experience: FAILURE

[Kaxa2000]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Well, where do I start? Should I go back to high school where I basically set a weak foundation for myself by taking the easy way out by taking regular classes instead of AP? I feel like I could blame everything but myself for this frustrating semester when in the end it's pretty much all my fault I suppose. I felt like I tried real hard this semester, but since I was not familiar with the university system and was not used to the being around peers who seemed to know so much more than myself I still could not pull through. I blame the fact that my peers know so much more than me because most of them already took those classes (e.g. Calculus, Chemistry) in high school while I never took Calculus and I only took regular chemistry with probably the worst teacher ever. I feel confident I can pass next semester if I repeat, but I just want to know what anyone else would do in this situation. Any advice from anyone? I'm not sure what to major in. I was thinking of just doing pre-pharmacy courses, but since I failed first semester I guess that's not an option for me anymore. I'm thinking about going for a Biology degree. What do you think?

 

[146233]

Moving this thread to Non-Traditional Students. Many students there can offer advice on your scenario.

 

[DrMidlife]

Failure to thrive in your first year of college is as non-traditional as my fanny.

 

[TarHeel55]

Failure to thrive in your first year of college is as non-traditional as my fanny.

👍

 

[kami333]

lol

I think mine is a bit non-trad, it's kind of big for a guy my size😀


Back on track...

OP: have you tried identifying what you did wrong this semester? Didn't study enough, didn't focus while studying, studied the wrong things? If not, it might not get any better next semester. It's only 12-16 credits, maybe 10% of your GPA by the time you graduate, barely a blip IF you can do better from here on.

BTW there's nothing wrong with starting out with the really low intro level classes as long as you get to the higher level ones eventually. I wish I had done that instead of reaching too much all the time, my GPA could have been better.

 

[kronickm]

Freshman year GPA...1.87.

GPA from Junior year till present (post-bac included)...3.94.

 

[Rowantastic]

Repeat after me: "Upward trend." Seriously, you are far from the first person in the history of the universe to bomb the first year of college.

 

[njbmd]

Well, where do I start? Should I go back to high school where I basically set a weak foundation for myself by taking the easy way out by taking regular classes instead of AP? I feel like I could blame everything but myself for this frustrating semester when in the end it's pretty much all my fault I suppose. I felt like I tried real hard this semester, but since I was not familiar with the university system and was not used to the being around peers who seemed to know so much more than myself I still could not pull through. I blame the fact that my peers know so much more than me because most of them already took those classes (e.g. Calculus, Chemistry) in high school while I never took Calculus and I only took regular chemistry with probably the worst teacher ever. I feel confident I can pass next semester if I repeat, but I just want to know what anyone else would do in this situation. Any advice from anyone? I'm not sure what to major in. I was thinking of just doing pre-pharmacy courses, but since I failed first semester I guess that's not an option for me anymore. I'm thinking about going for a Biology degree. What do you think?

You have a couple of problems here with the first being very quick to find "blame" in this process. The situation as you have described it is that you didn't do well in your coursework during your freshman year in college. The solution is to figure out why this was the case and correct the problems because the performance of no student other than yourself has anything to do with your grades. Either you mastered the coursework or you didn't.

Problems that generally arise:

• You did not have sufficient math/science preparation for the level of coursework that you took.
• You did not have adequate study skills to master your coursework.
• You did not seek help from resources such as faculty office hours, tutors and help sessions.
• You were distracted from your coursework by _________. (Fill in the blank).

Plenty of people did not take Calculus in high school (or even Algebra) and have gone on to excel in their university coursework. At the first sign of trouble in a course, you seek help and you change whatever is not working for you. Sometimes this means dropping back a level or two until you get to the point where you have solid grounding (in math or anything else) before you move on.

Plenty of people have started off poorly in university; corrected their problems and gone on to have a successful university experience. You need to look around your university and find the resources that you need before you spend another dollar in course tuition. These resources may be time-management workshops, study-skills workshops or math placement testing. The bottom line is that you do whatever you have to do to get what you need to be successful. Trying to look outside yourself isn't going to help and that is like finding out that your car won't start and just sitting there without popping the hood. You won't get too far.

Do a critical analysis(with help from your university counseling service if necessary) and get yourself back on track as quickly as possible. You can't start over but you can change the ending here armed with the lessons from this experience however painful. Good luck!

 

[ShyRem]

A few quick words:
1. Tutors. Pay them if you have to.
2. Learning centers to figure out HOW to study.
3. TURN OFF THE TV.
4. Schedule time to study. Yes, EVERY day.
5. Office hours. Go to every single office hour you can get to. Drive through 3 feet of snow if necessary. Bring clear concise questions and show your work.
6. Other reference material. Review books.
7. Study groups.

That's all I have for now. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop blaming anyone other than yourself. This has nothing to do with anyone other than you and your pure drive and desire to learn.

Good luck. Oh - last pearl: chocolate helps. Beer does not.

 

[Krisss17]

You have a couple of problems here with the first being very quick to find "blame" in this process. The situation as you have described it is that you didn't do well in your coursework during your freshman year in college. The solution is to figure out why this was the case and correct the problems because the performance of no student other than yourself has anything to do with your grades. Either you mastered the coursework or you didn't.

Problems that generally arise:

• You did not have sufficient math/science preparation for the level of coursework that you took.
• You did not have adequate study skills to master your coursework.
• You did not seek help from resources such as faculty office hours, tutors and help sessions.
• You were distracted from your coursework by _________. (Fill in the blank).

Plenty of people did not take Calculus in high school (or even Algebra) and have gone on to excel in their university coursework. At the first sign of trouble in a course, you seek help and you change whatever is not working for you. Sometimes this means dropping back a level or two until you get to the point where you have solid grounding (in math or anything else) before you move on.

Plenty of people have started off poorly in university; corrected their problems and gone on to have a successful university experience. You need to look around your university and find the resources that you need before you spend another dollar in course tuition. These resources may be time-management workshops, study-skills workshops or math placement testing. The bottom line is that you do whatever you have to do to get what you need to be successful. Trying to look outside yourself isn't going to help and that is like finding out that your car won't start and just sitting there without popping the hood. You won't get too far.

Do a critical analysis(with help from your university counseling service if necessary) and get yourself back on track as quickly as possible. You can't start over but you can change the ending here armed with the lessons from this experience however painful. Good luck!

👍👍 Your first sentence says it all, njbmd!

When will people realize that college is not high school and that as a college student, you are thought of as an adult. This means that more of the learning experience needs to be the responsibility of the student. I'm sorry but his is a major pet peeve I have of students attending the school by me. I know that there are many, many students that realize this...but whenever I hear or read about the unfairness it drives me bonkers.

 

[TypeA]

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop blaming anyone other than yourself. This has nothing to do with anyone other than you and your pure drive and desire to learn.

Good luck. Oh - last pearl: chocolate helps. Beer does not.

Excellent advice. 👍

 

[Yourmother]

I failed first semester

Welcome to my world! I let my failure determine my life for 10 years.

Learn from it.