A guy who didn't take his first year of undergrad seriously.

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey guys!</p>

<p>It's my first time posting anything on here and thought this would be the appropriate place to vent and/or get some advice. Here's my post secondary experience in a few paragraphs. </p>

<p>I'm currently an undergraduate student at the University of Ottawa (yes, I'm Canadian!) and started back in September 09'. I left high school with honours and an entrance scholarship for my grades so I thought I'd have to put very little effort coming in. All in all, I screwed up my first year by never going to class and spending waaaay too much time on my social life/being lazy. I even failed a few classes for the first time in my life. My dad is currently financially supporting me (rent, tuition, food, etc) and when he found out last year they weren't too pleased and I don't blame them at all. I had told my mom, but yeah my dad is a little less reasonable, but it's no excuse to not be honest with the person that is spending their money on your future. Anyway, now I'm doing a lot better in school and my dad understands where I came from and most of my problems are fixed.. or it's getting there. </p>

<p>Here's my real issue. I can't stop thinking about my first year failures and all of the opportunities I might of missed out on because of it. I am fairly confident I will end university with a decent CGPA, and my last two years being quite good. Have any of you been in the same boat as me? Has first year failures affected your post undergraduate studies in any way? </p>

<p>I know that I can't change the past and what is done is done. I've grown a lot since my first year and I am currently doing a lot better in my classes but at times I reminisce about my first year and can't help but feel like it will affect my chances of getting into graduate school if I choose to go. It was totally out of my character since I was an A student my whole life. I'm currently a business student so an MBA or stats is something I might consider later on.</p>

<p>Anyway, I guess what I'm looking for is for any advice/positive feedback/personal experiences that any of you might of gone through that's in any way similar. I recently turned 21 and will most likely be doing an extra semester/year because of my first year so it's been over 2 years now and yet it's something that will drive me crazy from time to time.</p>

<p>Thanks for taking the time to read this.</p>

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<p>I really don’t have much to say, but in High School my freshman year I got a 2.8 G.P.A. I went in there thinking that you could be “cool” in high school by being lazy. I realized something and grew up and finished with a 3.4 G.P.A. Do you know what you need to achieve in order to get that? A straight 4.0 Soph, Jun, and Senior year. It was tough. When I went to apply for colleges, I felt held back because I made one mistake…it’s really unfortunate that I made it so young…but good that I made it then. Anyway, while applying I found myself pushing towards what I achieved to do rather than what I failed to do. So make sure you emphasize when you finally finish school how well you turned around and worked your butt off to improve everything. Sometimes it isn’t enough but try.</p>

3

<p>Yeah it’s sort of the opposite for me, I graduated with an A average in high school and got lazy when I started university. I’m definitely doing a lot better now and grew from that experience. You were lucky to experience a bad GPA in high school and grew from it at an early age. </p>

<p>Thanks Danny :)</p>