I am currently a freshman at radford university and will be put on academic probation for the spring semester. I wanted to know if colleges send letters if you are on academic probation?
Seems like that process would be specific to the individual school. Have you asked the Registrar’s Office at Radford how they handle notification?
If you are trying to hide this from your parents, I would suggest that you consider discussing it with them. They might be able to help you identify what the issues are and help you identify resources that could help you succeed. While they will likely be upset, it would be better to clear the air now and find a solution. Waiting until the end of next semester thinking that you can recover will backfire if you fail to get off academic probation.
At some point, your parents are going to ask what your grades are. Unless you are paying for everything yourself, it is a fair question. What are you planning on telling them? Lying is not a good option.
You need to ask your school what their policy is. I suspect that due to privacy laws, that any notification will be sent to the student only.
The first thing you have to do is take responsibility for what happened.
You were put on academic probation because you got bad grades.
You got bad grades because you didn’t display mastery of the material.
So, why didn’t you master the material?
Did you go to class?
Did you read the chapter before the lecture?
Did you do the homework?
If you had a bad test…did you talk to the professor about what happened? Did you try to do anything different?
Did you try to go back and learn what you missed on the test?
Did you analyze why you missed a question on a test? I.e., Were you aware of the topic? Did you recognize the topic but could not recall it? Did you do problems on that topic? Did you make sure you could write down definitions without having to look it up?
Did you get a tutor ? Join a study group?
Did you spend too much time on sports/job/clubs/partying?
Do you have some kind of anxiety/depression issue?
Do you have a undiagnosed learning disability?
Were you not prepared in HS for the material?
Did you take too hard of a class?
Did you have any health issues?
Did you have any emotional issues (break ups, deaths)?
I would talk to your parents and be honest about what the issues there were and ask for advice on next steps.
Obviously take care of any mental health issues before doing anything.
Next semester do the following:
0) GO TO CLASS, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
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Go to Professor’s office hours and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?” Also talk to them about if they think you have a chance to succeed in the class at this point.
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If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
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Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
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Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.
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Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
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If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
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Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
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If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
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For your tests, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do?
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How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
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If you do badly on a test, you must change what you are doing/how you are studying. Enlist all of the help your college offers.
@bopper I feel like I need to print this out and keep it in a file for my own children when they get to college. My oldest is a HS jr. and this advice is spot on. Very helpful advice.
@novicemom23kids Yeah I don’t know how many posts I have read on CC about students who are on probation because they had some health/family issue and thought they could do it all on their own.