I have been academically dismissed from my university for having a gpa lower than 2.0. I hear alot of advice here to go to community college but the problem is I already went to community college and transfered into a state school before being dismissed. My major was biology but I kept failing biochem and physics. I have alot of credits and I don’t want to start from scratch. What are my options? Is there a school I can attend that will take the credits I have accumulated and passed (which is probably are 4 years worth)?
Isn’t this the same question you posted last August? What have you been doing since then? I suggest you re-read the suggestions on that post and answer some of the lingering questions from people who are trying to help. You generally will get more responses if you enter a dialog rather than post and run.
Well, for starters, let’s talk academics.
If you “keep failing” those two subjects, would you consider changing your major? Is there a reason why those two courses in your major are holding you back? Would you consider a major somewhat related to bio, but without the heavy coursework that’s a problem?
OK, as to the CC advice: who gave it? I see it very, very frequently here. But here’s the thing: it’s very frequently posted by another kid-- a 17 year old kid who thinks that everyone without a 4.0 is destined to flip burgers for the rest of his life, unworthy of anything “better” than a community college. And that’s simply not the reality. Community Colleges are a great opportunity to bring up your grades— or to save money-- but they’re not the only game in town.
Where do you live? What do you see yourself doing with that bio major?
Do you have an associate’s degree? What do you plan to do with a bio degree? It seems like you must be struggling with more courses than bio and physics to have a 1.x GPA. From your other thread it sounds like working a lot interfered with your studies. If you were working 2 jobs to keep your parents’ costs down it sounds like money is an issue so you’re likely going to have to look at colleges you can commute to from home. Talk to the admissions staff at those schools to see what you have to do to enroll. Have you checked the requirements for reinstatement to a CSU? If not, talk to them too.
I agree with the previous posters. First and foremost, I think you need to put the prospect of college on pause and perhaps consider shifting career paths. Between work and academic dismissal, I think you should seriously sit down and have a candid look at your future education. Obviously, this implies that you might have to start from scratch, but at this point, it may not be a good idea to continue on to upper level STEM courses.
You got a lot of good advice from your last post in August http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2013307-flunked-out-of-college-now-what.html#latest What have you been doing since then?
@happy1 Thank you for linking OP’s past thread! (For some reason, I can’t access profiles on mobile) After reading over his/her’s past thread, I wonder: between August and now, did you attempt another semester at your previous institution?
i’ve kept myself busy and completed some training programs like certified nursing assistant to get a job. I will be taking the board exam next week and after that i will be applying to another EMT program. I wanted to be a clinical lab scientist with my biology degree but now that is down the drain…i was hoping maybe i can transfer my credits somewhere since i’ve already gone through so many years of schooling and just graduate then do a short term vocational program (like scrub tech, ekg tech, etc. ) Ultimately i want to be in the healthcare industry (which is why my major was microbio) but i’m just too stupid and can’t make it through school. I really don’t want to give up my bachelors. and no i haven’t attempted another semester at my previous university. In order to be reinstated, they require me to raise my GPA through open university but the tuition for that is too high and i can’t afford it.
I’m a young college student who is about to finish my first year of college in may (I count it as that because I didn"t go on a full courseload first semester because I took 10 cr hrs and this is my third semester) so if my advice isn’t enough or you don’t like it please don’t hate me.
If you have taken a break from school since last August (it counts as that even though you did vocational training because it is still very different from college or university) then I would consider that maybe this break is preparing you well to do better when you go back in the future. Everyone may need a gap year sometimes.
Have you considered maybe that your foundation for Biochemistry and physics isn’t strong enough? Depending on what type of physics you took, usually either trig or calculus is a prerequisite for it so I would look at your foundation in whatever the math prerequisite is and work on that if it is weak before retaking physics. I’m not sure about the prerequisite for Biochemistry is but I believe organic or general chemistry is a prerequisite for it and even those are hard courses for most people so I would also look at your foundation there too.
If you continued or started working in one of the fields you’ve gotten training in then maybe you could work full time and go to school part time? That might be a way to successfully complete your hard STEM classes but make sure you are still able to put in the time to study and get help when needed.
Did you get tutoring, go to professor office hours, or watch online lecture videos when you struggled? I don’t know of any online lectures for these subjects but maybe someone can help you find them. Have you read the book called how to become a straight A student by pal newport? Since you were working a lot that probably took a lot of time away from this and may have not even had the time do this. all STEM majors are hard and you have to put in a lot of time for them usually.
Failing a course twice may seem like the end of your Journey in that path but there are people who failed classes 3 or 4 times and still went on to great things (if it is in STEM) but of course that involves changing their habits, eliminating what was preventing them from doing well in school, making sure they are prepared, and maybe taking a break like you have been doing.
Good luck with whatever decision you choose! I have struggled with math due to personal issues but still want to major in STEM. Engineering is one of the hardest majors I’m interested in and have backup plans for majors that are less math intensive in STEM but Engineering is still my dream. Despite you still being able to work in healthcare with vocational training, i could imagine that it is still your dream to do clinical laboratory science or microbiology. I hope you are still able to find a way to still do this path.
@Mistariapotter1 - Good luck with your CNA exam. Once you are working as a CNA, you will find more options for yourself within the healthcare field. You can work your way up in the system. When you have money for a class or two, then you can take them and work on the grade recovery that you need in order to finish your bachelor degree. At that point, you might even find that you don’t really want the research lab side of things, but rather a different aspect such as hospital or healthcare management.
thank you everybody, some of the advice is very sound and encouraging.
@happymomof1 i do love the class i took as a CNA. i really like the patient care aspect. I realized that maybe i didn’t do well in university was because after my grades slipped i was told that i’d have a hard time securing a position in the hospital as a medical lab scientist with bad grades and felt so discouraged. I am considering nursing (ADN) since i have all the prerequisites but i have heard the nursing curriculum is more rigorous than normal university courses (which i didn’t do well in).
The nursing curriculum will be tough, but is won’t be as abstract as some of your previous classes. Since you now know you like patient care, you might be able to stay focused on the nursing courses.I’d encourage you to just work for a while, and not race back into college. The ADN can wait a bit. Your real-life clinical experience will prove helpful if/when you do go for an ADN.
I’m glad we were able to help @Mistariapotter1.
Good luck with everything!
maybe try enrolling into a community college. raise your gpa, if need be regroup and replan your major