I just finished my freshman year at a 4 year university. I did terrible my first semester because I had a difficult time transition ing, not great time management skills, and had difficulty sleeping at night and I was about 6 hours from home. I was placed on academic probation for my spring semester. During the spring semester, I really tried hard to attend all of my classes (I might have missed 1 or 2 at most) and put many more hours into studying and doing homework. I got my grades and did much better the second semester (actually got 2 "A"s) but not good enough and just found out I’m on academic suspension. To be honest I wasn’t planning on completing my 4 years at this particular school. It was a much larger campus than I originally wanted and I felt like a small fish in a big pond. I also did not feel that my advisor was very supportive and I went to him often but he was never very helpful. I even went to his boss to see if I could switch and I was asked to try to stick it out. My plan is to withdraw from the school, attend a local community college for one semester (maybe 2) to improve my GPA and continue earning credits. I would ideally like to be able to transfer to a 4 year college that is a better fit for me in the Spring of 2018 or Fall 2019. Will the academic suspension hurt my chances of doing this? What do I need to do so that I don’t lose the credits that I have earned at this college? Please help my parents are very supportive but they are encouraging me to seek answers on my own but I don’t know where to turn. (I don’t feel going to my current advisor will be very helpful based on past experience). I’ve read info on their website but it does not address my specific scenario of wanting to withdraw despite the AS.
Thank you for any advice you can give me. This has been a very stressful situation.
p.s. if I chose to withdraw from the college, does the suspension still stand? stay on my academic record when applying to another college?
You will likely be asked by potential schools to submit transcripts of all or previous college work so please don’t expect your first year grades to disappear. You will need to have an explanation for those grades. Explanations must include your taking personal responsibility for those grades. Bad reasons include not liking the school, saying it was too large, skipping classes, sleeping in, far from home, finding the class or faculty boring. These explanations lead potential schools to wonder how well you will do on their campuses if those factors continue at a new school.
In cc, take classes that are basic college requirements in English, foreign language, science, history, etc. to to keep on schedule toward graduation.
If you have difficulty in an academic area that might trigger a remedial class in college, take that class in cc to improve your skills and are another credit.
NEVER skip classes, not read and understand the text books and other written assignments, complete and submit papers and assignments on due dates, prepare for exams like your life depended on it because… Go to office hours at appointed time and do not say something rude such as did we do anything important in class today and request reteaching the entire class. Ask a specific question. Don’t try to over complement faculty like Eddie Haskell. Man, I got that test grade because I was wasted all weekend.
Do well on your own work and merit on academical!y challenging classes. If you are transferring from a cc to college under an articulation agreement take academic classes. Once knew a student who took the required number of classes in weight lifting and a few hours more of similar classes. He had accumulated enough hours to transfer but barely made it through welcome week.
ALL I am saying is be the student you need to be to prepare for your future. This time may be your last time to have the luxury of learning.