@JustGraduate I was interested in research involving positive economics and mathematicizing it compared to what physics has accomplished. Normative economics does not interest me.
@blossom “laid back” Economics at Purdue is taught in management school, along with “hard” Economics. The only difference between the two degrees is that “hard” takes a bunch of a management classes and has to take one more math-economics class than “laid back”, which is Economics+liberal arts. In terms of economics material taught, the classes are the same except for one. As far as I see it, “laid back” and “hard” are just relative to each other at Purdue, they’re both hard.
I asked my kid who got an engineering degree. She also got a B in college calculus. It was not a big deal.
As an engineering major, she took a lot of upper level, and harder math courses supposedly than calculus. In her case, she did better in some of the upper level courses than in calculus because those courses were application of the math concepts…and she both liked and did well at application.
You need to do two things before you make ANY more decisions.
Go see a counselor and deal with your social anxiety issues.
Talk to your academic advisor and the career center at Purdue about your interests, strengths, weaknesses, etc. ask what POSSIBLE majors might align with your interests and strengths.
And remember. Switching majors at the end of your first.l.or even second year of college isn’t the end of the world. LOTS of college students, like you, realize that what they THOUGHT would work for a major…doesn’t.
@thumper1 Those services listed in 2. are currently available, as they are not open during finals week. I’d have to come back here next year, which I am not sure I will be doing. For the services in 1. the university counselors basically tell you that they can’t deal with long-term issues and to seek a professorial psychologist elsewhere.
I had a professional psychologist for a few years at great expense. Unfortunately, it didn’t really lead anywhere, so my parents are pretty much off the idea of spending thousands of dollars on one again.
@MYOS1634 There is no public LAC in Indiana. Anything with “liberal” in its name will never get funded in Indiana, haha.
@simba9 I do not believe there are any small public universities at Indiana that are academically reputable or aren’t satellites. Satellites in Indiana are typically seen as leeches that offer nothing but the bigger public universities name or are for adults in their late 20’s-late 30’s who are going back to school. I don’t know if that is true for all of them (it certainly applies to a few), I just have popular opinion to base it off of, but I know Purdue was openly willing to cut its contact with IUPUI (the most reputable of satellites) and IPFW (perhaps the runner up satellite) if the need arises. There is University of Southern Indiana, but it is unranked as a regional university and has a 10.5k attendance figure. I have Indiana State University close to home (12.1k attendance figure), but I have been advised by some CC’ers not to go there.
Seeing a counselor isn’t to “lead anywhere”. It’s to give you the tools to either deal with your unhappiness in a productive way, or to guide you to make the kind of changes which minimize the unhappiness. If you or your parents spent money on a psychologist to somehow turn you into someone else then indeed- it was not a good use of funds.
Did an actual clinical psychologist at a university health center tell you to go elsewhere and refuse to talk to you/evaluate you or are you making an assumption based on heresay?
If you showed up at health services in a psychotic state then you would get referred to a professional elsewhere (like an inpatient hospital in town). But the kind of adjustment issues you’ve described to us here are exactly the kind of problems that university psychologists, counselors (can be a social worker or some other therapist, not necessarily a PhD psychologist) get paid to deal with.
But I won’t debate this with you- you seem unlikely to seek help from counseling and you seem to be dug in to your resistance.
So back to where you started- you are unhappy (big hug to you) and you want to transfer. Make sure you dot the i’s and cross the t’s on your withdrawal from Purdue so that a small clerical error doesn’t bite you later (like if you owe a $10 fee for handing in your dorm key-- and next year the U won’t release your transcript because your account is in arrears). Make sure you complete any outstanding incompletes by whenever the deadline is. Make sure you meet with a Dean to review what your transcript looks like and you can both check it for accuracy- every course you’ve taken should be on there, courses you’ve started but dropped before the official drop date should NOT be on there, verify your social security number, etc. Return all library books. Get a piece of paper from the housing office that your dorm room is in the same condition as when you moved in-- take photos if you need to in order to verify that you aren’t liable for any damage charges.
Go in peace and I hope you find what you are looking for.
Can you go back, see someone else?
Don’t mention all your issues, just that you’re feeling depressed and stuck and backed into a corner, want to transfer, dislike Purdue, this type of thing. Say you need help on how to make friends, how to avoid dumb mistakes socially…?
I was suggesting a small, public university in Indiana in lieu of a LAC. I’m getting the sense that Purdue is too big and impersonal for the OP to feel engaged in the classes there. It looks like there are all kinds of little, directional universities in Indiana, although I don’t know enough about Indiana universities to be able to be able to recommend any in particular.
I hope people don’t rule schools out simply on the basis of reputation. I transferred from a big, well-known state flagship to a little, unknown state flagship with no reputation at all, and the latter was a much better fit.
If someone is struggling in math, CS would not be a good fallback major. One friend who graduated as a CS major summed it up as “Math and electricity”.
There are many jobs in IT that don’t require a CS degree, though. And a “B” in calc isn’t a weeded-out grade for completing a degree. The OP isn’t getting the all As they wanted. And maybe they are learning that a career in academia or research isn’t going to be a reality for them given the competition, especially if they are not the type of student who is good at seeking help.
@MYOS1634 I am only considering IT as a backup if I get tired of college life, which I am very close to doing right now.
@intparent I’ve talked to advisers , counselors, professors, and have made many threads here…how am I bad at seeking help? You’re making quite a mighty (and a wee bit rude) of an assumption and judgement.
My problem isn’t with “not getting all the A’s I wanted”, but struggling to get mediocre results at best in a class I have already taken and done well in high school, the AP test, and Purdue’s math placement exam.
As I have said before, my adviser has made it clear that Purdue math keeps getting harder, keeps getting more competitive, and is graded harder the higher up you get. If I am already not doing well in classes I already know the material in and have done well on previous exams, that doesn’t bode well for me. She has recommended I transfer.
There are designated weed-out classes, and the professor must deal with not only the 500 students in the lecture, but also the hundreds more who watch the lectures online. I don’t perform well in that type of scenario, and there is my problem.
It is help with the math specifically that I am talking about. I have a kid who is graduating from a top STEM school this month with a math-heavy major. Her HS only offered through Calc AB (and the AB teacher got sick spring of senior year and missed most of the semester, so even that prep was light). She scrambled like crazy her first few semesters of math. She got regular tutoring, worked with other students in her classes on problem sets, and got help from older students who had taken the classes. She went to office hours – I assume you have a TA even in a large lecture class. She got some grades lower than a B, quite a few Bs, and a couple of A-s that she is proud of.
Oh, and she was advised to drop out of her major freshman year. But she is stubborn and hard working, and is headed to grad school next year.
Sometimes a school that accepted you a year ago will “hold out” that offer for another year. In fact, for my son, one of the LACs to which he was accepted told him that his acceptance/scholarship was good for TWO years. Maybe this is unusual but worth looking into. Quick phone calls to admissions of any school that admitted you a year ago will answer the question. Transfer application deadlines are either past or rapidly approaching.
On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with simply leaving one school and going home to regroup, think about options, and then re-apply for a year later.
I think the OP should reconsider Indiana State to be a math major. There is a pretty big faculty there and the majors would probably get a lot of personalized attention. Sure, many students if given a choice between Purdue and ISU would choose Purdue, but the OP might benefit from a smaller, more personalized environment. And yes, good students from regional state universities do go on to graduate school…
@intparent I don’t see how me and your daughter compare. Her classes got more interesting and more into her comfort area and area of interests, my classes only get more of what I don’t like (sheer difficulty, tough curving, competitive style, weed-outedness). She had a light at the end of her tunnel, I only have a tunnel that keeps getting more damp and dark as I go through.
My adviser is not recommending I drop out of my major, she is recommending I transfer universities.
@CheddarcheeseMN When an ISU representative came to my school and I told him of my plans, he basically told me to go to Purdue, haha. Of course, he could be just some 20-something who didn’t know what he was talking about. ISU would allow me to live at home (I’d prefer not to live in my house itself, but if it has to be done, it has to be done) and have closer contact to my friends from high school, so I have given some thought to ISU in the past few months. But they offered me only $1000 in scholarships when I applied in high school, so I am not sure they’ll offer much (if anything) as a transfer.
OP you really need to reconsider your plans. IF you think math grad school is the path you should be on then Purdue’s math program is much more likely to get you to a grad school for math. If you thought you knew the material but actually didn’t know as much (a B, not an A) it could be because math at Purdue expects more than at average colleges. The math won’t get “harder” it will continue to be challenging for most. Transferring to an easier school will not make you more competitive in the math grad school world.
Example. Gifted son got his Honors math degree from Wisconsin, including grad courses at a 15th or so USN&WR ranked math grad program school. Math grad programs attract worldwide top math students- the math GRE has a top score of 900 (most will have an 800 on the GRE math section). Son overreached in his school selection- only top 20 schools. Ended up choosing to finish second major in computer science and work in that field, being intellectually challenged. Others with similar stats did get into “lesser” grad schools. Many top math types choose computer science software development/engineering and enjoy the work. I have discovered math grad school isn’t the answer for all who potentially could do it.
UW often tells students to start over with first semester calc because AP calc won’t adequately prepare them for UW’s versions of the sequence. Purdue likely expects more from its calculus than the AP version as well. The warning about courses remaining hard is likely true. Getting a math degree from Purdue means a lot more than from many other U’s. Grad schools will know this and base their acceptances not only on gpa but the school.
It sounds like math to go on to grad school may not be in your future. There is plenty of intellectually stimulating work without it (ask my son). A love of math is necessary. Do you actively love math? Or is it your best subject from HS? If you really like math then consider math related careers and majors. A B in calculus from a top STEM school is by no means a failure (son got a C in an upper level calc class once, still had the gpa et al for math honors).
Your advisor is offering you what to do to stay a successful math major. Perhaps the alternate majors are a better fit for you. This is something you can investigate on your own before next semester. Look at courses you have and what is needed and interests you among Purdue majors. Figure out what you want to do with a math major. The degree is NOT the goal. Even having a PhD will not be the answer to what you want to do for a career. Example- a friend’s math PhD relative has degrees from U Chicago and MIT but job finding difficult even with those credentials. Need to get over the concept that you need a PhD to be intellectually challenged and successful in math.
No cure for Aspergers but plenty of ways to maximize dealing with it. Same goes for diabetes- no cures but ways of dealing with it. Be sure you are making use of the resources available to you. Likewise your other issues may never be “cured” but a lot can be done to modify their impact on your life. This is the time of your life to spend the extra effort required to deal with issues. It will be hard work- definitely out of your comfort zone. The rewards will be worth it for decades to come.
Previous posters have given you many good options. Time to stop complaining and restating issues. Time for you to take charge and DO things as suggested. All the advice in the world will not get the job done. YOU need to move forward, pick a path.
^ OP wants to study economics and is interested in a field that requires some math.
I don’t think ISU is a good choice, especially if OP stays at home (home environment is far from ideal for other reasons, as can be inferred from threads from a couple years ago.)
Op, try calling the universities that had admitted you last year, and call IU again. Map out what you’re going to saynfoe each category, add the polite formulas, write it all down, and call asap.
I admit I am very troubled by the advising and counseling departments at this university. Rather than just saying transfer, I wish an advisor would work with a student to find a better answer than just leave - that feels heartless. That more suggestions seem to have arisen from this thread (albeit ones the OP dislikes) doesn’t seems right. Further, a mental health counselor brushing someone off saying they don’t deal with long term issues is extremely disconcerting. I thought all university offered this kind of service…
I don’t have any answers for you OP. You are clearly unhappy where you are. But you do seem to lack any cohesive idea of how to proceed.
Given that the incentive to stay at Purdue originates from the parents, my question (as a parent) is have you talked to them? Really, really talked to them. Not a “I hate it here, I want to leave” talk - a thorough discussion of the social challenges you are having as well as the academic roadblocks. As much as they might want you at Purdue, surely they want you to be mentally as well as academically happy. An honest dialogue between you where they listen to your concerns and you respect whichever they may have (financial, geographical, etc…) is most likely the best course of action.
@delilahxc That just isn’t going to happen with my parents. They refuse to listen to what I have to say and they repeat the same lines over and over and over again. They seemed more concerned with winning some fictitious argument than with helping me out. They tell me it is my fault I am unhappy, that they didn’t really want me to go to Purdue, etc. I tell them they refused to fill out FAFSA verification forms with any college but Purdue (I attempted to get my mother to send information to the College of Wooster. She just looked at me and screamed “NO! NO! NO!” in my face and how it was some scam to steal her identity or something), that they wouldn’t let me go on any college visits except for Purdue, they wouldn’t pay for any college with an application fee besides Purdue, etc and they just use circular logic or move to some other talking point that I’ve heard several times. I can’t get through to them.
Unfortunately my family doesn’t have any college graduates in it (and this rate, there may not be one in 3 years), so there is nobody to correct them. My parents just use intuition (when the college process requires some knowledge of the industry) and my family just reaffirmed that belief. Since they are the adults and I am the child, the adults will always win any question of facts. For example, they expected me to work 40-50 hours a week and go to school full time, and called me worthless and lazy when I told them that is not normal and something I’m doing.
I’ve been at them that I didn’t like Purdue since September or October, they really don’t seem to care or listen to anything I have to say. They have zero idea how college finances works and it is impossible for them to listen. I have tried so much!
If you read my previous threads, some posters here have wondered if my parents suffer from high neuroticism or BPD.
Also: When I referred them to this site to hopefully gain some information, they went off the rails, screaming down the house and reducing me to tears, about how I was posting “lies” about them and posting personal information (not really that much) in an attempt to find help. They basically took away all of my internet access, near the deadline of application season, meaning I had to rush to finish some applications through limited access to computers at school in 5 minute intervals over several days.