Bad Semester- How to Move Forward

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I'm about to finish my freshman year at a top 20 college, and though my first semester went relatively well (mostly A-'s with an A and a B, and in weedout classes at that), this semester, in which I took gen chem 2, bio 2, and multivariable calc, has been nothing short of a catastrophic disaster, especially with calc.</p>

<p>Though my grades outside of calc 3 are almost the same as last semester (B+/A- pending final on gen chem instead of A), I may barely pass calc 3 due to the insanely difficult final (even if it were curved, it might not be that helpful). I'm absolutely terrified now of what my GPA will be (lucky if I can get a 3.0 for the semester and 3.3 for the year) and I feel as if I have disappointed myself, my parents, and the university (Vanderbilt), who has graciously gave me full financial aid for 4 years pending 2.0+ GPA (which is not in any danger whatsoever). I have never gotten below a B in my life, and though typically college will be the first time, most people in college still do well (average GPA's in college are still well above 3). It's a truly embarrassing moment for me, and I know that I'm capable of doing better, but I've been feeling overworked, overwhelmed, burnt out, and to a certain extent, demoralized for most of the semester. </p>

<p>I have not been partying- in fact, I engaged in fewer social activities than usual and have become more withdrawn, while ironically becoming more involved with clubs/organizations.</p>

<p>What do I do, then, to move on? How should I tell my parents (they know this semester is bad, but they didn't expect it to be potentially sub-3.0)? How will post-graduate institutions look at this? Though I know my life isn't over and there's time to improve, I've heard too many horror stories of people flunking out, being forced to go through community college, having to pay out of pocket, furious parents, and destroyed career goals due to 1 bad semester or even 1 really bad grade.</p>

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<p>@hfwang18‌ Please don’t be embarrassed (of course you probably haven’t gotten below a B in your life, most people at top 20’s haven’t, but a huge chunk will in college) as you aren’t the only one this has happened to (be disappointed, but not embarrassed. That would be like if I was embarrassed by not doing well in a notorious chemistry instructor’s course, of which Emory has many and know Vandy has them for math). This happens, especially to freshmen (college GPA by graduation is well above 3.0 at all top 20s, but freshman GPA’s, especially at Emory, Vanderbilt, and many non-HYPS, Brown schools) are not all that good. I know we all wanted to continue to bask in the “perfection” that was high school, but it isn’t reality that you’ll always achieve it, and in fact, a lot can be learned from failure. Be disappointed, but learn from the mistakes (don’t blame the difficulty of the final because others passed/did well) and go forth and continue to challenge yourself, but fix whatever your mistake was. You will recover. It is not unusual to struggle. </p>

<p>To put your struggle in perspective, I still am in touch with Emory (I collaborate with faculty and tutor students) and I know that one general chemistry instructor last semester (he is actually one of the best instructors) dished out about 16% F’s (this isn’t counting D grades and the C-, all ranges out of range for pre-health for example. Another section gave about 10% F’s). Also, since you’re a freshman, the bad grade will hurt some, but you have like 2 whole years afterwards to show your post-grad. opps, and they’ll expect improvement. You could have started off as perfect and go down because of complacency or other factors, but at least you have some foundation to build upon where you could perhaps only go up if you execute better in the future. Tell your parents that you are indeed disappointed, but will work really hard to ensure this is not repeated. There is no need to worry about flunking out. Do not think of such things. Just get back up and keep working. You have a whole summer to do things that will take your mind away from this such that you return in the fall fresh and ready for success. </p>

<p>After some of the frustration dies down, a little self-reflection on what led to your performance will do some good. Think about how you would handle another class or instructor that is unexpectedly difficult. How would you study/approach learning differently? For example, even at elite schools, general chemistry, while challenging at these schools is mostly plug and chug type of problems (it’s often not “real” application/higher level problems so much as it is plug and chug problems with a story surrounding them). My guess is that multivariable was much different and you had to go a bit further in your thinking there beyond knowing some basic algorithms, relationships, or proofs and this is hard for some students to adapt to (or did something else go on?). Just think about how you would deal with such a situation if you encountered it in the future because it’s honestly best for you (to be able to come around to thinking or approaching problems at a higher level than usual) even if just in doses or even if you struggled with it before. I say this because I notice a lot of students’ response to being very challenged and coming up short is to just give up on ever being in such a challenging environment again; to assume that you cannot think at that level and continuously chase ease thereafter. The reality is that you probably can think at that level and do well in very tough courses in the future with a different attitude or way of studying. You just have to get over your ego and disappointment and find a way to do it right going forward.</p>

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<p>Bernie, thanks for your input. After some reflection, I’ve seen where I’ve gone wrong:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Too difficult of a schedule, in too few hours. I only took 14 hours this semester, making it impossible to drop calc without being put on academic probation (and I wasn’t doing too terribly before the drop period). 3 STEM classes plus an intensive Spanish writing course left me burnt out before long. Next semester, I will take just orgo and retake calc 3- they should be challenging enough by themselves. </p></li>
<li><p>Letting poor mental state/morale get the better of me. Being burned out caused me to have less focus than usual when studying for these classes.</p></li>
<li><p>Not anticipating the advanced thinking I’ve had to do for multivariable. General chemistry has been a plug-and-chug affair and being able to beat the average handily has not been an issue. Bio, though difficult at Vandy, is doable with a lot of time spent for memorization. Multivariable, on the other hand, is almost entirely higher-level problem solving. Less emphasis on formulas and more emphasis on general problem-solving ability and applying the knowledge learned to novel situations is required, and perhaps it’s a wake-up call before I’ll be taking orgo, where that will be required as well. My problem was that I prepared for exams in a similar way to general chemistry- trying to fit things into a formula and/or procedure.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>In the end, I think I have learned much from this semester- it was just that it turned out there was a very, very steep price to pay for it, and I didn’t expect to be in the position I’m in now a few months ago. From a GPA standpoint…even though Vandy has the replacement policy, I still believe I have very much hindered myself for years to come- it seems as if forgiveness is not very high in many places because there are enough people that can and do perform well without making such mistakes.</p>

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<p>@hfwang18‌ No, you haven’t, drop the belief man…I know one girl at Emory who shared her story with me about how her first year went badly (gen. chem and math), and now she is a beast! She got enough motivation and adaptibility to do the following things: She accidentally landed in a bad/easy organic chemistry instructor fall sophomore year and then went to the most difficult instructor (our 2 or 3 most difficult instructors are likely very similar to your multivariable class…they require very high knowledge and understanding and for them to be applied to completely novel situations, including reaction types and mechanisms you never learned on intimidating molecules) in the spring and did a very solid performance she also did well in biology (at Emory, it’s not too difficult, but also requires a bit more than memorization. Even the multiple choice problems require problem solving/legit experimental result analysis for example, and some sections emphasize case studies and that sort of thing. It’s a bit different from Vandy’s way of teaching biology though there is a lot of overlap in the content. Vandy is more about “details, details, details” and Emory is more like “lab, lab, lab”), and some neuroscience elective courses. This year, she is doing well in the physics sequence and everything else. She is a neuroscience major and is near the top of the chemistry departments biochemistry course (she wanted to take the biology dept. one but could not get in), and this semester, biochemistry by the instructor teaching it is a bit tougher. The girl turned it around and learned how to really think and work/adjust study habits to different situations. I have another friend who had a weak start as well and last semester, she finished at the top of a very difficult graduate inorganic chemistry course!</p>

<p>As for post-grad opps., many are very forgiving of freshman performance…They expect to see an overall good performance and major improvement over time if you began weak (and do not cheat. Many will recognize if you are watering down your courseload to pad your GPA. Good post-grad. opps will notice and will not like it. You don’t want to look desperate or as if you are maneuvering the system. You want to successfully rise to future “challenges”). They don’t only value those who are perfect on paper. For example, plenty of people with good but not perfect GPA’s end up winning awards internal to an institution or nationally or end up being able to take advantage of opportunities that develop them professionally and intellectually. The latter is really the key to making yourself stand out and remain worthy. You need to do relatively well academically and also take advantage of these opps (and make a mark on people or instructors that supervise or advise you. Leave a mark such that they have amazing things to say about you). Also, there is the potential that you could truly blow some future instructors/advisors away (apparently I did according to my rec. letters and I had nowhere near a perfect GPA. And my rec. letter writers are pretty tough instructors and characters…they don’t make stuff up for the sake of supporting the student and making you look good. They won’t even write one if they don’t know you or don’t have much good to say other than about a grade). </p>

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<p>BTW: I had a sophomore slump (it was really, really bad…I think I felt the way you did going through it) and I think I recovered nicely. I ended up doing well in 3-4 graduate courses (2 in biology and 2 in chemistry). The instructor for the first grad. course even invited me to TA his sophomore ochem class the next semester (it was his first year teaching it. In the past, he taught biochemistry). You can bounce back and make an impact so just chill. Also, speaking of ochem, I hope you got into that Sulikowski person’s class. I think she’s obviously the best one (the other ones…not so good…) Just avoid applying the gen. chem method to that class. The more you deeply understand, the better in organic chemistry (because you can apply a few key concepts to several situations or problem types. There is no need to memorize every reaction so much as classes of reactions, with reactions in each class displaying the same dynamics). </p>

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<p>I didn’t get into Sulikowski- spaced filled up before my registration period.</p>

<p>I’m still deeply unhappy about this- such a blemish won’t go away easily. That being said, it’s nice to see that I’m not alone in this and that successful people have had slumps, and not necessarily in their first semester. My slump this semester was really, really bad as well, and for the first time in my life, I’ve felt utter despair and panic over grades. I’m not quite willing to give up yet, but I could have never foreseen this outcome after a good first semester. Hopefully, it’s an experience that’ll make me more resilient as opposed to completely quashing my self-confidence, but it’s difficult on a mental level to come back.</p>

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<p>@hfwang18 It’s hard to foresee it now, but you’ll just have to experience your comeback. Give next year your all. Also, if you got the instructor with a “K” for the last name, he isn’t that hard in my opinion. He has one of those class pack things and seems not to really ask much higher level problems on exams. I would say he’s medium difficulty (I’m scaling it for Vandy I guess. I don’t know what would be considered a particularly difficult instructor for ochem there. I just have the Emory standard, and those 3 instructors are a bit extreme for most selective schools actually, though pretty good quality. I haven’t seen one instructor come close, but I don’t know about Sulikowski…but even then I doubt she’s that ridiculous. I saw “k’s” stuff and I would say it’s fairly standard level, with an emphasis on MO/homo-lumo theory which is cool and makes it a little more challenging). It could serve as a nice segway to rebuilding your confidence. While not the most intense ochem. class, it’s still challenging because of the nature of the subject area and the type of thought required to consistently do well. </p>

<p>Also update: The girl I alluded to (who finished at top of grad. inorganic course) just received a “William Jones Prize” today (Emory’s chem dept is loaded so they gave out lots of awards today with the UG research symposium. Many of them included significant cash prizes) and it includes an 8k scholarship. Your future could be as bright as hers (this prize is not given Willy Nilly. The faculty advisors must nominate them and then most faculty will deliberate and see if they agree based upon research and academic record. Despite her freshman year and even a weak grade in one chemistry class last semester, they still see her having huge promise. Most faculty members don’t value superficial perfection all that much and can recognize when someone is really good, despite not having a skyhigh GPA). Keep your head up and work hard and smart. It’s tough now, but you obviously are full of potential and capacity. </p>

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<p>Does Kaszynski really have a class pack? That’s good to hear. I thought it was just Sulikowski. Obviously he’s not Weinschenk or Soria (got friends in Emory since I’m from Atlanta so I’ve heard of them), but you say he’s fine? Of course I’d prefer to have Sulikowski, but so does everyone.</p>

<p>What would be some good tips so that I can learn how to think at a level sufficient for multivariable calc and organic, so I can do well on both (retake in the case of multivariable) next year?</p>

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<p>Yeah, Weinschenk, Soria, and even Gallivan or McGill (intense but certainly the most predictable of the 4) are quite up there in intensity (I loved Soria’s class, but I sweat bullets the whole year lol! The same could be said said for Weinschenk. And Gallivan and McGill curve unbelievably harshly. If you are a 2-3 points off the median, you already have a C+ no matter the stdv. No mercy) Yeah, Kaszynski had a classpack the last time I checked and compared (his course website is really old though, but usually researchers don’t adjust their teaching style over time whereas a lecturer may experiment). I’ll PM you later about some tips, because it really just depends on how the class is taught and assessed. I’ve tutored and TAed for students with varying instructors (as in basically all of them) and we have our instructors who are about at Kaszynski’s level/style and a couple are a bit lower, and I had the “pleasure” of TAing for one of them :frowning: . Students knew nothing. It was saddening and extremely boring, Did not even have to prep for mentoring sessions because there were no questions or challenges. Problem sets were so simple, I didn’t bother doing them before showing up. Soria designed them anyway, and basically took the easiest problems from his section’s class and put them for that class that he was co-teaching so I already knew the answers or could easily make them up on the spot lol. Compare this to Soria’s problem sets where I had a co-mentor senior to me, and Soria designing problems that stumped us and the students who attended our sessions. In fact, sometimes the students would come up with something first. That was fun. Sometimes we would have to collaborate or consult other mentors for different sessions to find a consensus or get started. It was insane. Good days… At least Vandy has more consistency. It’s more like medium and high medium and not a variation that includes the two extremes all teaching in one semester so as to almost give unfair advantages (or disadvantages depending on how you look at it) to some students.I feel like when you compare the intro and intermediate courses between the two of us, this pattern almost always shows up. </p>