I currently have a 2.4 gpa at USC. I’m feeling really burnt out and I don’t think I’m ready to tackle the senior course load. My idea is to withdraw from USC for a year or two and go to a community college so I can earn credits to transfer back to USC. Does my GPA factor in these credits?
It depends. Certain schools do not calculate GPA based on transfer credits - at my University, all coursework completed at other schools is generated as “Pass/Fail” regardless of the actual grade.
I do not think this is a realistic plan. USC knows you are a 2.4 student. It will not be fooled that you took CC classes to raise your GPA. I assume you are a freshman? If you took 2 years at CC, you would still need to do 2 years at USC so that would be 5 years.
I would suggest making use of all the resources at USC to do better:
What you are doing now, study-wise, is not working, so you have to overhaul your study methods. Your new school may be more rigorous than your previous school and you have not made the change.
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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?”
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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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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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Have you been focusing on other things rather than school work? (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)? Have you been distracted by any issues in dorm life or emotionally? Any medical/mental health issues?