Bouncing back from an awful first semester at college?

I’m studying electrical engineering at UIUC. I went from being 4.0 overachieving high schooler to a miserable college freshman with a 2.18 GPA who got a D- in physics and chemistry and a C- in calc 3.
In physics, I was unable to manage time and had absolutely no proper study habits and didn’t know how to study since I never had to do so in high school. (Also I’ve just always struggled with mechanics.)
In chemistry, I thought I was doing okay and cut myself some slack and tried focusing on physics and ECE, but I didn’t realize that I had cut myself too much slack.
In calc 3, I thought I would be okay since I practically self-studied calc 1 and 2 and did pretty good; I also got a very bad lecturer and was unable to attend other lectures since they clashed with my classes. Unfortunately I didn’t realize how different calc 3 was from 1 and 2 and failed to study properly for the earlier chapters, which put me behind for the rest of the year and I was unable to ever catch up.

How can I better prepare myself for next semester, especially since I have much harder classes?

At my daughter’s university, the students can re-take classes they don’t do well in. Have you considered that option for a class or two, so you can better learn the material before moving on to more advanced classes that build on it? Have you checked out all of the tutoring services available on campus? Have you looked online for free tutorials? Were any of the low grades because you did not turn anything in (indicating a time management problem), or were they all because you bombed the tests (indicating a mastery of the subject problem)?

Finally, have you considered that electrical engineering is not the best choice of majors for you? If you made any high grades during the semester, what were those subjects? I strongly recommend looking at other options for your major, and changing your class schedule for next semester.

To me it sounds like your schedule was jam-packed with challenging courses (physics and chemistry?). I’d strive for more balance in that area. Also, definitely meet with an adviser and see what your university offers in terms of repeating a course and grade forgiveness.

Hang in there - you had a tough load! You can learn from this and turn it around.

To start you must stop blaming others for your poor performance.

This has nothing to do with jam-packing a schedule. Many people take physics and chemistry simultaneously along with a calculus course, including myself and many others I knew when I was at UIUC. That was the normal way of things.

Really this just sounds like a classic case of a star in high school never being required to develop solid study habits and being overconfident going into it such that they were resistant (intentionally or not) to developing said habits. I had similar problems when I started, only I managed to skate by rather successfully my first semester and it was the second semester that really slammed me.

You just have to learn better time management and better study habits. Don’t cram. Don’t just blindly memorize facts. You have to try to grasp the basic concepts rather than just regurgitating formulae and solution recipes.

I would not give up on ECE so soon, contrary to the previous poster, and I wouldn’t even entertain the idea at this point. If you are passionate about trying to get an ECE degree, work to fix the problems to allow you to achieve that goal. Don’t just assume that goal is too hard and give up after one semester. This is far from over.

Sounds like you didn’t put enough time into your studies? Did you develop good study groups? Did you regularly take advantage of professor office hours? Did you find course specific tutors? If not, any of these can be helpful.

Do not sign up for conflicting classes.

Also, you should have tried the old final exams from UIUC’s calculus 1 and 2 to check your knowledge before going into calculus 3.

You may want to or have to repeat the physics course where you got a D-. UIUC allows up to four courses of up to 10 credits to have grades replaced for GPA calculation purposes when repeating the course: http://www.registrar.illinois.edu/campus-grade-replacement

In the future:

  • Read the relevant parts of the books before class.
  • Go to every class.
  • Do the assignments and projects, starting early.

^ Are you supposed to structure your schedule not only around your own other classes, but OTHER ALTERNATE SECTIONS just in case you don’t click with your lecturer?? That’s not “conflicting classes.”

I can only advise you the way I would my own son (who is a solid science student) - I would not take Chemistry 1 and Physics (unless it was Intro to Physics) at the same time as Calc 3, especially when the Calc foundation is a little shaky.

Maybe that’s too conservative but that’s how we do it. We try to sprinkle in some do-able humanities gen-eds. But there you have to be careful that you don’t take on too much writing.

ETA: My DS is a dual enrolled high school senior, so he can afford to go a little slower. But even when he officially goes to college I’m hoping he will carefully balance his schedule. He really likes to learn things well, especially in the science and math subjects. YMMV.

What got in your way of an optimal performance? Remove that from your life and buckle down (ucbalumnus has good advice). Was it too much social life or a social life not conducive to college success? Was it daydreaming too much? Was it bad sleep and attendance habits? Basically, discipline. Learn to enjoy being disciplined and all that will bring you and it will be easier. You got this, good luck!

Since you were a high achieving high school student, you probably took AP physics, maybe AP chem, and you said you self studied Calc1 and 2 (AB/BC or college level?).

Then when it’s time to schedule classes many skip the introductory classes and that might be a mistake for first semester freshman year, especially in a demanding major like that. It’s hard to know how well the subject was taught in hs or how well you will do with new concepts taught at college level.

I would definitely repeat Physics and Chem before moving on to harder courses and maybe Calc 3.

Did your advisor caution you against taking Calc 3? Did you take placement tests?

^^Totally agree with this. My niece in engineering says the same thing.

I disagree with the auto repeat, get an A mantra. First, an A isn’t guaranteed even if you’ve had it already. Second, if you know the material, you are wasting time and money repeating it. The secret is to follow @ucbalumnus’s advice. Get old syllabi and tests for the classes you can skip and see if you know it was well as they expect you to. If it’s easy, voila! If it’s foreign, repeat, if a little brush up on Kahn or MIT will get you by, skip forward.

As for brute force getting you by in HS and failing you in college, it’s common. Get this book: http://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Straight-A-Student-Unconventional/dp/0767922719
Read it and if nothing else implement his sections on calendaring and organization and avoiding pseudo-studying. There are no manic secrets. It’s just a distillation of the study habits of phi beta kappa inductees from the Ivy League. It is about performance and just as importantly, EFFICIENCY. By his own admission he’s no guru. He’s just amassed what worked and continues to work for others.

Get it, read it, use it, you’ll do fine. Good luck.

That book looks awesome @eyemgh - just ordered it!

At many schools, the engineering major degree plans typically do include some semesters where two lab science courses need to be taken in the same semester. Of course, a student who is ahead and able to take subject credit or advanced placement in some subjects from work completed while in high school may have room to rearrange the schedule.

It is not necessarily true that a humanities or social studies course will automatically be easier for a student whose best and favorite subjects are math, science, and engineering.

Speaking as a physics professor at an engineering school, this seems to me be to a combination of several things which have all been mentioned by previous posters. One is the typical heavy first semester that many engineering students take when they are still learning to adapt to being in college (not a trivial thing for all students). The second is the fact that AP courses are not necessarily equivalent to a college course. I have seen a lot of students jump into multivariate Calculus in their first semester and it does not always go well because the foundations of Calculus I and II are not solid. Third is study habits. I tell my advisees to treat their college day just like a regular 9-5 job and schedule accordingly. This does not always work but it is a good way to think about approaching your studies. Finally, many students are unwilling to cut their losses when they see that many of their courses are going poorly. Taking a W on occasion is no disgrace and it could prevent you from doing poorly in more than one class at the minimal cost of having to repeat the course with only a W on your record not dragging your GPA down.

To the OP, it is only the first semester and you can improve things a lot by taking immediate corrective measures. There are a lot of good suggestions above and UIUC will likely force you to retake the physics course to be able to move on to the E&M course which is fundamental to Electrical Engineering. You might also want to reassess your situation in Calculus. Perhaps you need to roll beck to Calculus II and then retry Multivariate Calculus. Even if you have to do something like this you are by no means behind your classmates in the coursework.

Here are some old final exams of UIUC Math 221 (calculus 1):
http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~ccccc/2012/Fall/221/test4a2011Fall.pdf
http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~ccccc/2012/Fall/221/test4b2012Fall.pdf

Here is an old final exam of UIUC Math 231 (calculus 2):
http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~fgultepe/spring2014/old%20exams/Final_2013.pdf

@ucbalumnus - I don’t disagree with you; just speaking in terms of the context of the OP. For this particular student, it sounds like the schedule was too tough. Calc 3 was probably the tipping point.

Is there some benefit for taking things too quickly to the point that you wreck your GPA? I realize that some students have to finish in 8 semesters.

All I’m saying is there is a need for balance.

I also agree that some humanities courses can be tougher for science/math oriented kids which is why my DS is trying to knock out both English Comps (1&2) in high school (dual enrolled).

The schedule wasn’t “too tough”, as that represents a very typical schedule early in an engineering program. And yes there is a reason to take those courses all at once: they are all prerequisites for subsequent courses and trying to space them out too much will put a student on a longer path to graduation, which is often (usually?) not desirable if possible. Perhaps more importantly, being on a slower track means it is less likely to see the same people in your sequence of core courses, making it more difficult to form an effective, persistent study group.

I have to agree with @boneh3ad, not only was that schedule not atypical, things get harder from there and rely on a solid command of all the previous course knowledge. The OPs story is fairly common and not a signal to panic, just to learn how to be effective and just or more importantly, efficient.