<p>And are there any repercussions?</p>
<p>I just started the semester at a 4 year after transferring from a CC. I have been dealing with severe depression for more than 3 years and it has taken a turn for the worse where i am truly afraid of what i might do next if one more bad thing happens to me. The stress of college is only making things a million times worse right now. I want to know if there is a process you must go through to take a semester off and if it requires any sort of doctor's note or if there are any repercussions for doing so. Or can I simply drop all my courses (that just started last week so I would not receive W's) and listen to my parents tell me how disappointed they are in me...for a semester? I worked my butt off to get into this college so I dont want to get kicked out or anything. I should point out that this is my first semester there and there's nothing particularly wrong with this college it's just the stress of college in general, constant peer pressure and being away from home that just IS NOT helping my depression right now.</p>
<p>If you have loans taken out to pay for school, look at those. My loans say that once I’m not registered for school anymore I have to start paying them back. That probably would not be a good situation if your loans say something similar.
Have you tried going to the counseling center at your college? They can be really helpful in dealing with the stress of college. I go there at my school and I’ve found them very helpful so far.</p>
<p>My parents are paying for school and I am not sure if they got loans or not. If I choose to go ahead with this and withdraw from all courses within the next week it looks like we will get most of the money back from the university.</p>
<p>I really do not want to go to a counselor at the university. </p>
<p>Loans aside is there anything else I need to be concerned about? Can I just simply withdraw from all courses and register for them again in the spring?</p>
<p>I don’t know enough about withdrawing for the entire semester to comment on that aspect, but there’s one little tidbit to remember: depending on your courses, some may only be offered in the fall which could put you another semester (or just a few classes) behind. Most of the people I know who withdrew during the fall waited an entire year just because of that.</p>
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Most likely not. Chances are you won’t be allowed to register next semester.</p>
<p>You really just need to get over your pride and talk to a counselor at your school. What you’re looking for is a medical leave of absence (psychological), and it really is quite common. Only your schools counseling office can help you with this - no one here on cc can.</p>
<p>Well I just looked over UMD’s policies regarding this issue. It says…</p>
<p>Students who have earned a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA with no previous withdrawal or leave of absence will need to apply for readmission. All other students who find it necessary to leave the University are required to petition the Faculty Review Board in order to be reinstated.</p>
<p>The thing is this is my first semester at this university so I wouldn’t even have a GPA yet would I? Unless they count your GPA at the last university which was a 3.5. So if they do not count previous university GPA’s I suppose I would have to petition for reinstatement which seems risky. The leave of absence seems like the much more logical choice but for some strange reason that has to be done during the last 60 days of the semester which isn’t for some time. If I did wait that long then I would not get much of a refund and I might even get W’s on my transcript at that point.</p>
<p>If you’re saying UMD as in Maryland College Park I can tell you a few things.</p>
<p>One, the thing guidelines stated above do not include medical leaves of absence. (something I considered my second semester). If this is the case you can withdraw for a semester and reinstate with scholarship money in tact, but you can only do it once and you have to talk to financial aid before hand. You will also need proof of this medical condition. This can only be done once during your time at Maryland.</p>
<p>Also, since so many people start spring semester, coming back in the spring will not be a problem for scheduling. However, I can basically guarentee, that unless you’re Banneker/Key and you don’t take a medical leave, you will never get on campus housing again.</p>
<p>Since you haven’t started though, I don’t know how averages and such apply. I’d bet money they don’t care about your CC average.</p>
<p>Well that’s the thing how do you show proof of depression. I dont need on campus housing.</p>
<p>A licensed psychologist can give documented proof of depression.</p>
<p>Yeah, talk to a psychologist and they can give a statement (backed by their word) that you have depression. Also, go to the Office of the Registrar (it’s in the Mitchell Building IIRC) and talk to any one of the people in there about taking a leave of absence. It’s really a pretty simple process.</p>
<p>As I said, proof of depression can come from your counseling office.</p>
<p>1) They’ll most likely be more than willing to work with you.
2) If your office isn’t free, it will still be much cheaper than going to a psychologist off campus.</p>