<p>This is long read.... ive read some experience share and thus felt id share mine too...and by the way havent shared it with anyone save for my parents...
Firstly as most of us would agree,for the average college student-Engineering is not gonna be a walk in the park-not that any major will be! Add to this,the freedom we have at college and no one "chasing" you around (as was the case for me in high school) coz we are supposed to be mature-doesnt help. especially in my case...well heres my story..
Well,first and foremost-i aint in the States..im African and studied there till college...
All through elementary/high school(O-level) i was performing pretty well in class..id say i was among the top 15 students in my class/schools-which happened to be some of the most prestigious schools in the country..After my Olevel exams,my 1st option of high school dint offer me my preffered "sciences" combination(Physics and Maths) and because my parents and I were confident this is the field i wanted to study later on in college,they got me into an international high school that was about 3times more expensive than my previous school(1200$/yr)- i got in there,passed infact i excelled and was among the top four local students in my school that year.I was then admitted to a university in my country(S.Africa) to do B.Eng Telecomms Eng....
Thsi is where it all starts to happen...I got in there and i was doing Engineeering,all my friends that had gone to the same schools as myself were in Arts,Economics ,IT majors-but them being my friends,i was living my life like them(hanging out with them all day,clubbing and all that).My roommate was a commerce major and also happened to be a close buddy of mine from elementary school,i.e making our room a hangout for the whole "crew".college life in the first sem was one helluva rollercoaster,it seemed like paradise.
So anyway,to cut the story short at the end of the first semester,i had passed my 5 courses but my GPA was soo low..2.9 on a scale of 5..it did bother me for long but i kept convincing myself that ill double my efforts the following sem..The next sen came by and before i knew it,i had been thtough it jus like the previous one but even worse now,i was on probation coz i failed some of my courses..The next year,i moved back home so that i could commute to school and study more at home,my parents even gave me an old car to use for this hoping that it would simplify my journey to school and on the way back i was supposed to pick my kid sister from day care(my parents didnt know about my academic situation at this point,they thought i was being proactive by leaving the hostel "distraction").As fate would have it,on one of the weekend nights i was coming from a night out with friends,i dozed off on the wheel and drove into a tree,the car was wrecked at the front but thank Godi wasnt injured and was able to drive it home...the next morning was hell for me-i had let down my parents..it really hurt me inside! To cut the story short,at the end of that academic year-i was terminated from my degree because I had been under probation for 3 consecutive sems.
when i told my parents,it was like my world had crumbled on me,it came to them as a shocker coz they'd always assumed i was doing well in school.there i was now alone in my solo world.
My parents are the most considerate parents i could ever ask for in ths world,we talked about the whole situation and after months of consultation and counselling,I found out about a uni in Malaysia where some of my high school friends were studying.I sent in my applications and by Jan 2007,i was off to Malaysia for college,went allong with both my parents coz they hadnt been to this part of the world and wanted to see what the college i was getting into really was like.well,we got here and fell in love with the place,there was quite a number of my former school mates(infact on arrival at the airport,in the "arrivals" area someone shouted out my name-only to find out it was a junior from my former school tht had come to drop off a friend)..so anyway,i was with my folks for 2weeks and after i had settled in,they went back home.
I was enrolled as freshman in the same major as i had started back home//(Telecomms),i had hoped to do a credit transfer but it wasnt approved coz my grades were mainly Cs and they need B+ for approval,so i started all over again from year 1.the 1st year was pretty smooth,i had good grades,went home for xmas break on a "high" and the future was shining bright.
However,in my 2nd year,i got too comfortable with the place and became "CARELESS",i slackened too much and got involved on other stuff that was of least importance to me i.e was in the gym trying to bulk up,doing coursework at the very last minute and oocassionally going out,movies and basketball games.Whenever i wasnt ready for an exam id take a medical exemption for it or maybe drop the class in the hope that i can re-do it the next sem.well in the end it al backfired and i was the loser again.I came bak from home this January,only to find that i had been terminated from the university.reason=my GPA had slackened over 4 sems and at all times it was below 2.
This was when it really dawned on me how i was taking life for granted,my parents had sacrfifced all for me and I,being from Africa know how gifted i have been.I have seen what an education can do to CHANGE life,in the countryside where my parents were born,pverty stares you right in the face,,now here i was,evrything had been give to me and had put it all to waste
For the next 3 nights i couldnt sleep,eat or think straight,lost weight wondering how i would tell my parents this tragic news.Somehow,i broke it down to a very close friend,he built up my spirit and i informed my parents via email.I broke thier hearts,but they still didnt give up on me(Well i had given up on myself)..My parents advised me to appeal to the President explaining what happened and why i should bare the blame and what i plan to do/have done to improve.Together with my offical appeal,they too sent in a Parents Compassionate Appeal to the President.My parents are very religious,and my mum asked me to fast as i prayed for Gods guidance.A week later my Dad called me in the morning with the good news that i had been reinstated to my course on probation and on condition that i score higher than 2 for my GPA that semester.I thank God everyday for thisThat sem i did 2 subjects and scored a GPA of 3 on a scale of 4.
I am now back on "Pass" academic status and working harder than ever.Part of me will always have that guilt of disappointment,because at 25years right now,i am still doing my undergrad and will not graduate until summer 2012.The majority of my mates graduated in summer 2008 and 2009.Coz of my immaturity and carelessness,i am behind my mates by FOUR years.
Just FYI as i write this,2 of my close friends who were 1 year below me in both elementary and high school have graduated today from my Univeristy and in my same major.Their parents and close family are here for the celebration,and i am whole heartedly happy for them but have disppointment/guilt in myself because i feel my parents deserve the joy im seeing these guys enjoy right now.
My aim for sharing my story,is so that whenever anyone comments,i get more motivation to struggle on till the end and most importantly so that no freshman or anyone else has to put themselves or most importantly their parents,what i have put mine through.It hurts for me i know but i got myself into this and only I CAN and WILL soldier on to the end.
God bless you all
simbyak</p>
<p>ahh you kinda remind me of me now. Thank you so much for sharing. Dont feel ashamed tho. Some people take longer to graduate. and you’re a better person for having gone through that experience. just keep doing you :)</p>
<p>Many more people fail out and never go back or graduate in something much easier, so I wouldn’t consider yourself to be a HUGE disappointment.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing. One should never underestimate his own potential.</p>
<p>My story is the opposite. I worked hard in high school and my grades were poor. I am working moderate in college and my grades are excellent!</p>
<p>Thank you for your story, I am currently a freshmen and I had worked hard in high school but have no done great with the results. I am now taking a summer course in college and hopefully I will start off the fall quarter with a 4.0 =)</p>
<p>@alchemist</p>
<p>Excuse me, but mind if I ask how that’s possible?</p>
<p>Sigh, I’m in almost exactly the same situation, except school starts in like a little more than a month… my university is a really competitive one and I think it doesn’t really care much about killing me off, even though I have often worked my ass off. Sigh, this nightmare is just beginning for me I think. >.<</p>
<p>It’s very much possible! Somehow after I got into college something just clicked and now studying is easy. It’s easy to sit down and study. In high school it took a ridiculous amount of effort to sit down and study. It was really hard to stay focused in high school. It’s still more difficult for me to stay focused and study than my classmates but it is easier than before. I don’t feel like I am working as hard anymore to do well in college.</p>
<p>Doing well In high school was hard and doing well in college is not hard!
I’m kind of odd in that way. For example while most find chemistry easier than physics. To me physics was way easier than chemistry!</p>
<p>Calc based physics was a breeze. Chemistry took a lot of studying and hard work and I still ended up doing worse in it than physics.</p>
<p>High school gpa was 3.3
college so far is 3.8</p>
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<p>No offense but this says a lot about your college. High school was a complete joke compared to getting and engineering degree from a respected school.</p>
<p>wow good luckk dude. hope everything works out.</p>
<p>@ VBLICK</p>
<p>I completed my first year of engineering at University of Maryland.
I am now transferring to University of Alaska Fairbanks to complete a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering. </p>
<p>UMCP is an excellent college with high standards and so is UAF. They are both ABET accredited.</p>
<p>edit: I see you are also from Maryland. Then you of all people should know the great reputation college park has in engineering.</p>
<p>btw I didn’t go to an ordinary high school. I went to a 20k+ a year private college prep school.</p>