Hi. First of all I would like to say that I know that I am in the wrong. I would just like some advice on what my next steps should be. I went to college this past year and started off quite fine. The first semester, while I did not have stellar grades, they were not the worst either. I also walked into the school with 30 credits from AP testing. The second semester I flunked 2 of my classes, withdrew from another and got a D in another class. With these grades, I am now on academic probation and have lost my scholarship. Since I go to a private school, the tuition without the scholarship is not something I can afford, and I am pretty sure that I need to leave the school. I did so poorly this semester because I almost never studied and kept on procrastinating until it was too late. I don’t really party, I’m just horrible at finding any motivation to do any work for the classes I had. I also think because I was really retaking a lot of content from high school I came in with too much confidence and just basically ignored content to learn. I don’t know what my best options are right now and could use some advice.
Could you leave the college and enroll in a local community college to get your grades up? CC’s are so much cheaper when it comes to finishing the lower division requirements. Then you can transfer junior year and you’ll be ready to tackle the last two years. I returned to school that way. I did my 60 at a local CC and then transferred into a four year and I am glad I did it that way because I wasn’t ready for a four year at the beginning.
If you are on Academic probation, you usually have 1 semester to fix it and reapply to Financial aid for reinstatement of your scholarship.
To do this, you have to go to the tutors daily. The university needs to see you try to improve and the tutoring centers usually report back to the academic affairs office.
Part of being a successful college student is doing the grunt, boring, un-motivating work. You have to show that you can do the work. What do you think happens when students graduate from college? Do you actually think they are provided with the best and most interesting work? You show the school why they accepted you. Balance your life activities with the academic tasks. If you can’t do that, you won’t graduate from college.
Otherwise, you need to go to CC, get your GPA up, and reapply to other schools.
To be honest, I think you have to attack the underlying causes before you consider your next step. Why did a kid who was capable of earning 30 AP credits in high school choose not to study in college, to the point where your grades fell to this point? I’m not berating you, simply trying to figure out what went wrong so it doesn’t repeat itself in the next school you attend.
I agree with @bjkmom, I think that you need to understand what really happened.
Do you know why you are in university at all? It seems to me that many students go to university because it is just sort of assumed that we are all supposed to. However, it can be hard to find the motivation to study hard if you don’t understand a somewhat deeper reason than this to be there.
Sometimes working for a year or two can help a student to find the motivation to do well at university.
Definitely you are not the first and will not be the last to run into these same issues. Many people go through a similar “bad semester” and come out very well in the end. It is likely that your university will probably allow you to take a semester off if you want to.
However, being at a university where you need a scholarship to be able to afford it, and losing that scholarship, can complicate things. It looks like you probably also need to find a more affordable option. This makes @RedLari’s suggestion of community college look like another thing that is worth considering.
There will be a better day. You can get through this. For now you are going to need to take some time to figure out what the next step should be.
Go get a job. Work in the real world for 6-12 months. Then re-evaluate. Good luck.
Most students don’t realize what a big change college is from high school. College tends to stratify students by academic levels. So your all peers are just as smart as you are. That allows the professors to go at a pace that will challenge you.
College also doesn’t spoon feed you the material like high school did. The onious on learning is in the student’s court. And for that you need to be motivated to learn. It is that motivation to learn that also propels you throughout your professional career.
Sounds like you will be forced to take a break because of financial concerns. Use that time to find and work a “real” job. Many people will then find the motivation to better themselves after working a while. You should then be able to find the motivation to do well in college.
The keys to doing well in college are focus and time management. Practice those skills in your every day life before you go back to college and you will be better prepared to do well.
What are the conditions of your probation?
Do they ask you to work for a semester? A year? Or do they ask you to retake all classes where you got a D or F and get an A in them? How can you get out of probation and at that point will the
Why were you “basically retaking high school classes” if you got 30 AP credits and presumably skipped ahead in those subjects - was there a problem with advising or placement?
Was the school a super safety school where the pace and depth were much below your high school preparation so that you didn’t feel stimulated? Or did you not realize the autonomy and pace of college and didn’t catch up fast enough?
Considering you were capable of getting 30 AP credits in HS, you must be a pretty smart person.
Evaluate your study habits and reflect. Ask yourself the questions that @MYOS1634 posed.
There is a good chance that the AP credits placed you in upper level classes, which the AP might not be strong prep for (Some high school AP classes are much easier than their college equivalent).
I wish you luck
I might say get evaluated for depression given that you had no motivation.
@bopper This. You were submarining your self - you need to know why, or the cycle will repeat itself at another school.
I agree with the suggestion to get evaluated for depression. There is nothing wrong with taking a semester or two off before re-enrolling. You might want to investigate more affordable schools.
Community college might be a place to get your legs underneath you before returning to a four year college/university. I would echo the thoughts of others and seek professional help surrounding your lack of motivation and see if something more serious is behind it. You had the motivation to some into college with a ton of AP credits. Something has changed.