<p>I'm just going to get this off my chest and check back tomorrow. I took a year off from doing much of anything because I had no other choice. After 21 years of military service, my dad decided to move to California for a new job because he was retiring. I was pretty sick of moving around my entire life and I had gone through a rough life in high school going without friends for first three years of it. However, I wasn't a bad student. I got mostly A's because I could just care <em>that</em> much and sunk into other pursuits. I took a business class my senior year and every day we'd have to research an article and write up a report on things. Yeah, well, 2008 wasn't such a good year for the economy and my parents knocked on my door to tell me that they couldn't afford college. But I couldn't take no for an answer and hounded on my dad to find a way and we did: community college. Only a year later did I have enough money to start my education and it's weird because I still have no social life since I was 13 outside of my long-distance girlfriend I've been with since I was 18 (it's not just online).</p>
<p>But the summer of 2009 something really clicked with me. I never had a prior interest in mathematics at any point during high school, but I had read a book by Richard Feynman and was delighted at the read. It inspired me so much that I became deeply interested in solving problems. I didn't have much going on for me class-wise because I was at the bottom of the barrel as a newcomer, crashing classes like crazy. I finally got into 3 math classes: Statistics, Pre-Calculus, and Trigonometry and was so excited to be doing so well with A's in all my classes come the end of the semester. I had never received above a B in high school in a math class. I had taken 12 units, though, so I submitted an application to join the Honors Program here. I got it. I also joined the Honors Society. And then, I got sick. It started in the spring and what seemed like a great undertaking soon turned into a nightmare. I was working overtime just to pass my classes. I put in an unreasonable amount of 10-15 hours a day when I had the time to study chemistry because I got a 21% on my first exam, due to having a fever that day. I had never felt so crushed. The rest of my classes I gave what I could. I didn't make very good grades. B,C,C,B. Two C's in 5 unit classes.</p>
<p>And the summer of 2010, I had signed up for Calculus 2 during the summer. My health had been rather poorly still and I soon learned that I had pneumonia (the first appointment I had dismissed me with just inhaler. the second appointment was a whole other ballgame) but even the details on that were sketchy. But I took the class and passed it with a C. And my memory has been deteriorating ever since on things in class.</p>
<p>I'm taking classes now. I've been in the hospital about 10-15 times for things and have another appointment next Friday. They tell me I have this, that I have that, and that they don't know what. I dropped Linear Algebra. I've got a 62.5, second lowest grade in my Diffy Q class, and I love mathematics. And I'm getting very sick. Everyone comments on my health. What do I do? What can I do? I'm sporting a 2.75 GPA and I feel like it's only getting worse. I don't want to drop my major, but my girlfriend is also another stressor in my life. I was supposed to go to her LAC and she always cries (literally) now because I'm not getting any better, that I'm not remembering as well as I used to, and I'm failing at something I love and cherish. And I have to get a recommendation form and hand it to the dean, who is going to see how I've done and I don't have many things to offer. And all this time I don't want to give up. I had this goal of getting into UCLA, UC Berkeley, or her college and I literally broke down this past weekend realizing I'd never get into any of those anymore. The medicine hasn't helped. I haven't shown how scared I am to my girlfriend, but I'm so scared for my life. I feel like it's been ruined and that there's nothing I can do anymore about it.</p>
<p>Feynman made everything interesting. I would pursue something I’m good at. It doesn’t sound like you’re very good at math. If you think calc and diff eq is hard, just wait… It gets ugly.</p>
<p>I don’t think I agree with the above poster. It’s not clear how good you are at math yet - your illness has definitely taken a toll on your morale, your gf’s morale, and your ability to study. </p>
<p>I wish I knew what to say to you. I wish I could say, well, you should be better in a year, so why don’t you just take off a year and rest up, study when you can to keep yourself on your toes, and wait until you get better. But it seems like - from your post, at least - that doctors don’t know what is going on with you. You may be sick for an undeterminable period of time. Taking off from college and not knowing when you can come back - especially as it was difficult to attend college for you in the first place - has got to be a really scary experiene. But equally scary must be continuing to get bad grades and continuing to bring down your GPA.</p>
<p>First of all, I would put aside the classes you have done poorly in. The past is the past. And, honestly, 2.75 is not that bad. It will be easy to bring back up with another year of classes. With all of your doctors appointments and hospital admissions, it should also be easy to explain to colleges that you’re considering transferring to that it was illness that caused a stint of poor grades, not lack of ability.</p>
<p>That said, I can’t tell you where to go from here. You might want to set up an appointment with a therapist or counselor to help you discuss your options and to help you deal with any feelings of hopelessness you might have. You might want to consider going to school part time, just taking one class a semester (it will move more slowly than your summer class, so maybe you’ll do better). You might want to consider taking a year off if your doctors can give you some more information about what is going on with you, and can give you a timetable in terms of getting back to school. Good luck…</p>
<p>I’m so sorry for your situation. Maybe you have sarcoidosis. My dad had the same symptoms as you, and doctors could not figure out what was wrong with him until he was on what could have been his death bed. In any case, I hope things pick up for you. =)</p>
<p>The first poster was a little harsh. I can see how Calculus would be a bit of a challenge if you’re not in the classroom everyday. </p>
<p>As for your grades, I think your best option would be to not take so many classes in a semester and instead spread your classes out over the year (meaning you take classes in the summer, too). That’ll give you time to really focus on each course’s material, so you can do better. Also, when/if you do transfer for a bachelor’s degree, most colleges will be very understanding of your grades if you explain your present situation.</p>
<p>There’s still hope. I rose up from a sub 2.0 GPA and academic probation at my cc after an earth shattering situation. I took a year off, worked, traveled a little (megabus, it’s cheap), and came back a year and a half later and knocked it out the ballpark, and got into several prestigious universities.</p>
<p>I take back everything I said in my first post. Except actually do talk to your adviser…</p>
<p>I was in a very similar situation when I was in high school. My morale was terrible, I received a stream of constant criticism from my parents, I couldn’t get a job because of my immigration status, couldn’t apply for 90% of the scholarships because of immigration status, couldn’t get into a good college for various reasons. As a senior in HS, I should have taken it easy. Instead, I took a crap load of college classes: diff eq, linear algebra, etc. I’m typically great at math, but I screwed up those math classes. I did worse than you, D+ and D- in theoretical linear algebra and diff eq. It was incredibly hard to get out of bed, I was always late, I never studied, and I was basically friendless. It was hell.</p>
<p>I don’t quite know what I was thinking in my first post, but I take it back. Your morale plays a HUGE role. Do something about your personal life. Right now, I have a 3.5 GPA, which I need to bring up to a 3.7-8 for grad school. As for how I got over the period of despair, I found myself some self respect and self confidence through friends and playing sports.</p>