<p>I feel for you. I had a similarly disastrous first semester of college myself. It has been MANY years and yet, I can still recall with a fair amount of ease, the devastation and embarrassment I felt at the time. Unfortunately for me, I never did find a way to tell my parents. They learned of my 2 C’s, 1 D and 1 F when they received my report card in the mail. My dad’s exact words were, “Quit school, get a job!” The disappointment they felt was only a small snippet of the disappointment I felt in myself. You are now an adult and you must face your adult problems head on. By leading with something like…I am sooo upset. I am embarrassed and I am devastated…you will put your parents in a position of empathy at the start of the conversation. They will realize that piling on to your dismay will not be productive. As a mom, I am much more receptive to negative news when my child leads with how they are feeling about the subject. Do your homework ahead of time so you can present what you’ve done at the time you broach the topic. This will show that you are taking the matter seriously and you are handling it in a mature way. And most of all, remember that your parents LOVE YOU and only want you to be happy and ultimately successful. If that means going to your local community college for a while, then make the most of it. I did just that and ultimately transferred to my state university. That slight detour in my schooling actually taught me a lot of lessons and in the end, I have managed to have a very successful career. Set backs are opportunities for growth and change. They are a normal part of life. Good luck collegeflunkie (and stop calling yourself that, please!).</p>
<p>A doctor also has to answer to a state licensing board and probably a board in his/her specialty. Withholding pertinent information could jeopardize not only a degree but a license to practice a specialty, as well as medicine in general. </p>
<p>For the rest of that doctor’s life, he needs to hope that nobody ever investigates him or that nobody he knew at the first school finds him online and wonders about it. Also the people he knew in high school who knew where he went are a threat to him. If he ever gets an honor or needs a security clearance or even a background check for a job or hospital privileges, he risks losing everything. I also hope he has a generic name like John Smith instead of a distinctive one like Alphonsus Mercutio Walkabout III.</p>
<p>I think I see the misunderstanding - I wasn’t figuring Med school. I see that twist was introduced in the post I referenced. I was speaking to Grad school requirements. The UW systems doesn’t ask for transcripts for every school (for example) for MBA programs.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that withholding any transcripts from post-secondary institutions attended is “against the rules” and unethical. This applies even if you never earned any credits or if you don’t want the credits transferred to a new institution. That said, there are certain career paths where this behavior presents more of a problem than it does in others. The example of a physician, with all the required licensing procedures, is spot on. I don’t doubt that some people, like your friend, are able to get away with it. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.</p>
<p>gitrdone, if you read the fine print of applications, you will find that you are required to report all grades and enrollments in most instances and failure to do so is illegal.</p>
<p>hey Collegeflunkie, Although I am not sure you are still checking on this I think it’s important to reiterate that you are totally not alone in this.</p>
<p>I ran into a very similar situation myself. I attended a large university for a year and completely flunked out ( My GPA my first semester was a .6 just to give you an idea). I came from a very high achieving family and it was incredibly difficult to tell them what was going on. Although I had some sense of my horrible performance ( as I am sure you did a little as well) I had no idea my grades where going to be as bad as it was. I did have other outside issues effecting my grades the shame and embarrassment I felt was not unlike yours. I made the unfortunate mistake of continuing at the university after a warning and only did marginally better. I eventually received an academic suspension. </p>
<p>my personal issues coupled with poor study skills lead to my grades. After that year I attended community college for two and a half years. I began slowly taking classes part time and learned how to study and ask for help. I felt super humiliated and embarassed but I knew what I had tried before was not working for me.</p>
<p>eventually, I managed to get the grades I desired as well as the study skills I needed and I have just been accepted to a four year university. My path was unconventional and yours may be too but that’s totally okay. Unfortunately sites like this don’t always shed light on stuff like this and it’s super shameful to talk about this.</p>
<p>I would urge you to have an honest internal dialogue with yourself about what happened this semester to cause your grades free of judgement and criticism. Marquette is a good school so you are obviously capable. I don’t know if you aren’t ready to look at all of the reasons that caused your grades but you will need to at some point if you want to a successful college career.</p>
<p>as far as the grades on the transcripts, I would hold off on appealing them until you come up with a strong plan for action and I would also encourage you to get in contact with your teachers as soon as possible ( although they may not be able or willing to change your grades you may be able to develop a relationship with them to assist in the appeal process and they may give you some pointers on what to do next time). You may not successfully be able to appeal your grades but you can demonstrate an upward trend in grades at a local community college. That’s what I did ( I never got my appeal approved) and that could be incredibly helpful. I would get into action about what you are going to next rather than dwell on the past and be honest with yourself about what was going on with the semester. I hope this helped someone and although I usually don’t respond to these kind of things it did touch on a soft spot in my heart because I’ve been through what you have. good luck! you can do it!</p>
<p>Actually, there’s no challenge that you cannot handle. It’s about skills and determination. I finished my first semester of college with 18 hours and GPA 4.000. It was even double-challenge for me since I am an international student from another country (very far from the U.S.). To succeed you have to realize where you stand, and what’s at stake. I have seen students with no math skills get an A in the Cal1 afterall; there’re always many ways to get help with any subjects that you struggle (f ex. there’s a Residential Hall Tutoring available during the evening hours in my dorm). You just have to be determined and ambitious about what you do; I have seen students w/o any skills do good after countless hours that they spent studying. I also helped students who had difficulties with calculus, since I know it pretty well. Really, integrate into learning community! That helps a lot in studying.
As for parent, it’s up to you. “Not telling parents” only makes the situation go from “critical” to “twice critical;” but if you feel that your parents cannot really help you, then yes, I wouldn’t unreasonably make them feel bad about your performance. At the end of the day, they paid for your expenses, so they are entitled to know about your performance; I don’t know how it’s in your college, but when I arrived at my university, I signed up a sheet saying that I do authorize the university to send my midterm/final grades every semester to people who pay for my education.
Again, you should clearly realize where you stand, and do everything possible to “stay afloat.” I think if I were in that situation, I would get out of it (considering all the s*** that I have been through )</p>
<p>One of the main differences between high school and college is that your academic grades are all up to you in college. You are not warned by professors majority of the time. It is your responsibility as a college student to keep up with your grades or talk with your professor if you are unsure of where you stand. Use this as a learning experience to do better next time. You can’t learn with out making mistakes…trust me I’ve made a handful of my own.</p>
<p>I’m also a freshman & didn’t do so well my first semester. My low grades aren’t due to partying. I honestly don’t know how to study. In high school, I could pass classes just by paying attention & doing homework. College is certainly a wake up call.</p>
<p>What kids don’t realize is there are weed out classes. At MU they have a huge dental school so the OP was competing against those pre-dental/med in chem and bio. </p>
<p>Go back, or go to UWM, and start over with a reasonable course load and realize you are far from alone!</p>
<p>This is my biggest fear! I’ve taken college courses at a local college and I did well, but I’m still scared that the transition might be too hard because I’m struggling with some things now in HS that could make college hard for me.</p>
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