I’m a freshman at a big public uni… typical straight A high school student who is flipping the f out over college grades. So I used a calculator and as of right now my GPA is 2.5… I’m devastated. This is based off the 3 4-unit classes I’m taking, which I have 2 C+s and an estimated B in. I see myself potential ending the semester with an A-, B-, and either another B- or C+, but I don’t know. How horrible is it to have a 2.5 the first semester of college??? What about a 3.0? (If I got it up there?)
Not everyone’s going to have the easiest of times when it comes to the transition from high school to college. That being said, you should be concerned about the renewal requirements for any scholarships that you’re currently on. Usually a minimum of a 3.0 per semester is required for renewal. However, it is unlikely that you’ll lose it this semester–it’s usually assessed at the end of the year–if your cumulative GPA is lower than 3.0, then you’ll lose it.
Take some more time to study a lot more rigorously. Go to office hours if there’s something that you don’t particularly understand. A lot of times, professors are just sitting in their office with nothing to do during office hours, and you pay for access to them during them. Take advantage if you haven’t already.
When you go to office hours, here’s an example of how to approach getting help:
BAD: Okay, I haven’t tried anything and I have no idea where to start.
BETTER: I have attempted to solve the problem, but unfortunately I have gotten stuck. Here’s what I attempted so far… (Maybe just come in with some random scratchwork or equations or relevant definitions–just have something even if it’s complete BS on the paper so that the professor is much more interested in helping you).
That being said, a 2.5 isn’t awful, but you could definitely improve. Shoot for a 3.0 as often as possible.
I understand it can be such a huge shock coming from high school where you got As in everything. That isn’t always the case in college. In high school, grade inflation is rampant because your teachers are likely to get in some serious trouble for failure of students. In college, not so much. They’re allowed to have failure rates of about 20-30%. And that’s the case all throughout college
You’ve had a taste of what college is like at this point. Now you know that you’re going to need to step up your A-game and push yourself even harder.
It’s important to evaluate why the low grades? Do you not understand the subject matter ? Did you take too heavy a load first semester? Did you slip behind in your work? Too many ECs? Do you regularly attend class ? All of these things need to be closely looked at to determine the best way to solve the issue. I would start to attend office hrs and look into tutoring opportunities . @cameraphone is right that you need to look at scholarship requirements if you are receiving any scholarships.
So to do well, consider the following:
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GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
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Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”
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If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
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Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
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Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.
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Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
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If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
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Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
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If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
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For tests that you didn’t do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.
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How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
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At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
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If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.
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At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
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Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).
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If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
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If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.
You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories on this and other websites where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.
First take a breath. You are not the first or last student to be struggling. You can recover. The trick is to determine what you are doing wrong. It is likely that you need to seriuosly adjust your study habits. Not necessaryly the amount but how you are studying. Many schools have a help center that will help you learn better study technics. Many students find that high school school methods do not work in college. It is a rude awaking but that’s the reality.
The other think is to stop worrying about your GPA and start learning the material better. Sometimes the thoughts about the big picture (GPA) crowd out the good thinking hours when you could be focusing on the present (learning the material). Ask yourself what you need to do today. Then do it. Tomorrow, ask the same question.
^Good advice. Your GPA does not define who you are as a person.
I appreciate everyone’s responses, although everything suggested is not new to me, in fact I’ve been doing it since literally the first week of school. I wasn’t really looking for “What should I do??” more of “Please assure me that my whole college career isn’t being thrown away.”
@bearystressed Don’t panic–your college career is not in jeopardy! Your grades are not what you’d like them to be, but they are just fine for a first semester college student. At my institution students need a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher to be in “good standing” with the school, so by my book you are fine. If you are worried about whether a 2.5 puts you at risk of being put on probation, check your university’s catalog, which will clearly state what the minimum GPA needs to be. I can’t tell you how often my advisees have a rough first year followed by steady improvement in their grades. Those students end up going to grad school and getting good jobs, which suggests to me that what happens fall semester of your first year doesn’t determine your future.
Your college career will be fine. Most likely you will continue to improve once you figure out all the the challenges that starting college brings (not just academics), and keep working at it. Don’t give up, this is only the beginning.