Going nowhere in life help

College Life
1

Hi im a sophomore at a UC school. Lately, ive been feeling like Im not going anywhere in life because of my horrible gpa. My parents want me to go to a grad school but I doubt that will happen because of my grades. My gpa is around 2.6 and with this quarter grades, it might be 2.7 or 2.8 depending on how well I do but classes are hard. Im a bio student btw so im taking bio, ochem, and physics with 2 labs. Also, seeing my friends do so much better than me in exams depress me so much because I work really really hard and I mean it. :frowning:
Any advices?

2

How long are you going to wait to investigate a field in which you might have more success?

3

Are in you in the right major?

  1. Go to your career center and see if they have any tests/inventories that you could take related to what major you should take

  2. Take an online quiz…there are many
    http://www.luc.edu/undergrad/academiclife/whatsmymajorquiz/
    http://www.slu.edu/beabilliken/quiz-college-majors

  3. Talk to the professor in your favorite class and see what they think

If so,

  1. Does your school have a Student Success/Study Skills center? go to it.

  2. Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester. 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?”

  3. 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.

  4. Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.

  5. Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics Ochem or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.

  6. Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)

  7. If things still are not going well, get a tutor.

  8. 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.

  9. For O-chem, get this book “Organic Chemistry as a Second Language” http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-As-Second-Language/dp/111801040X/ref=dp_rm_title_0
    or http://www.amazon.com/Joel-Karty-Bolts-Organic-Chemistry/dp/B00N4END5I