Title pretty much says it all. I was a great student in high school, graduated within the top 10% of my class. The transition to college was a little rough, but I eventually caught up. Toward the middle of the semester I started to have lots of family problems and it really got into my head. Parents ended up divorcing and I was devastated. Wasn’t too focused in school anymore and my grades slowly declined. Broke my hand as well and ended up needing surgery so I missed a couple final exams. Turns out I failed every class. I’m overwhelmed with stress and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be suspended. I really want to continue my studies. This is a nightmare come true, it seems as if my life is falling apart.
I know the retake policy states that if I were to retake a class the most recent grade will replace the failing grade, but both will remain on the transcript. So if I retake all classes next semester should I be fine?? What should I do and what should I expect?! I’m currently on scholarships and financial aid. I believe I’m a great student but I just had a rough start. I need some hope.
I saw this when I opened the page, and as a parent, I just want to assure you that your life is not over. But you need to talk to your school ASAP and at least explain your circumstances ( which would have been the smart thing to do as these things happen)
I have found that with my students , one of the biggest obstacles in their 20’s is learning when and how to ask for help. What you were in high school is pretty irrelevant and doesn’t entitle you to anything. What happens in your life, like a divroce, surgery — those are , and you need to seek out help in making a plan to work through those. Adulting isn’t done alone – we all make mistakes, do dumb stuff, hit bad patches we can’t control and didnt want. So pick up te pieces and move on. Get some people on your team, decide what’s next.
You’ve told your parents, right? Right? Din’t even think of lying. Nope, nope. Just spit it out, work it out. You may lose scholarships, you can’t hide that. Don’t make it worse by lying! (I have been this parent!) You should retake a couple classes and continue with what you would have taken, too. Or retake classs in the summer, or find out if anything would transfer in from a web-based school (you could take those classes in the summer, and work)
Don’t give up! You aren’t the first person to do this, and you won’t be the last. ((hug))
Sorry for the very rough time you are having OP. Like Erin’s Dad says, you need to talk to your school ASAP.
Hopefully you did three things last semester: 1) You were talking to the counseling center and 2) your academic advisor knew what was going on. 3) Hopefully you also notified your profs that you would have to miss the final exams due to unavoidable surgery. If you did this, then you may have some options available to you - like a medical withdrawal with sufficient documentation to support it. That would at least protect your transcript. If you didn’t do these things, then they are rightfully going to be concerned about your maturity and ability to manage stress going forward - as well as your academic ability.
If you do enroll next semester, go to the counseling center as soon as you arrive and make an appointment. Then cut back your class schedule to the minimum - take the lightest full-time course load you reasonably can to give yourself some time to grapple with the changes in your personal life. You will need solid grades in the upcoming semester to show the school that you are capable of managing your personal and academic life.
You also need to contact your advisor, the FA office and the scholarships office to see what the effect of this will be on FA. Depending on what SAP (Satisfactory Academic Process) means at your school, it’s likely you’ll be placed on some sort of probation and/or may lose some scholarships or FA.