<p>You do not need to study 8 hours per day if you are studying effectively. Of course it varies by person, but usually that is more than necessary.</p>
<p>+1 for boneh3ad</p>
<p>If you study that much, there’s something wrong with your efficiency.</p>
<p>In my experience, success in college and beyond is related to good routines. For me that meant attending every class, exercising every afternoon before dinner and going to the library or study hall Sunday to thursday evenings from 7-11pm. Sleep 7-8 hours every night starting at midnight. Sounds simple, yes but it would be a big improvement for you.</p>
<p>There will always be great hope ahead of you. Don’t worry too much</p>
<p>At least you broke 2.0, I ended up with a 1.23 after my first semester at Carnegie Mellon. Speaking from personal experience, if you believe you are going to be able to maintain focus and drive for the next 3.5 years you’re kidding yourself. The best course of action is to pause school, go get a job and your own place and support yourself 100% when you can manage to do that for a year, you’ll be better prepared to maintain a longer-term academic plan. However, if you’re anything like I was at your age, you’re going to let your pride dictate your actions anyway.</p>
<p>I’m going back for the spring semester. I see that I might have conveyed myself in the OP as someone who didn’t care at all and thought it was funny, but that’s definitely not the case. If you guys were right about it being a deeper problem and that I should leave school for a little bit then I’ll hold off on that for one more semester.</p>
<p>It’s not that I didn’t care, but that I simply couldn’t force myself to study. I got better as the semester progressed (from not studying a single hour the first month to going to the library a couple times a week before finals). I could have done more but I was stuck in a “well I already ****ed up what’s the point now” mentality. I honestly think this was because of the transition from high school to college. I expected good grades with minimal effort in high school, and that thinking transitioned into college, no bueno.</p>
<p>I’m going to talk to a doctor about this and see what they have to say. Either it’s ADD, depression, or a lack of maturity like everyone has said.</p>
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<p>I didn’t get that impression at all. I got he impression that you didn’t understand why you were behaving the way you were behaving and were genuinely seeking help. I think the professional help is the way to go. I think tutoring is another good idea - someone to kick your butt when you need it and teach you study skills. </p>
<p>Might I also suggest that you be cognizant of drop dates and such so that you don’t lock in another semester of poor grades. You’d really rather stop the clock than do that. </p>
<p>Finally, look through the spring textbooks now and see how much Calc3 you need and try to learn it while you are on break. Take the point of view that you already had a break - first semester. </p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>UIUC has a grade replacement policy. If you’re going to stay for Spring term, any course in which you got a C- or lower should be retaken for a replacement grade. If you don’t do that you’re likely screwed regardless of whether you’ve figured out how to motivate yourself. You need an adequate understanding of the material in your fall classes to be able to progress and understand the spring classes. Do that, and with you’re hopefully new found motivation, you’ll have a chance, otherwise, I fear you’re in too deep a hole to dig yourself out.</p>
<p>
What did you do instead? If you just stared into space or found it literally impossible to concentrate, perhaps consider seeking professional advice. If you were texting, on Facebook, or watching TV, then you need to eliminate those distractions. Electronics (other than a simple calculator) have no place in a good study environment.</p>
<p>In the book I recommended, the author jokingly refers to face book as “the tool of the devil.”</p>
<p>In seriousness though, what you do in your free time is up to you. You just have to recognize, like noimagination says, that study time is study time. When you’re on the clock (somewhere between 30-50 minutes per session with a 5-10 min break in between, varies from person to person), you don’t get a drink, you don’t pee, you don’t text (turn the phone off so the chime/vibe doesn’t distract you), you don’t check e-mail, you don’t surf, you don’t listen to music. You do study, HAM, until your timer goes off.</p>
<p>Live long and prosper. :D</p>
<p>“I’m going to talk to a doctor about this and see what they have to say. Either it’s ADD, depression, or a lack of maturity like everyone has said.”</p>
<p>I would definitely check into these things you mentioned.</p>
<p>The other thing I would recommend is to see if your school has some kind of tutoring center or help/accountability office where you could routinely check in with some kind of mentor or tutor – maybe if you had someone you had to check in with face-to-face once or twice a week, it would give you more motivation to keep yourself on track.</p>
<p>You could sit with that person and schedule out your work and class attendance, and then you’d have someone you’d have to face often to say either “Yes, I’m on track”, or “No, I’m not”. Turning off the computer and going to the gym on a schedule are good ideas as well. If there is a class you can sign-up for at the gym, that might provide more motivation to show up there regularly.</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
<p>“I’m expecting a 2.5 GPA.”</p>
<p>If you really didn’t do all those homework assignments I would be very surprised if you were able to get a 2.5…either you are extremely bright or you are kidding yourself about the grades you are going to get. Because it doesn’t sound like you did 2.5 GPA work.</p>
<p>It sounds like you have a motivation problem. One of my sons has ADD/ADHD. Have you had problems in the past or is this a new problem? There is a difference between not being able to focus/pay attention long enough to do homework and just not feeling like doing homework. Going to the doctor is a good idea hopefully he/she can help you figure out which it is. I hope you get it figured out.</p>
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<p>I just read through my report cards from pre-K and most of my teachers said things like “good student”, “stays focused”, “conscientious”. I’m guessing that if you have ADD then it would certainly have showed itself during your childhood, right? I’ve played chess tournaments, taken standardized tests, read books in one sitting, so I’m starting to think ADD is not the problem here. I feel like going to the doctor would be a waste of their time, idk.</p>
<p>I guess I’ll take the GPA comment as a compliment</p>
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<p>You’re right, I need to eliminate distractions.</p>
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<p>Well if you knew why you couldn’t get motivated, you wouldn’t have posted, and you wouldn’t need professional counseling; you would have fixed it already. Why self-diagnose, or get diagnosed here. Go see a psychiatrist to get a workup to see if you would benefit from medication. Then at school, go see a psychologist to get behavioral therapy to identify what’s holding you back and develop strategies to correct the issues so that you can eventually get off the medication. </p>
<p>Something is holding you back. Why guess? Get the professional help that you need!</p>
<p>What would be a waste of time is going back without fixing the problem and blowing the whole thing. </p>
<p>Being smart is just not enough.</p>
<p>Procrastination screws with your brain chemistry like any other addiction. Your frontal lobe, basically your brain’s CEO, starts to become less responsive as you do the activities it should be moderating. The more you do it, drink, smoke procrastinate, what ever it is, the worse it gets. </p>
<p>If you can proactively turn the tide, great. Like they say at Nike, Just Do It! Set out some tasks for break and accomplishing them. Start by just reading for pleasure for set intervals with no breaks while you’re “on the clock.” Then graduate to going back through your school stuff to figure out you need to do to dig out of the hole.</p>
<p>If however you can’t, you might benefit from cognitive behavior therapy or a period on meds.</p>
<p>Try the first option for a week or so and if you can’t get going see your regular doctor while you’re home on break. It’s natural to feel a bit isolated, even embarrassed about issues like these. I can assure you that he or she will have seen many similar cases and many far worse.</p>
<p>This happens to many kids. Some don’t deal and they go pump gas or flip burgers. It’s great character building work that everyone should do. It’s a crappy career.</p>
<p>Some actively turn the tide. I did. Now they call me Doctor. ;)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>P.S. When patients apologize for wasting my time, I say “That’s like going to buy a car and apologizing for wasting their time. This is what I do. This is how I get paid. When you need me, you are ALWAYS welcome.” I promise your doctor will feel the same.</p>
<p>Definitely don’t drop out. My first semester I was just like you man and I bombed, got a 2.75. I wasn’t motivated or focused at all. Second semester I picked out some motivated friends and we all got through the next semester together. I then got a 3.2. I graduated HS with a 2.75. Your Junior/Senior grades are most important anyway. I feel that college is character building as well so don’t look down on yourself because your on your way man. One day you will wake up so motivated to get a career just like I did. Just stick with it, surround yourself with friends with heads on their shoulders, and push forward. Some classes aren’t fun and some classes are.</p>
<p>This isn’t rocket science and you have already listed what needs to be done:</p>
<p>1) Attend ALL classes, listen/pay attention, participate in the lectures. Keep up on assignments. Don’t procrastinate on homework/labs/term papers etc. The night before the final is NOT the time to realize you haven’t kept up.</p>
<p>2) ECA’s are things you join AFTER you have a handle on your academic work and knowing how many other things you can handle. Drop ECA’s until you get the academics back on track.</p>
<p>3) You need to want to be at the college you are attending. If not, you can invent all sorts of reasons you might fail.</p>
<p>High school has many outside motivators in place to keep kids in class and turning in assignments. Many of those outside motivators are probably gone now (no one taking attendence, no nightly homework your teacher collects and notices if you didn’t turn it in, etc etc).</p>
<p>So now you need to drum up your own motivation. I suggest you become the boss of you. Consider yourself <em>At Work</em> between 8am and 7pm. Maje yourself To Do lists and consider them part of your job. During that time, produce the work you need to do in order to succeed in your classes. You have to become accountable to yourself, for your own good. Do not slack off during those times. If you need a break, set a timer and stick to it.</p>
<p>Also, make sure your diet is good. Eat more kale, spinach and blueberries. Make sure you get enough vitamin D too. :)</p>
<p>Good luck! It is a rough transition.</p>
<p>My high school GPA was a 3.39.</p>
<p>My motivations:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Get an internship at Eaton, Rockwell Collins, or any other companies that suits mechanical engineering, before sophomore year starts.</p></li>
<li><p>Transfer to UIUC’s engineering program before my sophomore year starts (Fall 2014). My dad works at UIUC, and I’m an Illinois resident, so an annual $40K out-of-state Iowa vs ~$25K UIUC is no brainer. But if UIUC only offers general study, then I will reject it and apply for a transfer next semester.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I should mention that my study habits are not optimal. Often times I get distracted. However, I start studying the concepts as soon as they’re assigned, and I studied on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when I’m not working with a student engineering organization, such as the SAE baja. My usual studying locations are the engineering, chemistry and math buildings’ tutoring centers, and the law library (dead quiet).</p>
<p>When it came to Chemistry and Engineering Math I (Calc 1 and half of Calc 2), I do the assigned work. I then do all of the work pertaining to the concepts. And then before the midterms or the finals, I redid the most challenging work to test what concepts I knew and what concepts I still needed to work on. I skipped all extracurricular activities in order to study, except for networking events such as Rockwell Collins Speed Mentoring event, since I do want an internship.</p>
<p>Rarely did I try to memorize things. I just learned them as I kept applying the concepts to my homework over and over.</p>
<p>My Eng Math I professor was absolutely terrible, but I still dragged myself to every lecture.</p>
<p>Rhetoric (equivalent to UIUC’s Composition) and Engineering Problem Solving I (teaches how to write “properly” formatted engineering papers, equivalent to UIUC’s Engr 101) were a challenge. Rhetoric required understanding what the professor expects, and my schedule occasionally revolved around when the professor was in her office so I could get some insights on my rough draft speeches or essays.</p>
<p>EPSI was incredibly boring, and challenging because I lost so many points on little things, such as forgetting to include diagram labels or page numbers. Nevertheless, I had an A- in it.</p>
<p>I also know that I need more exercise, though I got all of it from running around on the campus with a 25-30lb backpack because the campus was compact enough that I could get from one end to the other in about 15 minutes. I ran at least one mile a day, sometimes two.</p>
<p>On a side note, my first semester GPA is most likely to be above 3.72. It’s still being processed, but it will be posted sometime this week.</p>
<p>EDIT: I started with no friends at Iowa and I had trouble building relationships beyond “acquaintances”. But I did stay the **** away from the partying folks, such as business majors and international students on my floor or engineering students that constantly pull all nighters before exams (or party instead).</p>
<p>The job of being a college student is to study and make progress toward a degree. Some people are just not ready for that level of commitment or able to manage the independence to acheive what you need to do. Next semester it is critical that you get off to a good start. Hopefully you have a good class schedule but perhaps you can drop one class so you are not overwhelmed. If not… attend every class, do every homework assignment, make notes on the lectures or notes from the readings, join a study group, develop a study routine…if you have a block of time on an afternoon without class make that your time to go to the library and work on specific class assignment. Make sure you get good night’s sleep, exercise and eat well. If you feel like you are falling behind, take advantage of faculty office hours. Have a good attitude.</p>