<p>So I just worked up the nerve to look at my grades from the previous semester and there not that good. I ended up passing a class I thought I was going to fail and failing a class I thought I was going to pass. The class I failed was for my major which is Math. It was an intro to proofs class. I feel I deserved to fail since I was too lazy to go to class alot which cost me my grade. There was a period of about two weeks where I was sick and wasnt actually able to go to class and from there everything just went downhill. </p>
<p>I messed up again, but feel that I tried alot harder than I have in my previous years. I enjoy Math enough to continue on, but I'm just not sure how to move on. I would talk to my advisor, but it just so happens that he's the teacher for the class I failed (go figure). I'm not sure what to do. I made a mistake but now I want to move on. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Just retake the class? Or - if you are not required to take a designated intro to proofs class - take another class that will introduce you to formal mathematics? (Discrete math or a first course in real analysis takes this roll at many colleges.)</p>
<p>Also, is there another math professor besides your designated adviser who you feel you could talk to? Most professors are happy to give advice, in my experience. (In fact, after declaring my major I never sought advice from my major adviser again. I got my advice from professors I trusted and only went to my major adviser for signatures.)</p>
<p>In my mind that’s the solution, but I guess my concern is that I went in this semester doing well. I was on track and on top of the world, but when I got sick and was bombarded with exams that I subsequently didnt do well on, I just lost all motivation except for the bare essential to pass my classes (which was all I could do) and everything just went to crap. </p>
<p>This sort of thing always seems to happen to me. Ever since I was a freshman, something has always happened that caused me to lose sight of my goal and thus cost me alot. And I know this is my fault, I’m not blaming anyone at all, but this has sent me down to a whole new low. My gpa is now a 2.5 and I’m just worried. I’m doing the best I can and trying to be a perfect student but it never happens. </p>
<p>It also doesnt help that I’m trying essentially do 2 degrees that I have alot of pre reqs for in 3 more semesters (Math/Econ). I guess its just that I like writing proofs but I’m not all that good at it yet.</p>
<p>Do you think you might benefit from having someone hold you accountable for one full semester?</p>
<p>There might be several ways to arrange that. You could talk to a counselor, for example. At my own college there was another option; deans could monitor students’ progress by placing them on academic probation. That entailed weekly meetings with a dean, and all of the student’s professors were asked to notify the dean of any absence from class or drop in academic performance.</p>
<p>If you lose your motivation only when something unexpected happens, you could also make a commitment to seek help as soon as you notice that you might be going down that same path again. But if something unexpected happens predictably every semester, or if you are concerned that you probably wouldn’t reach out once things started going down hill, it might make sense to seek help proactively.</p>
<p>Leave the old semesters and worries behind you and start fresh in the Spring. Re-take the classes you didn’t pass over the summer, or this semester if they’re pre-reqs. Get help in your classes when you first find yourself struggling. There’s no shame in getting tutoring or extra help.</p>
<p>Also, GO TO OFFICE HOURS. If you were sick or had extenuating circumstances, your professors have obligations (and most of them are willing in the first place) to help you make up the work. And most of them want to see you succeed. </p>
<p>It sounds like you already know what you did wrong, so do what you can to reverse that and do better this semester.</p>
Have you considered dropping one of the 2 majors to reduce the amount of stress you are under? Finishing a math major in 3 semesters, when you haven’t even really had your intro-to-proofs class yet, sounds like torture. I assume that that would require several proof-based classes concurrently in your last two semesters (analysis, algebra, and electives if necessary). Many students find their first “real” rigorous math class very stressful, and taking several at once can quickly get overwhelming.</p>
<p>The poster above makes a good point about considering dropping one of the majors. If you’re taking intro to proofs, you already have all the math you’ll need as an econ major (unless of course you’re looking to get into a Ph.D program). Doing just econ would make your life much easier.
As your gpa isn’t that great, try and get work experience rather than making yourself miserable trying to get through proofs, analysis, algebra, topology, etc. You could substitute those classes for probability and statistics, learn matlab, stata, sas, and other useful stuff that you’ll likely be using working in a biz/govt/financial job after you graduate w/ an econ major.</p>
<p>sorry I’m just now responding. I didnt realize anyone had responded. I’m doing 2 majors for 3 reasons:</p>
<p>1) Math and proofs are something I’ve always sort of enjoyed. Even back in high school geometry (granted it is high school geometry and not necessarily accurate). Nevertheless, I like to write and do computations. </p>
<p>2) I thought about just doing Econ, but I have been advised that Econ isnt necessarily a good major (going off of what alot of people told me). I wanted to have something else with it. Math seemed like a good fit.</p>
<p>3) If I did only do Econ, I would basically have 3 more semesters to fill up with 7 econ classes. so essentially I would be under credit hours for full time. Plus I feel like I would be academically “bored” not really having much else to do besides Econ. </p>
<p>4) A math BA is doable in 3 semesters since I’ve taken all the calc necessary. Since my math major requires only 3 math electives, the class I failed would count (when I pass it next time), one more math class and then my Econometrics would count as an elective as well. So it kinda made sense. </p>
<p>I see what you’re saying though. What happened was that I lost motivation when I couldnt make my tutoring appointments scheduled for the week I was sick and had to deal with the other exams/homework due that week. It was just a really rough couple of weeks and I did the best I could to stay on top of things. Also, I had done well on my first exam in that class so I didnt think I needed to worry. </p>
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<p>I’ve heard about the misery. I’ve been through the misery of engineering for 3 years so I thought that it shouldnt be more difficult than that. Apparently I underestimated it. I wont make the same mistake twice. The thing is that I dont really know what kind of work experience I could get given my gpa. I believe there are different positions at my school but those require a gpa higher than mine. So needless to say, I’m not sure how to do that.</p>
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<p>Thank you for this. When I made this thread, I was just really freaking out since I had never actually failed a class and didnt expect to fail this class . I made my goals list for this semester. One thing that really set me back was the fact that the my teacher/advisor told me that there was no tutoring for this class and I didnt think to try something else until about the 2nd half of the semester. I found out that the school actually has to find a tutor if I request it. But that’s neither here nor there. I’ve learned what to do now and I should be good this semester.</p>
FYI, math majors are in less demand than econ majors. In fact, econ is a double major that math majors pick up to make themselves marginally employable. (The other popular one is computer science.) But if you do enjoy your math classes, go for it!</p>
<p>I like RavensFan’s idea to invest your remaining electives into classes that will teach you skills employers seek: business or programming classes are the first ones that come to my mind for an econ/math combo.</p>
<p>Really? Thats the polar opposite of what I heard. I thought math majors were actually in demand. Hmm. </p>
<p>I’ve already taken a Stats class which was mostly probability (or should I say probability theory). I was going to get to stata in my Econometrics class this semester, and I’ve already taken an entrepreneurship class too. The programming I’d have take that though I’m not too thrilled about taking it at my school. And I had planned on taking accounting too. So I figured I should be good there.</p>
<p>I was a math major in college. All of my math major friends either:
had a background in a second field
went to graduate school
were unemployed or underemployed for quite a while after college</p>
<p>Math is extremely useful as a tool in other fields. Other than that, companies only hire math majors because it’s supposed to be a hard major, which makes us “verifiably smart.” That really only helps if you have tippy top grades or graduate from a tippy top university though.</p>
<p>Sorry I’m so late responding. I’ve had alot to think about.</p>
<p>So from what my understanding of what you’re saying is, as long as I can pull up my grades, I should have some leg up since employers will think I’m smart (even though I know I am) by default of being a Math major?</p>
<p>Also, what made you want to go into math as your undergrad degree?</p>
<p>I am saying that you should not rely on the “math majors are brilliant” default assumption because you have already gambled that away with your grades to date. (Not that the math major at your university seems to be particularly demanding either. The “hard” math courses are the rigorous proof-based ones. At my college you’d be 8+ courses away from finishing a math major when you are taking an intro to proofs class. That’s also why I initially recommended dropping the math major if you’d have to finish it in 2 semesters after intro-] to proofs; at my college that would have been plain suicide.)</p>
<p>If you do get any advantage out of your math major, it would be from the specific math classes you have taken.</p>
<p>I am saying the value of your math major rests solely on its substance. If you have taken classes of practical value, your math major will make you more employable. Otherwise it won’t.</p>