Hello,
Currently, I am 3 semesters into my bachelor of science in Biology at the York College of Pennsylvania. I started in Fall of 2020 (with about a years worth of dual-enrollment credits) but I have had a lot of family things occur and it has really hindered my ability to focus on academia and that has resulted in me currently failing and disengaging with all the material. I work a lot (usually 40 hours a week) and have in the Spring as well (~35 hours) but here are some important information to aid in this discussion
1. I have a 3.78 gpa and 59 credits (transfers & every semester leading up until now) 2. I currently am taking 15 credits (originally 18 but withdrew CS350 - Data Strucures) 3. I use spreadsheets ALOT and had my degree planned out completely but now with these abrupt changes I am struggling and it is bothering me so much. 4. Currently I am failing all of my classes except 1.
Normally I procrastinate and it is bad but I have now lost all the motivation to go to my classes and every time I try to recover with work, I fall behind even more because the rate that I am receiving work is faster than the rate that I am completing it. With all these other problems I have, I was considering transferring to a Community College near where I would be living. Can someone tell me (I am specifically looking at Montgomery College Rockville Campus)
Should I / Do I apply as a freshman to transfer?
Should I start over as a freshman and like ‘redo’ college? I don’t have a lot of money which is why I was reluctant about this but was struggling with the application otherwise.
Would this hurt my acceptance into graduate school? Or help it?
Is it hard to take a break from college and then go back after?
Would it be more appropriate to try and bang out this semester, knowing that my probability of falling is significantly higher and may destroy my GPA?
Does anyone have really good search tools for finding community colleges (the common app did not have that many unfortunately)
Thank you so much in advance for explaining the reverse transfer process for lack of a better word. It is a very stressful time for me with my heavy workload and all these big decisions I need to make.
Go get help at the school very first thing on Monday morning. The pandemic has been hard on everyone, and you are working far too many hours to be in school full time. You need a break. I would recommend that you go to the Dean’s office, and ask for a leave of absence. Ask them to allow you to withdraw from all your classes, allow you to drop them so that there is no record of them on your transcript, and ask if they will refund your tuition for this semester. See what you can negotiate with them. Then take this semester off, live at home, work, bank money, maybe see a therapist.
You don’t need to go back to community college. You need a break. With your record of good grades/achievement, I have a strong feeling that you will be able to return to York and finish your degree, maybe after just one semester off.
1 and 2: with substantial college attendance after high school graduation, just about all colleges will require you to be a transfer student (military service academies may be exceptions).
3. It will hurt if you fail all of your classes this semester.
4. It can be, but not necessarily. What can make it hard is if the reasons for leaving college prevent you from returning to college and do not go away (e.g. not having the money, or poor academic performance).
5. If you can withdraw without a bunch of F or WF or similar grades on your record, that will be better than having a semester of poor grades.
6. Most students attending community colleges choose those close to home or work for convenience commuting to them. Where there is a choice, those which have courses that match those at target 4-year schools may be more desirable.
With 59 credits and a 3.78 GPA (if you can withdraw from your current college without a bunch of F or similar grades), then you may not need to take too many semesters at a community college before transferring to another 4-year school. Many 4-year schools take transfers only up to the junior level, so substantially more than 60 credits of community college or other lower level courses may not get you closer to BA/BS graduation. But that may be necessary if you want to change your major to something that requires many prerequisites that you have not taken already.
Thank you very much for suggesting this. I actually believe this is a significantly better idea. So I have reevaluated my plan and would appreciate your input.
I now think I am going to withdraw and live with one of my friends’ families in Virginia so that I can then work a substantial amount then resume college again in Fall of 2021. The reason I am waiting a year is because everything that has happened to me needs to be taken care of first. The last few months have been shrouded with problems, including a car accident, family problems, and the amount of work to the point where I feel like I have expended all my energy.
I would also prolong my graduate to later in life (I wanted to graduate Spring 2023 - 1 year earlier than expected) but now I think I might be a Spring 2024 graduate or later depending on how quickly I should go through my classes. If I do 3 labs a semester, I can graduate early but I’m not sure if that is the smartest decision so let me know your thoughts. Thank you again for this solid advice.
That is an excellent point to consider in my decision making process. Do you think it would be more appropriate to ‘start over’ at a CC or return to my current undergrad school and finish out my degree later in my life when I have my affairs in order?
Unless your current college is unsuitable or becomes unsuitable when you return (e.g. is too expensive or becomes too expensive), then it may be simplest and fastest to finish there.
Obviously, if it is or becomes unsuitable, your search for a new college is constrained by those criteria (e.g. must be affordable).
You can’t actually ‘start over’. You have a college record, and you will carry it with you, through college and into grad school admissions.
@parentologist is right: you need to talk to your advisor or Dean and withdraw now, ideally so that you have no record at all for this semester. Hit the ‘pause’ button, because it sounds as if you are too overwhelmed right now for serious decision making.
So, tell the college that you need to get your life in order and need a leave of absence to do it. Those are ‘true facts’, whether you ultimately decide to go back to York, take some classes at a CC (which you can do while you are on a leave btw), or transfer to a different college.
Be honest, but remember that you do not have to discuss all of the many possible outcomes you have mentioned with them. When you have sorted yourself out, then you back and tell them what your plan is.