I’m a college freshman in my second semester… I’m taking four classes, but I’m a month behind in my data structures class. We have difficult assignments every week, and I feel myself getting dragged further and further behind, with no hope of ever catching up. I want to do well, but I have no time to buckle down and catch up. Each time I try, something new comes up, and I’m unable to do the assignments… I don’t know what to do… I’m starting to do badly in my other classes as well… I’m too afraid to reach out for help. I don’t want to bother and piss off my professors and TA’s, but I’m at a complete loss…
I just realized that I posted this in transfer students by accident. My mistake.
How many credits are you taking? What’s your major and how does “Data structures” fit into it?
Are you still within the “drop” period?
What keeps coming up? If you’ve been ill or had a family emergency you could ask for extra time to catch up.
Your professors are not going to be happy that you fell behind, but most will either work with you or tell you honestly that you should just drop. They should not berate you though.
Talking to professors and TAs is scary, but it is a necessary skill to develop, and you are learning why.
You need to take a deep breath and then go talk to people. Professors to see what can be done about catching up; T.A.s for the help you need; and your adviser to drop any classes in which you can’t catch up.
It might help a little if you keep in mind that, as scary as it is, you’re paying for your education and thus for their salaries. The footing isn’t quite as uneven as you may feel.
Good luck!
This happen to people that sit in a wrong class. It may be simply because you chose a wrong major. I have a friend who wanted to major in Chemical Engineering, but he was always struggling in lower vision classes such as chemistry, math, physics class. He always got a C or had to drop the class many times. You have to seriously think about what you are most comfortable working with. Passing all major classes with a C is not a great way to graduate. Do you think you would be working with that major happily? If no, switch to something else, for your own sake.
With C’s, you don’t get internships (most recruiters want a 3.0 or so). Without internships, jobs are must harder to find. Do you want to be in a major that doesn’t lead to a job just for the fun of learning things twice…?