I'm a sophomore at an HYP Ivy, and I my academic situation is not so good... please help.

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1

<p>This semester, my academic situation has been going extremely poorly. I started off the semester with taking 4 classes:</p>

<p>Abstract Algebra
Hindi Level 3
Cognitive Science
Intro to Psychology</p>

<p>Already, as you can see, this is not a very good course schedule. At the beginning of this semester I thought I was going to be a math major - I should have looked into taking an additional math class.</p>

<p>Well, a month into the semester, the math class became extremely difficult. Group theory became impossible for me to understand, even after going to the instructor's office hours and asking others in the class for help. So, I dropped the class, leaving me with only 3 courses this semester, which is pathetic. Even more pathetic, none of them are math/science courses, even though I am most definitely a STEM person. I don't know what I'm doing with my life.</p>

<p>After that point, I started losing motivation - my classes weren't as interesting as STEM courses, and Hindi required a lot of work that I absolutely hated to do. (I am required to take it because of my school's language requirement).</p>

<p>I became depressed and my sleep started to suffer. I skipped class for weeks in a row, even though class meets every day. If I had to estimate the number of classes I've missed, I would say a total of 20-30 days so far this semester. On these days, I didn't turn in the homework.</p>

<p>I should also mention at this point that attendance is mandatory and forms a portion of the grade (although the teachers do not say how much exactly - their grading system is rather fuzzy).</p>

<p>I received an email from my instructor a week ago saying that my lack of attendance and homework completion had become a "major issue", and that I should meet with her. I was very scared to reply and I didn't want to meet with her (and still don't) because I don't know what I am going to say if she asks me why I missed all these classes, or even if I will be able to show any remorse or regret for it (I'm a very anxious person and when I'm faced in a stressful situation I become unemotional). </p>

<p>So I didn't reply to her email for a week, until she emailed me again, saying that the fact that I hadn't replied was "disturbing" and that she would email my Dean. I think my situation is really screwed up now.</p>

<p>My dean then sent an email to me with the following in it:
"For now I can say that, as you are only taking 3.5 credits this term, failing Hindi would mean that you would only earn a maximum of 2 credits this term, which not only would put you far behind in credit total heading into the spring, but would also mean that you would be placed on Academic Warning for spring term for failure to earn more than 2 course credits in any given term. Your instructor says that she repeatedly has emailed you about coming in for extra help but that you never respond to her email. I strongly suggest that you show her the courtesy of responding to her email and thanking her for her nice offer to give you some extra help. Then I strongly suggest that you take her up on her offer to go see her for the extra help."</p>

<p>Now I need some advice from you guys about what to do...</p>

<ol>
<li>What should I tell my Dean?</li>
<li>What should I tell my Hindi teacher?</li>
<li>What should I do about my academic situation?</li>
<li>I also have the potential option to take a leave of absence from my school for medical reasons, because I have been diagnosed with depression and I have been taking medication for it. How should I determine if that is a good idea?</li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for your help everyone. I am very worried.</p>

2

<p>Go talk to teacher, Dean, and is there another advisor who approved your course schedule? They can help you. You may be able to get medical excused absence and save your transcript from bad grades.
Take care of your mental health so you can relax and enjoy college.</p>

3

<p>Go talk to your Dean! Tell them that you are getting so far behind you don’t know what to do. Clearly they are reaching out to you and want you to succeed…but they can’t want it more than you do. Medical LOA might be a very good idea. …it will preserve your GPA. </p>

4

<p>Your professor is trying to do you a tremendous favor. Many, many professors would simply write off a student who stops showing up to class and let them collect their F at the end of the semester. Instead, not only did she reach out to you - twice - she also reached out to your dean. She is trying to give you the opportunity to pull up your grade in the class - don’t spurn it!</p>

<p>Depression is very common in college students, and many professors are quite sympathetic to it. Just be honest with her - tell her that you have been diagnosed with depression, and you skipped class because depression often interferes with student motivation. Don’t worry about whether you show appropriate remorse or regret emotionally; use your words to explain that you felt really bad about it, and you had a great deal of anxiety about facing her to tell her because you thought she would be disappointed it you, and that made you anxious. (This is also very common in depression.) If she does ask or seem skeptical, you can tell her that depression is often associated with flat affect/difficulty emoting. But I doubt she’ll ask.</p>

<p>I had a similar situation in my junior year - I was battling depression and started skipping class because going made me have a panic attack. I didn’t discuss it with my professors until one of them caught me in the hallway and asked what was up; when I told her, she was very sympathetic and said that I should’ve told her sooner because they could’ve helped me work something out! I was able to medically withdraw from two classes that semester.</p>

<p>I was on the other side as a course instructor for statistics - I had a student who had gone MIA and then came and told me that he had been battling depression and anxiety, and that had affected the quality of his work. He was really scared to talk to me, but I shared with him that I struggled too, and we made arrangements for him to make up his work (for reduced credit, but still enough that he could pass the class). He was so relieved.</p>

<p>So</p>

<p>1: Tell your dean that you are going to go see your professor, and you are emailing her right after you finish this email.
2: Tell your Hindi professor what you told us.
3: You can’t decide what to do until you get more information. Your Hindi professor may offer the opportunity for you to make up some work, or she may advise you to withdraw from the class.
4: If you think you need to take a leave of absence, please do so. Sometimes it can take a couple of months to get depression medication appropriately calibrated and to learn your own mental state so that you can detect when you have a strong bout coming on, or how to defeat your thoughts. A semester’s leave could help you in that circumstance. A counselor at your campus can help you decide. You could also talk to an RA (they are trained to have these kinds of conversations) or a professor that you trust.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the advice everyone!</p>

<p>I have very good news - I talked to my Hindi professor today and it went very well. I explained my situation like juillet said (thanks juillet!), and she was very sympathetic. In fact, she said that if I attend all my classes from now, and if I make up the quizzes and do decently, she’ll give me a B/B+!!! This is way more than I was hoping for!! I was very nervous talking to her, and I think I was awkward/unemotional, but it turned out not to affect the result! </p>

<p>So I think that’s my plan - I’m going to focus on Hindi attendance, get that B/B+, and make sure this doesn’t happen again!</p>