Low gpa after freshmen year

So in high school I was in the top of class and never really needed to study. My first semester of college was rough but nothing to bad. Well here comes my second semester. I worked 30-35 hours a week. I was so tired and exhausted I got sick and behind in my classes, so I caught back my work load. I tried to get caught up but my anxiety took over leaving me with depression to the point I couldn’t get out of bed. I have now failed one class, and barely passed others. What do I do? Im the only child that hasn’t gotten pregnant or dropped out. I really need advice.

Does your school have a counseling Center you can visit? Is there a tutoring Center? You can do it. Try not to focus on your family’s issues and instead focus on taking a positive step forward. Good luck!

For starters, you are not a “completedisappointment”-- you need to change your user name. You’re a kid who misjudged his/her superhuman abilities and got sick.

  1. Agreed-- you need to see a counselor. You should be home in the next week or so. Speak to your parents about finding a good counselor that takes their insurance.
  2. Check with your college before going home. Some will allow you to retake a failed class, and keep the higher grade. They do this because you're certainly not the first student, and won't be the last, to underestimate college.
  3. Are you on academic probation? If so, there may be a limit to the courseload for next semester. Speak to your academic advisor before going home.

Above all, give yourself a break. All you did was struggle academically. Speak to a counselor, and get things straightened out. This will all be OK.

Talk with your school and do the things advised above. Also ask if you can take a class or 2 over the summer at a local community college and transfer them to your school. Get approval in advance. This will give you some room in your schedule for next year.

One bad term, grades-wise, won’t wreck your college GPA or your college career. Two lackluster terms also won’t define who you are. You can recover from this. That said, to do that, you need to deal with your health issues first. So for this term, go see a counselor/therapist immediately, or your GP/a doctor. Either in student health services (you can use their urgent services, based on what you’ve written here, don’t be shy about that), or else a private therapist or doctor via your own medical insurance. Start getting your health back in order on all fronts, mental and physical.

Talk to your advisor at school. If you failed a class, your college may allow you to retake it, and substitute the new grade for the old in your GPA. Work with your advisor to plan out next semester, so you maximize your chances of success. Also, as of week 1 in the term, go to the tutoring center and find out what they have to offer in terms of overall study skills improvement, time management skills, etc. You can also look this stuff up online yourself this summer, to give yourself a head start on the term. It sounds like the techniques you used in high school aren’t working for you in college, so it’s time to change them. Find out what works for other people, and adopt 1-2 new things that seem practical and helpful as you start the new term.

Unless you are abjectly impoverished - I mean impoverished - do not work next semester. Give yourself extra time to come back from this re: your studies and etc. When you do start working again (if you do), limit your hours to 10-15 per week. Your priority should be your studies, while you’re a full time student, unless you absolutely must work 30+ hours in order to feed your family (and if you do, then consider dropping down to part time for your classes.)

It’s also okay, if you know it’s best, to take a term or two off from college and work on your health. You can return to school later on, when you’re ready. You can even take a leave of absence from this school (most schools allow this), so they hold a place for you should you decide to return.

So in high school I was in the top of class and never really needed to study. My first semester of college was rough but nothing to bad. Well here comes my second semester. I worked 30-35 hours a week. I was so tired and exhausted I got sick and behind in my classes, so I caught back my work load. I tried to get caught up but my anxiety took over leaving me with depression to the point I couldn’t get out of bed. I have now failed one class, and barely passed others. What do I do? Im the only child that hasn’t gotten pregnant or dropped out. I really need advice.

  1. FIrst of all, full time colleges is a full time job. FOr every hour in class, you are expected to do 2-3 hours of studying/homework/reading outside of the classroom. So just your classes should take 45-60 hours per week. Now you are adding 30-35 weeks of work on top of that? You really have to get it to under 20, preferably 10-12 hours.

  2. Have you been formally diagnozed with anxiety or depression? If not, I highly suggest you talk to a doctor about that.
    If you are diagnosed, consider a retro-active medical withdrawal which could erase the grades (but not the tuition).

  3. IF things were giong badly, I would have suggested talking to your adviser and maybe withdrawing from one class so you could concentrate on the others.