Hi everyone, so I’ve been in a really tough situation. I first want to start off by saying that I’ve been fortunate, thankful, and prideful for getting accepted to a University of California, especially within the CS field. I’m lucky to have had the assets to get me to where I am today. But it’s only my first year, and I’m in a really tough spot, not just at school, but at home and life. Family life has been extremely difficult for me. Seeing the disintegration of my parent’s marriage, and seeing the effects that it has been taking on my mom, and seeing a disconnection between my dad and me, which was so strong before, has definitely affected my performance as a student and as a person. I also work 20-25 hours a week off-campus at a coffee shop to help provide for myself and as backup because my parents are becoming more financially unstable since we didn’t really plan ahead. And to top things off, I’ve been on academic probation this quarter. Balancing between school, work, and the situation with home has really taken its toll on me, to the point where I’m considering about not even finishing school. I’m second-guessing my major choice- I wanted to go into the CS field because my dad and sister did it, but I’ve learned that I’m not really passionate about it, nor good at it. I have become frustrated with the UC quarter system- I feel like I’m not being given enough time to process what I’ve learned, and to me, it’s more about racing against the clock to get projects done on time by throwing stuff at the wall and see what sticks (this is a personal opinion, I know some people may think differently and I respect that). And I’m not blaming the UC system for my hardships, I just want to describe how their expectations don’t correlate well with my own situations. I wasn’t ready. I know my life isn’t over if I do end up getting kicked out of UC, but I really don’t know what to do. I just want advice. I just want to know if any of you have had a similar experience to me, whether it be family struggles, or getting kicked out of college. If so, how did you pick yourself up, what did you do to improve yourself, and what are you doing now? Thank you for your time.
I would suggest that you go to community college for now and explore different fields of study there. Find something you are passionate about. If you are not passionate about CS, then don’t major in it. You’ll regret it in the future.
Talk to your advisor. If you change majors, do you still want to stay there, or do you think you need a change from the quarter system? If you want a change, perhaps a couple of semester at a community college would help you complete some of your general education requirements while getting a sense of what you would like to do. If you’re sure you don’t want to stay in CS, change now rather than waste time taking more CS classes that won’t apply to a more appropriate major. Consider yourself lucky you figured it out now, not halfway through senior year!
Spend some time with your mom - it sounds like you could use each others’ support right now.