<p>If you and your parents decide that leaving RPI is the best choice for now, take a personal leave of absence if you are eligible for one. Do not withdraw.</p>
<p>This leaves open the possibility of returning to RPI if that turns out to be a good choice – which it might be, if your grades are too low for you to successfully transfer to anything other than an open-admissions school.</p>
<p>Beyond that, you need to figure out exactly what caused you to not do as well this year as you hoped. Talking with your faculty advisor or some of the people in your college’s advising office might help you to figure this out. Were you inadequately prepared academically? Did you have trouble planning your time and setting priorities? Did you party too much? Is engineering the wrong major for you?</p>
<p>Some of these problems might best be addressed by leaving RPI, at least temporarily. Others wouldn’t be. Your situation is kind of like a medical problem. You have to diagnose it before you can treat it.</p>