<p>Hey everyone. I'm in need of some help here. I'm currently a freshman pre-med student (bio major) at Umaryland. Unfortunately, my father passed away from cancer very recently and I've noticed a sharp decline in my grades/motivation/schoolwork ever since. Going from a 3.85 first semester to literally getting straight D's and F's on everything, I'm on the verge of calling it quits. I've talked plenty to my adviser but the only thing she suggests is that I possibly drop all my classes. I'm worried though that this will negatively impact me too greatly. Should I drop this semester? What should I do until I can find my footing again? Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm seriously in a depressed state right now. Thanks.</p>
<p>If you’re getting D’s and F’s, then dropping all classes will be much less damaging than that. In the meanwhile, visit a physician to see whether your normal and understandable grief is being compounded by major depressive disorder and follow any steps he/she suggests.</p>
<p>Drop all your classes for this semester. Try and take the remainder of this semester and the summer to get back to a place where you will be able to perform at the level you could before. What you are going through is completely understandable but you’ll have a much easier time explaining why you have a semester of all W’s than having to deal with the extreme effect all those D’s and F’s will have on your calculated GPA.</p>
<p>Agree with the above…take the W’s.</p>
<p>First off, I am sorry for your loss. The death of parent can be devastating. Please allow yourself to grieve and give yourself time to heal. It will be useful to seek out some counseling in order to learn how to cope with your loss. </p>
<p>RE: your academic situation. It’s much better to take the Ws than to have a semester full of Ds and Fs.</p>
<p>Please don’t worry about med school right now–take care of yourself first.</p>
<p>Yes, definitely drop all classes – either all W’s (is it the official withdrwals? if you talk to the school advisor, usually in the dean’s office, and explain your circumstances, then they may grant an Official Withdrawal with minimal/no penalty to your tuition, or even all R’s, and Take a LOA until next Spring semester. Go work or do clinical research or something which will make your medschool app look very good. Consider this is your Gap year and take advantage of the time. Keeping the grades you will be getting will basically change your career path.</p>
<p>The take Ws, then heal and prepare, don’t return to school until you are ready to be successful, if you come back strong no one will think much about it. Heck, no one would even know whether or not your grades were bad or good, just that you withdrew and you can work in the mention of the family emergency along the way. With good marks later, they may very well assume you simply withdrew to be physically home and deal with the family situation, not that you were flunking</p>
<p>i know what you’re going through. i had to take my mcat after my dad passed away. like everyone else said, withdraw so your gpa wont take a big hit. and take some time off, but don’t lose sight of any of your goals.</p>