<p>I am currently a third year at Georgia Tech studying Biochemistry. I have had some difficulties in college due to the following and was asking if anyone there could give me advice? I currently stand at a 3.08 GPA and I am involved in undergraduate research as well as several extracurricular activities.
1. I have lost my self-confidence and I think in black and white terms. Sometimes, when I prepare for exams, I can’t concentrate fully because I feel no matter how hard I try I won’t be able to do as well as I would like to.
2. My Georgia Tech friends are in their last year of college. They are all doing very well and I am happy for them. However, sometimes I can’t help but feel low because they always tell me their grades which are more or less around 4.0’s. No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop myself from comparisons.
3 I can’t concentrate on the present because I am always too worried about the past and future. I try to prevent myself but I always let the little things get to me. </p>
<p>Next week is finals week and I’ve prepared for at least three of them so far, but I keep thinking that no matter how hard I try I won’t be able to do as well as I want. I can’t focus. I am bound to get all C’s and if I get too anxious and scared I might get all D’s. My GPA is definitely going to drop to below a 3.00. Like sometimes I feel as if I spend more time keeping my room clean than studying. For the future, if it goes the way I’d hope it to go, I would like to obtain a Master’s in Public Health and then a Dr. in Public Health. Although I haven’t had much experience with Public Health it seems like a career that would fit me. I am hoping to specialize in epidemiology but with all these problems and issues I don’t know how I am even going to get through college with a decent GPA.</p>
<p>You are forgetting this is Georgia Tech which is not a party school. It’s not an easy place to attend and get good grades. There are a probably a lot of kids at GT that wish they had your GPA. Plus you are doing research. Give yourself a break… your GPA isn’t bad, study for your finals and then hit the counseling center before next semester starts.</p>
<p>First, you are attending one the top engineering schools in the country. So just graduating is a great accomplishment.</p>
<p>Second, after your first job, your grades will be less relevant than your experience. My understanding is that both Ronald Reagan and George Bush (son) were “C” students in college, and that did not prevent them from holding the most powerful office in the country/world.</p>
<p>Third, be concerned with yourself. If you can look yourself in the mirror and say that you have done your best, then let the chips fall where they may. All anyone can ask of you is that you do your best.</p>
<p>Dear student,
DB4CAC is right on. First stop looking back too much and get through the exams. Have a good friend and family member who you can confide in and talk to them. You have a bright future. I say this because when you realize that can do better you are bound to get ahead. But don’t let the past consume you.</p>
<p>DB: Most people were C students when Bush and them attended college. Places like Yale and Georgia Tech were extremely tough back then. However, the OP is about average for a Tech chem. major which is fine.</p>
<p>Also, OP, you should seek counseling, and keep in mind that with a 3.1ish (or even lower) from a place like Georgia Tech and a solid GRE and GRE subject score, you will still have some sort of chance at competitive programs. And there are many competitive programs outside of the Ivies, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. that train in your specialty extremely well. Grad. schools actually take into account rigor of institution and coursework so no need to completely lose confidence and give up. Get through exams and keep chugging on. I basically bombed my second year at Emory (I had a really tough courseload and had several family issues going on, regardless, that year I became kind of depressed mid-way through 1st semester). But eventually, I got past it and started to enjoy and rise to the challenge of the coursework (I started taking grad. and classes in areas that I actually enjoyed, and did fairly well in most of them) and social life I was engaged in my last 2 years. Even though I didn’t really turn it around and start doing perfectly, I did fine. Try to pick your head back up and enjoy life. One thing I learned, is that, especially as a science major in a competitive environment, I was certainly not the only struggling. In retrospect I know I was actually better off than a lot of people (I had close science major friends that were really good too, but I knew they were not usual). In addition, I realized that I did actually learn a lot about life and a lot in the classroom. I was able to tutor and lead problem solving sessions for organic chemistry for about 2-3 years. This gave me great joy as I enjoy organic chemistry and I genuinely do like to help other people (and when you’re not a person that appears perfect, sometimes you can make a great mentor, trust me…). Try to find something that truly gives you joy that may be linked to academics. You may then realized that you’re not so bad off afterall. That your grades are salvageable and that your knowledge now reflects so much more than your past course grades. </p>
<p>And also, comparisons to other people’s GPAs is kind of useless unless they took every single class you did (with the same instructor, in the same year. I know here, an instructor can vary annually and which instructor you choose in the first places makes a huge difference. For example, we know that, if you took organic at either institution, the “Liottas”, both Charles and Dennis are jokes. You can either do really well because they are easy or do mediocre because they don’t try to really engage or challenge you. But taking these vs others can make a huge difference). I often find that the way some people get their GPAs is not always the most “ideal” (they will simply seek out the “Liottas” of each discipline or course if they can). I used to wonder if I should have just started taken easy instructors and courses after sophomore year, and then I realized the answer was no when I was outperforming grad. students in certain classes. Not to mention more rigor for me has led to heightened interest and curiosity of certain subject areas. I stopped viewing a challenge as a burden, especially if I had a good instructor that was trying to really make us learn beyond the book and powerpoints. My abilities have been rewarded by my path. In addition, I made sure to squeeze as much as I could out of the institution that I could. You should do the same for Tech.</p>
<p>Here’s the bottom line (and in my work, I interview a lot of people for jobs)…unless you’re going into grad school…or trying to get into a law firm…nobody cares about your GPA! I’m not kidding…it just doesn’t come up…your practical experience, your coding skills, your creative ideas, your work ethic…I just have never been in a room where the interviewers were saying, “wow, if only this kid had a 3.6 instead of a 3.1”…LOL…Jeez, we sometimes hire people who don’t even have degrees! (especially for the jobs in high demand). You’re cool…you’re graduating from one of the top tech colleges in the country. Count your blessings.</p>
<p>For one, calm down, unless you’re going for med. school, your GPA keeps you in the game. And secondly, exactly what courses are you taking this semester that you’re so worried about? I just have to wonder. In addition, with a good GRE score, a public health school will likely take you (perhaps a good one).</p>
<p>Organic Chemistry I
Physics II Modern
Quantitative Chemical Analysis
International Affairs
Research
What will happen if I fail all of these classes? Meaning actually get F’s? I’m really scared now…</p>
<p>Organic chemistry, you should not fail (is your section of organic chemistry harder than normal? Do they grade on a fairly generous curve? The one I took at Emory is likely harder and they curve to 2.5-2.9, so it’s pretty hard to fail. If I knew you, I would actually be willing to help you here if you are struggling. I would go look at the course critique things you guys have to see the usual distribution of your instructor and maybe guess where you stand). Physics II, don’t know (this is known to be difficult at Tech. Although I thought the traditional sections were the ones that had the harder grading curve/harder instructors). Analytical (don’t know how that works at Tech, but apparently ours is pretty tough too. Heavy workload, 2.5-2.9 mean, tests can be weird and long). </p>
<p>You will not fail international affairs, nor will probably get a C.<br>
You will be given an A or B for research if it’s for credit. </p>
<p>How bad exactly are the three science classes?</p>
<p>Are all the finals this week?</p>
<p>And in addition, I doubt you’ll fail all these classes if you sit at a C/B right now. You need to make it such that you get B’s in most. Don’t be scared, just work hard for the final. I mean, will your teachers be giving “challenge finals” (I experienced this in organic chemistry and analytical), or will you be getting finals that are similar to mid-terms but are longer and are comprehensive? They’ll likely hint or flat out tell you what it is. If the latter, I think you’re honestly in a good position to pull a reasonable performance because you basically just need to go back and “clean up” or “polish” what you already covered. No need to anticipate curveballs more so than just “know” the material (in the case of the sciences, specific problem types that you already did before). Either way, you can’t be scared as it will likely adversely affect your performance. Just know what you need to make and work toward it (start working on weaknesses earlier in each course now if you’ll be getting stereotypical finals).</p>
<p>Appears that unless your section is unusual, you have a very good chance at a B if you just get into the top half of the class (in fact the top 60%, maybe even slightly worse)</p>
<p>Same for quantitative analysis: [Course</a> Critique - CHEM 2211](<a href=“Course Critique”>Course Critique)
Top 60% usually does it</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that. I checked the website it doesn’t look like you have to have a C in either course for your major. So it doesn’t look like you will have to retake them. Good luck on the rest of your exams.</p>
<p>OP I am sorry you are feelign so overwhelmed. I can’t help you on the science end, but you do sound like you may have situational anxiety/depression. Please reach out for assistance before it gets worse.</p>
<p>I’m really sorry. I think something happened to you this semester that may have led to those results. Either way, you have to get help and pick the head up to have a strong showing next semester. Don’t get overly discouraged many people (if not most at Tech) have a bad semester.</p>
<p>@Negativity: I’m going through the exact same thing. like exactly the same. The Counseling Center is the best place to go. What ever you do, just breathe. It gets better I promise.</p>