Yesterday was the last day to add/drop without getting a W. I took advantage of this to rearrange part of my schedule and get rid of a class that would not benefit me or my degree and only take up time. BUT… I dropped one more class than I anticipated to…
I dropped an important prereq class because my learning style was not complemented with the instructor or the book (That is, I didn’t like going to class because it confused me more than if I just read the book, but the book was somewhat dry and not very pedagogical).
HOWEVER, I did actually add the same class, but with another instructor who has significantly and consistently higher ratings via the instructor evaluations provided by my institution and with a better book that I actually prefer. I got his permission to enroll 30 minutes before the cut off for the last day to add/drop without penalty. I asked him if I would be starting off the class with a bunch of zeros since I’d not been in his class these last three weeks. He said I’d missed some stuff, but he’d let me turn in those things “later”. (Not sure how much later though)
I thought that was pretty cool, and so I enrolled in his class. But as I was walking away from the building back to my dorm, 5 PM rolled around, and I started to have a panic attack of, “What did I just do? I was nice and safe in a class with no missing work with one instructor, and now I’m three weeks behind with another instructor! What am I going to do?!”
I have access to the online homework assignments and there’s only five assignments with two due Tuesday, but I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into. I have horrible (medically legitimate) anxiety and so things like being pressed against a deadline like that cause me to make poor, impulsive decisions. Should I stick with my decision to take the new instructor or should I basically BEG the dean and registrar to let me back into the other one?
Stick with your decision. The panic isn’t based on anything legitimate that you’ve reported thus far. The instructor has indicated that you will be given time to make up the earlier assignments turned in, so go talk to him about when you need to have those assignments ready. He’s likely to be reasonable if you are. Sounds like this class is a pre-req so you would need to take it in any case, and now you have the ‘good’ instructor with the ‘better’ textbook, so you should be fine.
As for the impulsive decision-making, panic attacks, anxiety…you need to talk to someone professional who can help you manage this better. Sounds like its not under control if you can work yourself up into a frenzy over something as minimal as this is.
Take a deep breath. Focus on the 2 assignments due Tuesday. Do one at a time. If you have questions, ask your professor. Then make a plan to complete the other 3. Ask the professor when s/he wants those and work on those one at a time. If/when you’re feeling stressed, go chat with your advisor. S/he can direct you to someone on campus who can help you. They want you to succeed, so they’re going to help you, but you have to reach out. Good luck, @cameraphone.
@MYOS1634, @blossom, and @ucbalumnus can advise you better where on campus to find help for your anxiety and how to handle catching up on a course if you ask them.
Cameraphone: its scary to navigate college alone. Breathe: you made it! Now, the professor said you could catch up. Go to office hours and map out how exactly you’re going to do that. Set dates. Remember, you ALREADY did the work. Not the exact questions, but all the content - it’s the same class, just a different instructor. So, imagine the topic as “adding single digits”. It’s the same in both classes. You already studied that topic. Sure, the questions aren’t exactly the same (although some may be). But you’ve already done some that are quite similar and you can do a few different ones, right? It doesn’t matter if the question is 2+4=, or 4+2 =, or even 3+4=… You’ve already covered the topic. So it won’t be as hard as switching to a different class or course. You just changed sections and you’re going to complete your assignement on time because they won’t be hard.
You did well changing sections, it was a smart move. Picking a good instructor is priceless!
Picking a good instructor is priceless!