Okay, so I’m in a bit of a complicated situation. I graduated HS last June, and I had been admitted to a program at a pretty good university. Unfortunately, there were some complications in my family situation, which forced me to defer entry to next September. Now, this school has absolutely no restrictions on what students are allowed to do during their gap years, so since I was going to be spending some time in my home country, I decided to enroll in a local university and take some classes. Long story short, due to the family issues, the fact that the classes were really not for me, and the fact that I really hated the place, I ended up not doing so well at semester exams. At all. I’m planning on retaking the classes I failed anyways, but I was also planning on just leaving after one semester, since I’m going to start at this other university next year anyways. However, I recently found out that grad schools in the US require that you submit transcripts from all institutions, so some people have recommended that I spend a whole year at this university to attempt to make up for the terrible 1st semester transcript with a (slightly, because I honestly don’t feel good here and don’t think I could truly succeed) better 2nd semester transcript. Considering that this won’t count at all in my degree, and that I’ll be starting from scratch next year at a better university, which option would be better from the point of view of grad school admissions:
Student did 1st semester, epic fail, dropped out, started over again elsewhere and did well (hopefully)
Student did 1st semester, epic fail, mediocre second semester, dropped out, started over again elsewhere and did well (again, hopefully)
Any advice would be really appreciated!!
If you are considering grad school then stop, actually take the gap year and deal with the tumult in your life. Then head to school in the fall with some lessons learned, possibly a better home situation and see if you have better luck the second time around. The grad school isn’t going to care where you redid the work, just that you mastered it and can explain the blip.
And here’s the other thing about grad school: it usually involves a lot of debt, so at the very least pausing now will let you keep your powder dry an extra semester to better pay for life after undergrad.
I would Ask the Dean. https://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean
Would you have to start your next university a semester later?
Can you request a hardship/medical retroactive withdrawal from the home country because of the family problems?
StPaulDad: Thanks for your advice, I really wish I had done that from the beginning and actually taken a gap year.
(concerning the finances, that’s not actually a problem since this university in my home country costs basically nothing)
bopper: No, I would begin my studies next year from the beginning of the course, in September, no matter what I did this year.
About the withdrawal, I’m going to try to find out if that’s an option, but I don’t think it would work Thanks for your help though!
You should check with the university that you plan to attend, you may need to reapply as a transfer student now that you have taken college courses. (I know that wasn’t your question but you may have put yourself in a bit of a bind)
@jk201820 Actually I have checked with the other university, and they told me they don’t really mind at all and that my place will be guaranteed no matter what I do this year (it helps that it’s a university in a country where transfers aren’t really a thing). Thanks for the imput though, that would definitely be an important issue to consider if it were another university.
Thanks for your help though!