I am currently taking a semester off from a prestigious liberal arts college where I receive a full tuition scholarship. I really like the idea of liberal arts education and think that if I went to a different school I would miss out on so many discussions on topics that are brought up almost exclusively at liberal arts schools. I’m taking classes at a community college now and I’m doing very well, though I miss the intellectual stimulation that my school gives me. The reason why I’m taking a semester off is because I wasn’t financially cleared to register for classes that I want and couldn’t make a balanced schedule from the classes that still had open seats. I had a pretty rough semester last year (my first year of college) that caused my college to hold back my scholarship until they received grades for the fall semester this academic year. When my grades came out (better than the previous semesters grades but still pretty bad), my college approved my scholarship and I became financially cleared , however it was already a month after registration was closed. I e-mailed professors before registration but they said that unfortunately they can’t hold a spot in their classes for me. So, I decided to take classes at a community college for a semester and take care of my distribution requirements while I’m there in addition to saving money which helps a lot even with a full tuition scholarship. The reason why I have bad grades at the school I love so much in the first place is because last year many tragic events happened in my personal life that took me some time to get over and I’m still getting used to the whole liberal arts system, specifically learning how to write essays. Critical thinking and writing are very difficult for me. I’m much much better with numbers and exams. I’m also a perfectionist so it’s hard for me to submit papers that are unfinished or not good enough. I do understand everything that we learn in class and can explain it to people who’ve never taken the class. I can apply what I’ve learned in life. It’s just writing papers that’s been difficult. I’m also not able to use flowery language in my essays and class discusssions that everyone else seems to do with ease and I don’t have strong political opinions so it’s often hard for me to feel confident and relate to other students in many classes. However, I’ve made so much improvement in writing by taking an essay&revision class and utilizing techniques I’ve learned in that class to practice writing. My English became better (it’s not my first language) and I’ve learned how to interact with people in different situations by observing them as well. I’ve found resources on campus to help me succeed. However, it will require an insane amount of time and I effort for me to get As at this school. I also can no longer major in Economics since I’ve failed too many classes in this major (again, it because I’m. It interested or don’t understand the material, but because each class required 100+ pages of writing in total). I want to do business in the future and go to a business grad school. If I come back to my college I’m thinking about moderating into Spanish (since I have satisfied most requirements for moderation and have received good grades in Spanish classes) or sociology (since it’s kind of related to economics and has little requirements for moderation). Although I enjoy Spanish classes, I have no potential ideas for or interest in my senior project in that major, but I have come up with countless topics for research in sociology that I could write about. My other option would be to stay another semester at community college, get my associate degree and transfer to a traditional state or private school to pursue a more practical bachelors degree in international business (my original interest of study). I’m taking 2 business classes at my community college in addition to 3 gen eds as well and it just feels like a perfect fit for me. I have no doubt that I’m going to get a 4.0 this semester (as community college work for me is manageable, I have time to be involved in clubs, go to the gym every day and just have a balanced life in general). At my school, I have a 2.0 (while basically living in the library and having no life)… it’s really hard to decide and I need advice.I would really appreciate an outside perspective on this situation.
Your post is not getting responses because it is too hard to read due to the fact that it is crammed into one very long paragraph.
You can either remain at community college or return to your prestigious school with outstanding financial aid & take a light load (12 credits instead of 15 credits per semester) until you adjust to the academic demands of an elite school.
I still have to pay a large sum of money even with a full-tuition scholarship. Delaying graduation by more than a year will likely put me in debt that I will never recover from.
I wrote this post impulsively and didn’t even think about editing it in the moment. Just writing it down helped me to weigh out benefits and losses of each choice I could make. If no one responds then oh well not a big deal. Thank you for your response though!
I couldn’t read all that.
Set yourself up for success.
You seem to enjoy the LAC, but for reasons were not able to succeed academically.
You like “numbers and exams” over “papers”…so find a major like that!
Seems like perhaps taking CC courses to explore what major you like and then transferring to your State U may be the most cost effective.
BUT You may not be able to transfer to another college until you pay off the LAC…the new school will need your transcript from ALL schools you have attended.