<p>I am currently a freshman at the University of Rochester, and want to go on to optometry school after my undergrad work. I finished last semester with a 2.67, and I studied all the time. This was pretty shocking to me. My SAT was a 2250/2400, I had a 3.8 GPA in highschool, and took the hardest classes my school had to offer (received an IB diploma with dual language certification).</p>
<p>I feel that I did poorly because the professors here are much more interested in their research than the students, and the school is very impersonal. The curve here is extremely difficult, and the class average in most of my pre-optometry (same as premed) classes is a C. I do better than the class average, but still, my GPA is poor.</p>
<p>I was accepted into SUNY Geneseo and Binghamton after highschool, however can't transfer into them now because I have such a low GPA. SUNY Brockport accepted me, and is known for being a school where if you study, you will do well. However, in the last 20 years, 70 students from SUNY Brockport have gone onto medical school, and proportional numbers to optometry. </p>
<p>Do you advise that I transfer, or remain at U of R?</p>
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I finished last semester with a 2.67, and I studied all the time. This was pretty shocking to me. My SAT was a 2250/2400, I had a 3.8 GPA in highschool, and took the hardest classes my school had to offer
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<p>I think you should figure out why, despite studying all the time and a good high school record, you finished last semester with a 2.67 GPA. Without addressing that problem, I just don't see how transferring is going to benefit you.</p>
<p>If the reason ur grades suck is because you hate the school and don't like the academic environmnet, then go ahead and transfer. If you like the smaller schools where professors are always teaching you and everythings more on a personal level then that is good and you should leave.</p>
<p>If your grades suck just cause ur finding it hard...then same as above.</p>
<p>Agreed with what's been said already: </p>
<p>You still have a lot of time left this semester to figure out your studying issue. The key is to study SMARTER not HARDER. </p>
<p>Make sure what you're doing is actually helping on the exams. At this point it would seem that it's not, but you need to dig deeper. How are you studying? If you're spending hours going over the text book but 95% of the exams is from lecture, that's a huge mismatch in where you should be spending your time. Likewise if you're doing all the practice problems in the book, but they are nothing like what is showing up on the exams, there's no point to be doing all those book problems.</p>
<p>You could also have an issue in you're not learning from your studying mistakes. Many times students do assigned practice problems and assume they did them correctly if they get the right answer. Make sure you understand why you're doing the steps and how the values you're plugging in relate to the answer. If you get an answer wrong, figure out WHY.</p>
<p>The important lesson here is that as a college student you have to be flexible in you're studying and develop a range of strategies which you are effective with so that you can tailor your habits to the class. Sometimes it might be flashcards, sometimes it might be problem sets, some times it might be outlining book chapters. It's okay to have a default habit if you know that's generally your most successful method, but you have to be willing to make changes when that's not working.</p>
<p>If you're unhappy at UoR, then a transfer is certainly a possibility, but realize that transferring carries a whole host of other issues. If transferring is not going to make a significant improvement in your situation, I actually think it'll be better to stay put.</p>