<p>I feel like I’m in a bind right now with school, and I’m hoping someone here might have some advice to offer on what to do. I’m a student at a state university with two years completed, and I was recently diagnosed with severe psychotic depression. I’m being treated (and on medical leave I’m taking the quarter off,) but because of my mental health problems, the two years of university I’ve completed haven’t gone well. I’ve gotten through most of my intro classes, but I honestly don’t feel like I retained enough information from them to progress into the upper level courses. Most of the time I was able to reason my way through on tests to do alright, but I never learned the material that I’ll need for the next classes.</p>
<pre><code>My advisor says that I cannot take the intro classes over again, because I passed them with a C or better. Regardless I’ve completed more than half of my credit hours, and if I were to start over I wouldn’t complete enough for my degree before the school opened my spot up (they have a maximum credit limit for students.) I feel like if I remain at my current university, I’ll fail out because I couldn’t learn while I was unmedicated. I really need to start over completely, but even if I transfer, my credits will follow me. Is there any way that I can apply as a freshman and start over, or transfer without transferring any credits? Would a medical note help in this? Would a transfer school even consider me if I apply and start over?
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<p>I know exactly what you’re going through. I took 3 years off between hs and college because of my debilitating depression. It should be the last thing on you’re mind. Get yourself mentally healthy!</p>
<p>No. You can not hide your old classes/GPA/transcript. No, even a medical note doesn’t reset a student to freshman status. But yes, many schools will take you as a transfer student and let you restart your GPA at the new school (you’d still be a soph or junior, etc, they’d salvage your transfer classes for fulfilling credits, but many will let you start your GPA over. Not all, so you have to read the fine print.)</p>
<p>You have options, but not necessarily ones you like. Life is like that for adults…there are no true “do overs” anymore and that can be a bit shocking at first.</p>
<p>The trick at this point is to put all the realistic options in front of you and pick the path that makes the most sense. Realize there is no “do over” option and maybe not even the ability to graduate from your original school.</p>
<p>Some things to consider</p>
<p>1) Take a little more time off and self-teach yourself the materials you need to succeed when you return … get syllabi, books and a few great tutors. You didn’t say which courses you need remediation, but many subjects like math and for. languages <em>can</em> be learned outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>2) Do the same idea as #1 but do it concurrently (while you take the upper level classes).</p>
<p>3) Ditch the college you are at. Go to community college for awhile and retake the courses… then transfer to a new school. (Do research this option, some colleges like the UCs have strict credit limits for those going to a 4year + CC to qualify for transfer).</p>
<p>The thing is, I’m not concerned about starting my GPA over, I’m content with my 3.5ish (I don’t know the exact value.) I just don’t want to go on to classes that I’m not ready for and fail because I don’t have the requisite knowledge from the intro stuff. Example: there’s no way I’m ready for orgo chem, I NEED to take gen chem over because I don’t even know the basic gas laws.
This is why I don’t want to transfer my credits; I really need to start my classes over, and I’m afraid if I transfer credits, I won’t be able to do so (just based on what I’ve been told by my adviser.) I’m also concerned that I won’t be able to transfer because I effectively need at least 4 more years of college, despite having 2 completed, and at least at my current university they only allow you to do a certain amount before kicking you out. </p>
<p>1.) I have medical leave currently, but the amount of time I’d need to self study 3 chem classes, 2 calc, 3 physics 2 bio (and so forth) is probably more than I’ll get with my doctor’s note. I can’t take more time than my doctor says I need off because I need to remain insured. Because I have so much to do, I feel like option 2 would be impossible as well.
3.) As for CC, I think since I have 2 years completed already that would just make transferring harder, and I don’t really see how it would solve the problem of being further progressed in my courses than I should.</p>
<p>You made a 3.5 and you want to take the classes over?!</p>
<p>Your last post is sort of confusing. So, you want to transfer or you don’t want to transfer? I don’t understand the part about not being able to transfer because you need 4 more years of college. Also, you need to check with the particular school you want to transfer credits to; your adviser may not know what their transfer requirements are. You need to figure out what school you want to attend and then find out from the registrar’s office what credits will transfer and what credits won’t.</p>