I did pretty well in high school, took AP/Honors classes and for the most part didn’t struggle. I had a community of friends that made it easier, and I wasn’t having the mental health issues I’m having now.
I dual enrolled my senior year and got A’s in both of those college classes.
Now I’m on campus taking 6 classes and I’m finding it really hard to find motivation to do well. I’m not worried about failing a class, I’m confident I can keep everything above a 70. But I live in Georgia, and to maintain HOPE scholarship you have to keep a 3.0. I have to keep that scholarship to stay in school.
I’m also transferring next semester, and I’m already into the other school. I’m just worried about what a not-so-great transcript will make me look like to them.
I know I’m probably stressing about nothing, because in high school I always freaked out if my grade momentarily dropped below a B “What if I don’t get into college” “What if now I’m not going to get into the education program” etc. And I always managed to do well.
I’ve been depressed and having panic attacks since I came to school and if I can sit down and get immersed in school work I can put those feelings at bay until I finish. I’ve just been having a hard time lately being able to sit down and get focused.
Any tips on how to MAKE SURE I do well this first semester? I’m leaving, but I still want to do well here.
Six classes seems like a heavy load. Are you past the point where you can drop a class? That might make things less stressful. Otherwise, I don’t see an option other than what mathmom suggested.
It’s 6 classes, but only 15 hours, which is typical load for a college student. One of the classes is a freshman seminar class and it’s probably the easiest thing I’ve ever tried to do
Why are you already transferring- you haven’t even lived through midterms at your college yet!
Seems like you are putting a lot of hurdles in your own path- 6 courses, already applied to transfer, must keep a 3.0 to keep your scholarship, plus depressed and anxious.
I’d be anxious too.
Are you financially committed to the transfer? Seems to me you’d be doing yourself a huge favor on the anxiety front by committing to stay for a year, knuckling down on your work to keep your aid, and giving yourself some space to enjoy the non-academic side of college once your classes are a little more “nailed down”.
Attending every single office hour and review session, plus joining study groups made a huge difference for me. I was able to have the professors review drafts and make suggestions far in advance of due dates. That will help reduce your anxiety because you will have plenty or reassurance that you are on the right track. It is especially worth going when the professors are not too busy (not the week of a test) because one-on-one will give you far more insight, and some of the professors’ enthusiasm will bubble over, making your work a lot more fun (or tolerable)
-1) GO TO THE COUNSELING CENTER at your college and get a referral for anxiety and depression. You have to address that before anything else.
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”
If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.
Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
For tests that you didn’t do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.
How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.
At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).
If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.
You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories on this and other websites where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal