I am writing this on behalf of my significant other who is trying to finish her BS in Environmental Engineering. She is a hard worker but much of her course work is very difficult. She has struggled along the way but is not one to give up. She as failed a few courses along the way and this has set her back. Unfortunately, she just got results back on an exam and she didn’t do so well, barely missing the mark to pass this class. She is about 6 classes away from finishing. The class that I have mentioned is a crucial class that is a prerequisite for 4 of the remaining 6 classes. I am pushing her to keep trying but money is running thin and it is possible that she will get down to the last semester of classes and they won’t let her continue. She has to petition to get two more semesters but this may force her to need one more. She isn’t a bad student. She organizes study groups, she goes to office hours, she does all of her assignments, she studies at home regularly, but book knowledge just doesn’t soak in a well for everyone. Other times you just fall short or make too many small mistakes. She is more than willing to keep trying if they would let her but we don’t know if that is going to happen or if the money will hold out. She is terrified that she won’t finish after all of the time and money she has invested. The idea of not being able to finish is wearing down her moral, on top of everything else. Can someone please help with some advice, ideas, or thoughts on the matter. She doesn’t know what to do from here and I don’t really know what else I can do except keep supporting, encouraging, and reassuring her.
I’m guessing it’s beyond the point where she can change her major? In my opinion, you shouldn’t necessarily be pushing her to keep going. It may be time for her to accept that this specific field of study just isn’t attainable given her financial resources and the time she has left. The decision to stop now might be a difficult one, but it’s better to make it now than have to make the same decision in two semesters or when all the money is gone.
She also needs to do some serious introspection as to why she’s struggling so much given the amount of effort she seems to be putting in. It sounds like the issue is that she did poorly in some classes a while back and never got the foundation of knowledge she needed to be successful in the more advanced classes.
Going forward, if she decides to keep pursuing this degree, she needs to find a means of studying that helps her understand the material better. If the textbook, peers, TAs, and her professors aren’t explaining the material well enough for her to grasp it, she should seek out resources on the Internet. For a lot of engineering classes, solving problems is key. So she needs to greatly increase the number of practice problems she’s doing until solving them comes naturally. She needs to review each assignment and exam she gets back and figure out what specific kind of mistakes she’s making and work on those areas. She can’t brush off those mistakes as “small”; they’re significant enough that in the long run, they’re jeopardizing her chances of passing the class.
I’d also recommend that she takes a minimum courseload so she can focus on doing well in each class, but that may not be possible at this point if she needs to cram them into two semesters.
You’re correct, it is too late for her to change majors. You said it my be time to accept that this specific field of study isn’t attainable, but what other option is there at this point? Thank you for the rest if the advice on study and practice, I will pass those along.
At my school, there are some majors that have relatively few requirements and/or overlapping coursework with other courses. For example, one can switch pretty easily to a Math major from most engineering majors, as well as switching between various majors such as Neuroscience and Biology. If there is a similar major with six or fewer extra necessary courses, that could be a possibility.
If there are no such other majors (or she can’t switch for some other reason), she should go to the financial aid office and be insistent about speaking with someone who can discuss ways to get the funds to finish her degree. I’m sure that some Internet research will also give her some options, since many people find themselves in similar situations. She should also talk to an academic advisor to get some more clarity about the school’s policies for academics. At the very least, it will calm the anxiety stemming from not knowing what could happen.
Now that I think about it, I’m confused as to how the school won’t let her continue. Is the worry that they’ll cut off financial aid, or that she’ll be dismissed? If she’s on academic probation, for example, there can be a temporary suspension. But generally, the school won’t dismiss you permanently unless you’re failing significantly.
OP, is her GPA above 2.0 or the minimum graduation GPA requirement for her engineering program? From my personal experience, both as a engineering recruiter and a engineering undergraduate/graduate student, a lot of engineers graduate with very low GPA (~2.0 - 2.5). I remember interviewing a Purdue Chemical Engineering graduate and his transcript was riddled with Ds. It wasn’t clear to me how this student was able to graduate from Purdue with so many Ds on his transcript…but he did.
I would recommend that she continue towards graduation using study groups, professor’s office hours and any available tutoring resources (typically scare for upper level engineering courses).