That’s fantastic.
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First of all, try to calm down. You are doing SO many things that are right! Don’t give up, don’t be so hard on yourself.
One thing that you may have realized for choosing classes for next semester, is that it’s very important to try to get into a good prof’s section for classes. Sometimes you can put off a class which has a bad prof (you find this out by reading the ratings in your in-school reviews, and on rate my professor), in the hopes that the next semester it will be taught by someone better.
You are only a week into the semester, so it’s worth looking to see if you can transfer into a better prof’s section for Chem, and even for other classes, too. You can look into this tonight. Savvy students know about this - that’s why if you’re not registering the minute registration opens, you’ll see one section filled up with a wait list only, while other sections might be wide open.
You say that the work isn’t too hard for you, it’s just that there’s so much of it. This implies that you really do need to drop a class, if at all possible. Be aware of when the last day is to drop a class - you don’t have to decide until that day.
From what you describe, you’re actually doing very well. You haven’t fallen apart. You’re trying very hard to keep up in all your classes. You’re not crawling into bed and pulling the covers over your head. Going for a walk for a break, and talking with your roommate are both good. Be careful about the stress eating - try to go to the dining hall with someone, for a break, and leave once you realize you’re just stress eating, to walk a bit, and then back to studying.
You’re going to be fine. You just may need to take a lighter load this semester.
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I don’t think you understand about dropping a course. This is NOT High School. There will be time, later, and you will be able to get the course done when you have a better handle on studying to master the material.
It does work out; it doesn’t mean that you have failed if you have to drop a course. There is no time clock to graduate exactly 4 years from now. Things will come up that will change your graduation timeline and that’s okay. (We are going through a Pandemic that can change the whole university schedule if you go online again).
Here’s what will happen if you are too stretched for time now and are already behind: [color=red] all of your courses will be completed “half-donkey”. [/color]
The problem with your way of thinking is that at the end of the semester, you may complete the class, but your mastery will not be great. Your grades will not be great and, if your grades go below a certain GPA, you will go on Academic Probation which means you can and will lose your funding.
Grades will matter at the end of your Bachelors degree because you will need prof recommendations, a decent GPA for employers/ grad school, and a diploma in good standing.
Your college work is progressive. You will always be running to “catch up” because you have not mastered the material. You are not supposed to memorize it; you’re supposed to be able to apply it.
If you start the next series of courses, with minimal understanding, you will struggle with the required material for the major, since you weren’t able to completely master the previous material.
Oh, and did I mention that some of your courses may require collaborative work? That means that you will be placed into groups whereby each of your team members is responsible for a quantity of work. You will meet separately with your team. If you can’t hold up your part of the project, your team will suffer.
Dropping one class is not going to affect your timeline, but it will adversely impact you and the rest of your classes this term if you don’t.
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Honestly… What you just described is college. As suggested do your homework in the help sessions. There are peer to peer tutors besides your TAs. What worked for high school rarely works for college. Many students are in your position… Make a list of whom to contact from above then contact them. Not getting help will only make things worse. Email tonight. There are learning services also. These services are busy on campus because like everyone needs some help getting adjusted especially in engineering. Email your advisor tonight. Let them know what going on. They are there to hmm help. No one is going to approach to help you. This is something you need to reach out for help. You got this!
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Hi @unknowncreature .
I’ve been thinking about you all week. How are you doing at this point? Have things started to settle down, or are you still really stressed?
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These are all great and important points. Also, it’s a very positive sign that you’re acknowledging your discomfort and reaching out for advice. That’s really tremendous on your part and a sign that things will improve.
I like all the points in this post but specifically #3. You are NOT your major! So many 18 yr olds go away to school thinking they know what they want to do, to be just based on HS classes. College is different and there is sooo much more available to you. Not saying you shouldn’t continue with your major. I would give that a true shot. But also consider other areas of interest. Who knows where that leads.
As an example, S has a brilliant friend who started out as a Physics major. Was actually quite good at Physics even at a tough college level program. Was getting straight As BUT didn’t find enjoyment / fulfillment from the course work. Didn’t want to pursue a career in anything Physics related. Switched to a double major Psych / Spanish and is currently a Fulbright Scholar teaching English in Spain and having a blast learning the culture. Spent summers doing research in Cuba and other Latin countries. Have no idea what he’ll do professionally but he is capable of doing just about anything. I imagine his parents would have rolled their eyes if he started out in Psych (no offense to the Psych majors - just not what they thought he would do).
long story short, college is what you make of it. Part of it is the classes. Most of it is the overall experience. It’s a great time to discover you true interests and pursue them.
And as others have mentioned, should you choose a different path, there is absolutely no shame in that. The change major rate for premed, engineering, accounting and many others is very high.
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I am still stressed out. I can’t believe I survived the first two weeks of college. I am very grateful for my roommates who are both engineering majors. They are the reason why I haven’t dropped out yet and encouraged me to stay in school. I am surprised that my grades are good, except for my math class but I will find a solution to bring that grade back up. Taking classes in the science and engineering department at Purdue is brutal, I am slowly losing motivation and starting to feel more scared about my academic performance this semester. I don’t think I’ll adjust to college anytime soon.
I still want to pursue chemical engineering. The classes at Purdue are testing me but it’s not too serious to the point where I want to switch to an easy major. I worked too hard in middle school and high school to get to this level so it’s unlikely that I’ll quit college.
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I’m glad to hear your grades are good and that your roommates are supportive and helpful, but I’m sorry to hear that you are still overly stressed and thinking of dropping out.
Can you cut back your part time job for a while so you have more time to adjust to college academics?
Were you able to reach out to/attend any of the support organizations that were noted upstream? Especially the ones for first generation students and the ones for freshman courses? I think those might go a long way towards helping you adjust.
I’m sure you can do this and I’m sure that you will develop the skills and strategies you need to succeed. Please don’t think about dropping out — you are smart, well-motivated and have a great work ethic. You just need some support in transitioning to this new environment where most of your classmates have already had a semester (or more) to adjust.
Please check back in and let us know how you are doing. Either to say that things are going better or that you still are stressed and need some additional ideas for support.
Wishing you the best. It’s a tough transition but I really, truly think you can do it.
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Here is what worked first semester for my kid with STEM classes. Kid went straight from class to the library, to work as much as kid could do that far along on the problem sets. Kid attended every available office hour and TA hour, and just sat there working on problem sets, along with the one or two other students who did this, asking prof or TA for help whenever there was anything that they didn’t understand. This way, if class was on Monday, and sets were due Sunday, they had worked on the material several times before it was due, and had the opportunity to ask for help several times. Also, kid found others to work together with, on the material, so they developed a supportive study buddy group for each class.
It sounds to me as if in addition to doing this, you also need to go to the tutoring center regularly (at least a couple of times a week, maybe more) for math tutoring.
If your part time job is cutting into this, is there any way that your family can help out a bit more? Can you ask for a bit more financial aid? Can you cut expenses? Can you carry a balance from what you would have paid this semester from the part time job, and work 60 hours a week this summer, to make plenty of money this summer? You absolutely cannot tank the semester because of having to work - it’s such a huge loss for so little money.
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To some, it’s “so little money.” To others, it is a matter of survival.
Please don’t be so presumptuous to assume you know what the difference is to the OP.
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I’m hoping that they qualify for the boiler affordability grant, which I am understanding would cover any gaps in funding.
https://www.purdue.edu/dfa/cost/BoilerAffordabilityGrant.html
@unknowncreature , if working is causing you to lose time you need to study or attend office hours or study groups, if you haven’t already done so, please see if you qualify for the boiler affordability grant. You can contact the financial aid office and ask to speak to one of their counselors or advisors.
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I don’t think that you understand what I’m saying. The risk, in the equation, is the replacement cost of an entire semester of college, let alone of Purdue engineering. If the student is struggling with her work, while carrying a part time job, then the answer is not to risk failing, dropping out, or even dropping below a normal course load. When those things are weighed against a few hours a week of what is probably a minimum wage job, it becomes clear to an outside observer what has to happen. Please don’t be so sanctimonious as to rush to condemn the messenger for only stating reality.
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I’m not being sanctimonious at all. I’m simply considering a different possible reality you might have overlooked.
Some students work to provide necessities for school like books, supplies, toiletries, etc. Some students work to send money back home to support their parents and siblings. Some students are required to work to maintain eligibility for some types of FinAid.
For such students there is no option to stop working. We should not blithely recommend they quit working because “so little money” is not worth risking poor grades. At least not until we ascertain whether the student is working for unnecessary extra spending money, or working to earn life-essential money. This student may be making a monumental sacrifice (of their educational dreams) to earn money essential to their (or their family’s) well-being. It would be sad if that student is made to feel even worse about their situation by labeling the money they are working so hard to earn as “so little money” by someone ostensibly attempting to help.
That’s all I’m saying. I know tone is hard to decipher in forums. That’s why I led that sentence with “please” hoping you would intuit that I meant no insult to you while asking you to not unintentionally insult the OP.
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When a student cannot stay in their program because they have to earn money to send home (which this student has NEVER implied is the case), they shouldn’t be in that program, at that workload. When a student THINKS that there are no options, sometimes presenting them with a series of options may help them to realize that they do have choices.
This student is floundering. She’s having trouble, academically. The things that she needs to do in order to optimize her chances of success are time-consuming, and work may interfere with that. I suggested that she get in touch with financial aid to see if she can get more money so that she wouldn’t have to work, or else push off expenses and plan to work two jobs this summer, to try to take work out of the equation for this semester, and maybe next semester too.
The reality is that she may fail, lose her financial aid, have to leave school and move back home, which she does NOT want to do, and lose out on the amazing opportunity that she has now, if she has to take time out to work during this semester. She needs to optimize her odds of success this semester. So yes, weighing the odds of failure against the relatively small amount of money that she can earn while working at a low wage part time job this semester, is appropriate! No matter what that money is slated to go towards, if working a part time job this semester causes her to do poorly, flunk out, or lose her financial aid, it’s not worth it, and she needs to look into the other options that I’ve already suggested.
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Yes, instead of working 28 hours and 4 days a week I’ll work 24 hours and 3 days a week. My manager is very lenient on college students and they know that I’m taking STEM classes at Purdue. Whenever I want to pick up an extra shift the manager will allow me to do that if I have some leftover free time. I wasn’t able to reach out to the first-generation student organization because I was too busy focusing on my homework & office hour meetings. I am very lucky to have good roommates, they’re the reason why I didn’t quit college already, I am so grateful for them.
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Yes, I am an independent adult and I have bills to pay so I have to work a part-time job. I agree with your statement.
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You were working 28 hrs, 4 shifts/week? While trying to do engineering school? Well no wonder you were having trouble. 24 hrs as 3 shifts/week is still way too much. I could understand maybe a total of 8 -10 hrs/wk, maybe. But you are setting yourself up for failure, working that much while trying to do engineering. Something is gonna give, and it’s going to be your grades or your physical or mental health.
Go to the financial aid office and ask for more help! ASK FOR MORE HELP!!! The only bills you should have to pay are through the university. You’re living on campus, so you shouldn’t need a car. From what you described about your home life, I’m assuming you’re on Medicaid, and if not, your health insurance should be student health through Purdue. You should have your room and board incorporated into your college fees for the semester, and you should have had a financial aid package that would have expected you to work no more than 10 hrs/week. If you’re on Medicaid you can get a free phone through the state. If not, you can get a service called Mint Mobile for $15/month - there are similar services through other knockoff carriers. Any advisor at Purdue who knew that you were planning on working 28 hrs/wk, or even 24, would have told you it was a terrible idea.
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I am an independent adult and I have BILLS!! The financial aid department at Purdue is not lenient. I have to take care of my personal life & school at the same time. I paid for my car insurance, auto repairs, and gas for my car so I’m keeping it.
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And just because I have a part time job doesn’t mean it’s interfering with everything else. It’s my first semester and I have trouble adjusting to living in a new environment and dealing with a harder course-load because I went to underfunded schools my entire life. I spend more time studying, participating in class, and doing homework more than working at my part time job.
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