To the end of my college career?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Keeping my long saga short,</p>

<p>I am a freshman at a large state school majoring in business.</p>

<p>I thought college was going to be a blast yet it is the worst nightmare ever.</p>

<p>At the beginning of the school year, I had Hepatitis B, then somehow I fell into a deep depression and showed forms of bi-polar and schizophrenia + maniac syndrome. Then my grandfather died, striked me hard since we were particularly close.</p>

<p>So first semester I had a 2.666 after a long struggle and a lot of self-forcing, however as my condition worsened, I am on the edge of barely a 2 this semester.</p>

<p>Under my school's policy, you can withdraw you grades in a semester if you faced certain "medical, physiological, OR family" hardships, I want to do that, and my counselors and doctors have all recommended that.</p>

<p>Then I need my dean's approval.</p>

<p>The guy will NOT approve it since he think I am some kind of overachiever who want to abuse the system in someway to get a better GPA. His argument is that I got 2 B-s the first semester despite an overall 2.6 and those grades were "good" and basically, he doesn't want to let me withdraw grades. At the very best, he is only allowing me to withdraw the current semester grades but after at least 1 year.</p>

<p>So I am really sure what to do, I met every single requirement in the student handbook for withdrawals and there is no stipulation about what grades can and can't withdraw.</p>

<p>Any ideas? Help? I just want an equal start as everyone else, free of hepatitis and other messes.</p>

2

<p>Have your family hire an attorney to send the Dean a letter restating your request and asking him to reconsider (be sure to include the recommendation from your psychiatrist). I am familiar with a similar situation and the family had to emphasize the school’s potential liability before action was taken. The Dean probably IS used to people trying to take advantage of the hardship withdrawals, but once he can see that you are serious enough to get representation, he may be inspired to take another look at your request. Many schools require students to sit out a semester after taking a hardship withdrawal, so though it appears you could certainly use a semester off to regain your health, be sure that is what you want before taking the leave. Good luck.</p>

3

<p>This sounds very strange to me, even if the Dean frequently hears from overachievers who want to withdraw because they didn’t get their A+s. Before you jump to the step of hiring an attorney, have you had your doctors and counselors send in letters outlining their recommendations and prognoses for your condition(s)? Perhaps the Dean just doesn’t have enough information yet (info from the student seeking to withdraw may be insufficient in his view, although his position still seems very extremely unsupportive).</p>

4

<p>Devil’s advocate here: why withdraw your grades? You lose a semester’s time and tuition that way. Instead, take your 2.0 average and run with it. Get better next semester and show that these grades were a fluke. I know you’ve been taught all your life that GPA is a big deal, but it’s really not, in most cases. The diploma matters more, and you’re more likely to get there if you don’t burn a semester’s tuition needlessly.</p>

5

<p>Uhh, what are you talking about, dmd? GPA is EXTREMELY important for a variety of different fields. Wanna go to med school? Don’t screw up your GPA. Wanna go to law school, GPA and LSAT are by far the most important criteria, and they don’t even seem to care that much about upward trends. You think this kid’s diploma will help him more than his GPA? How many kids who have diplomas from similar schools but don’t have a 2.0 GPA term do you think this kid will be competing with when he starts looking for jobs?</p>

6

<p>Many employers don’t look at GPA. They just want proof that you have graduated in your field, and they are interested in your internships and work experience, not grades.</p>

7

<p>It’s good to have alternative ways of looking at things before making a decision.</p>

<p>If the relevant alternative is to lose an entire year of school plus be obligated to take an entire year on leave, then the idea of moving forward with the low grades and medical explanation may have some merit. That’s two entire years of life being spent or altered to avoid one semester/year of low grades. And–the poster may still need to explain to people, to grad schools what happened that he withdrew from school and is graduating two years later than his peers. </p>

<p>Which is going to be better? </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>or</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I don’t think that the decision is so simple.</p>

<p>Obviously, the better the withdrawal deal that the OP can negotiate with the dean, the more attractive withdrawal looks. But no matter how good that deal may be, there will be costs to withdrawing and imo dmd77 is wise to suggest that those costs be fully considered beforehand.</p>

8

<p>Another Devil’s advocate…
I have never heard that you could withdraw your grades because of medical hardship. I know that you can withdraw from the course up until the last minute because of a medical hardship and this is usually done before the final grade is given. </p>

<p>So I can understand why the dean is reluctant for the student to sign off on the student withdrawing the grades from the mindset that if the student was “too sick” to finish the course, they would have been medically excused and the courses withdrawn without penalty. However, this was not the case, OP chose to finish the course and because of the “low” grades s/he wants the term to be treated like it never existed. </p>

<p>If the student had a 3.66 instead of a 2.66, would Op still want the grades dropped (student was still sick during this period). </p>

<p>Testing for understanding…
Are you ultimately looking to have the whole years worth of work removed from your transcript?</p>

<p>OP is hoovering on a 2.0 now as the spring term draws to a close. </p>

<p>Have these courses been dropped? What I don’t understand is why Dean is not letting you drop the current courses if you fit the criteria for withdrawl due to medical hardship. What is the point of finishing the course for the dean to decide a year from now whether s/he will approve the removal of these grades.</p>

9

<p>Folks- GPA counts ALOT if you are applying to grad/law/medical school. And I have heard that employers can and will check out GPA’s of potential employees. My d is graduating this May and will be applying to Law school. Her GPA/LSAT score will determine where she will be admitted.<br>
I hate to tell other parents to “Get with the Program”, but life is much different for these kids then when we went to college. And with a bad economy, things will only get more competitive. </p>

<p>Glasscleaner- I’m sorry for all you are going through and I hope things do get much better for you. With that said, assuming that your grades are much better in all future semesters, grad schools do understand that illness/death in family etc. can affect one’s grades. If the remaining 6 or 7 semesters show a much higher GPA, I think most schools can overlook a rocky semester or two especially due to illness. Good luck to you.</p>

10

<p>You can withdraw a whole year of grades? WOW!</p>

<p>I’m with the dean on this one–withdraw the last semester’s grades, perhaps–but not the whole year. Adjusting to college is not easy for anyone…and a 2.7 your first semester is not that bad.</p>

<p>Could you have done better? Who knows? I’m sure that is why the Dean wants to see another year’s grades before deciding whether to drop grades. You have no college baseline.</p>

<p>(PS: a 2.7 is not the end of your college career, by any means)</p>

<p>Get better and work up to your ability, whatever that might be.</p>

11

<p>What about asking for an Incomplete in one or more courses? Then, take the summer/fall semester/whatever to finish out the coursework? This would give you more time to review the material before facing the final examination, and time to carefully write any final term papers.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

12

<p>I suggest doing what’s best for your health first; that’s most important.</p>

<p>happymomof1’s suggestion for taking incompletes is a good one. I had to take some incompletes one semester when I needed emergency surgery and was in the hospital for a week and then recuperating for weeks. (Couldn’t climb steps, so no NYC subway, which is how I got to school.) I did finish some courses that semester, but others had to wait until later. </p>

<p>Health first, though; do what you have to do to protect your health/feel better. And I hope you feel better soon and are getting good care.</p>