I guess this is more of a confessional and hopefully, someone out there can toss me a bone and set me down in the right direction. I am in my second year and second semester of college, and I fear it may, in fact, be one of my very last ones. I wasn’t a great student, I kind of floated my way through high school on a record of D’s, something I’m not exactly proud of. I came to my first year lacking just about anything. I didn’t know how to study properly, I couldn’t read my own notes, and frankly, I was working a part-time job (about 35-38 hours a week). The schoolwork was about the last thing on my mind after work, and those practices kept on through my second semester as a Freshman. I’d landed myself in hot water, my financial aid was no longer viable so I had to pay for school out of pocket, as suggested by my academic advisor. I ended up needing more shifts to cover the school’s payment plans, and the cycle continued.
It’s almost the end of this semester, and I find that I’ve tanked two classes beyond repair. My current GPA is a 1.3, and most likely it’s going down more. I desperately need to change, and I couldn’t think of anywhere else to ask for a pointer or two.
Any advice is most welcome and thank you in advance,
It’s not the end of the world, your college career, your success, and most importantly your life. I would consider taking time off to evaluate what you want, gain some maturity, start over at a community college, and if you have to work while going to school then go to school part time or get a Job that allows you to study on the Job like working in the library or security.
Lots of people leave college due to doing poorly and either return to college (and do better after gaining some maturity) or finding success in something else like military, trade school. Entrepreneurship, and work that requires little or no training.
I know you and others think that you are at a disadvantage but you are not because you learned something from this experience and you may end up having a better route than those who did well and stayed on track all four years because some people don’t take the time to evaluate what they want or find who they are. You have work experience despite the negative things that happened.
I know you are worried about being eligible for financial aid again but there are other options too If you can’t get it back like non-grade based scholarships, jobs with tuition assistance or reimbursement, GI bill if you join the military, and good jobs that can allow you pay both your bills & school and have the time to work & study.
College is a time for personal growth and many times a stepping stone to a career. You have done a poor job with those but all is not lost. There are many other avenues for personal growth and many careers that don’t require a college education.
You need to figure out what your future life and career will be and get on with it. If in the future you find that college will enrich or elevate what you are doing, then going back to college can be an option. I’m sure that you will find the proper motivation at that time to do well in college to get what you need out of it.
College is a full time job. You take 15 credits: that is 15 classroom hours per week, and 2-3 hours of studying/homework/reading per class hour. That adds up to 45 hours per week.
Add to that a 38 hour work week which is practically full time…no time to do well in both.
Do your best right now to finish finals as best as you can. Complete any work you can in your classes.
I agree…it might be time to focus on work. In the future, if you decide what you are interested in, Maybe take one class a semester at community college to see how that goes. Take advantage of any “Study Centers” or “How to study” classes.
So many people start college without being fully ready - don’t beat yourself up, give yourself a fresh start and set a new course. Find a living situation where you can support yourself with your job, take a break from academics. Make a list of the things you wish you’d have prepared yourself for before you went to college. Find online tools where you can learn those things. View yourself, your education and your future as “works in progress”. There is no time limit on education or success. Stop trying to fit yourself into someone else’s timeline - figure out what you want and how to get there, step by step. You can do it.
Not everyone is ready to start college right after hs senior year. Catch your breath, figure out what you can do about slacking, then re-try.
My brother’s 1st semester at a comm college was a C-. Followed by a D gpa. He took a semester break and then went back. Maybe he got another C-. He was also working (and liked the job.) Another break, matured, settled on his interest in the degree and went back to different college (as a freshman; things worked differently, back then.) From then on, smooth sailing. Even a grad program.
If this is some distractability, time management, or even ADD issue, try to find out and get help for that. Work during a break, to pay off any college debt and save some. Then cut back the hours when you return.
Also, college gets a lot more interesting when you do well enough in the first two years to then get to your major, where it’s more clsses that truly interest you, even if they’re challenging.
You are effectively working a full time job. That’s not compatible with taking a full course load at college. I suggest you drastically cut down your work hours.
Prioritize what you want from your future. Do you want a full time job doing what you are doing? If you enjoy it and see yourself staying in that job, then maybe you are fine. If you want a different path, ask yourself how you will get there. See an academic advisor at your college and ask what you need to do to progress.
An obvious first step is this: go to class, get the book, do the reading, do the work, study. Read the pinned post by @bopper . It’s called college is a step up from high school. It has very practical measures for succeeding in college. Good luck.