Get up and go to class. This alone will help you a ton. Philosophy might be easier to pass than bio–depends on your own strengths. The class that worries me the most in your schedule is calculus.
Forget premed.
Focus on getting back on track.
Stay at your college for now.
Call housing tomorrow morning and ask if they still have room in the substance free room or on the quiet floor. (And if you’re thinking “but it will be boring?”, question yourself and wonder how committed you are to college, if the mere thought of being in a residence hall where the focus is avoiding parties and facilitating studying … makes you react negatively; wonder what it says about your actual motivation. Sure, you wont think “cool, the sub-free dorm”, but a lot is at stakes).
Follow IntParent’s advice religiously. All of it.
Regarding your schedule:
Have you taken AP Bio? Did you score a 5?
Is Biology 2000 the premed Bio class? If so, DO NOT take it. It’ll be cut-throat. Right now, you want classes you’re sure you can get a B in and can hope for an A, not a class where half the students will fight tooth and nail for an A and will push you down to a C because half of those fighting for an A will get a B. You don’t want a class where you’ll fight for your grade. What AP classes did you take in HS? What subjects were you very good at?
Have you taken calculus in high school or did you stop at Precalculus? What was your math grade?
Principles of Economics and Spanish = keep
Ask upper class students or a student mentor or type “easiest classes at … university” in your search engine, then check with RateMyProfessor. ONE of your classes MUST be an “easy A”. If Phys Ed counts for a grade, take one of those.
Don’t you have to take Freshman Composition and/or a Freshman seminar?
Wow!
Art History 2000 is a really hard class…
I got a 5 on the AP bio and placed out of freshman writing/composition and literature classes, as well as psychology…
last thing you want to do is go to another college to save your parents money. Long story short you messed up and it will be costly
advice, salvage the year by aiming as high on the grades as you can and then take summer courses to catch up to required credits. it will be like 2k a course or so for an accelerated course.
Next get your act together and succeed. you didnt mess up your life but you will add 10k at most on loans and debt, which isnt that much in the grand scheme of things
dont go to a cc, it is much worse and someschools wont let you transfer in. you got into a top 30 school, stay there and fight back into a good standing.
it doesnt matter how you start if you finish strong, get a good gpa this semester to save the year and take summer make up courses
You have gotten good advice. My recommendation is to give some serious thought to what you want and if you are willing to do what it takes to get there. For pre-med that might mean no partying or drugs for the next 8-12 years.Try not to kid yourself. You would be far better off picking a major that matches your personality and drive.
You say you are pre-med but everything you wrote about your first semester indicates that you are not willing to put in the effort. Are you? It is okay if the answer is no. It is not for everybody. The D+ in biology and having to withdraw from chemistry indicates that pre med might not be for you. At my daughter’s school, 1200 students start as pre-med. About 10% remained pre-med. When the professor was asked why the rate was so low, he bluntly responded that either they didn’t have the academic chops or they underestimate what it took to succeed and were not willing to put the effort in that was required.
If the school accepted you, then they felt you have the ability to succeed. One bad semester doesn’t mean that you can’t recover. It does mean that something want wrong and that you need to determine what happen and be willing to change. In your case, you know what happen. So the question is are you willing to change you ways?
As for your schedule. Caculus can be tough if your math background is weak. Economics can range from easy to extremely difficult depending on the school. Philisophy will likely require a lot of reading, good critical thinking skill and strong writing skills.
Work with an academic advisor and revise your schedule to have classes you should do well in.
I might consider taking the semester off, remaining at home, taking a part-time job, and taking something at a community college. I am assuming this would not get you kicked out of your school permanently.
The idea is to show you that going back to school and say partying only on Saturday night, and only at 10pm, and only so you can still get up at 9am and go to dining hall for breakfast … and working say 30-40 hours a week on homework
is better than the alternative … unless mommy and daddy can support you forever …
If you really know you will do well this spring … go back … my plan just lets you find yourself and maybe grow up a bit before you get kicked out …
Agree with the pre-med comments above. Right now looks really unlikely, but if you start to do well … sure, start clicking off those tough classes again, but do it right, focus + study groups + head clear …
I also like the professor’s comments … blunt … but so true … .similar to why a lot of engineers drop out … probably 1/2 or more, it’s just dang hard and a lot of grind work.
I would also drop any ideas of using AP credit to skip classes, is that what Art History 2000 was, skipping Art History 1000 due to HS. Not all HS teach AP classes at even close to a college level and that is just fine. Retake the class, get an A or at least a B.
Some schools will not allow any CC courses. I don’t see a “gap semester” as the answer. He will either stop partying and get to work, or not. That can be resolved starting in about a week when his classes start again.
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Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester. 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?”
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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.
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Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
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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.
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Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
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If things still are not going well, get a tutor.
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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.
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GO TO CLASS!!!
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Take an easier next semester to get your GPA up!
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For Med school…look into DO schools rather than MD schools. With DO you can retake a class you did poorly in and replace the grade…with MD schools you put both grades into your GPA.