Shitty first semester

[Cathan]

My first semester at a University I had a 1.79 gpa. I had 2 B's in super easy A classes for most people, 2 C's and an F in Calc 1. I instantly made academic probation obviously.

It's been 2 years now and I've pulled my gpa back up to a 2.78. Last semester I made the Dean's list in engineering and if this semester goes well I'll be on the Dean's list again. I've also decided to go to grad school and despite my bad start I'll be funded.

I'm an engineering major also so my classes are some of the hardest undergrad classes offerred plus a few grad level classes recently.

The only real downside imo is my gpa will never recover completely to reflect my true achievement but the grades on my transcript paint a better picture. Most employers don't give a shit about gpa anyway. A panel of human resources officers spoke at my school and they said gpa means fuckall to them explicitly. 4.0s fail just as often as 2.0s from their experience.

Key to college is to learn to study properly and actually put the time in. If you wanna party keep it to the weekends and understand that come time for finals you're gonna have to suck it up and study for a week or 2 straight to be fully prepared. Study for tests around a week in advance so the day or 2 before you feel like you know everything so you just do a quick review and move on to other things.

Cathan

[dak]

Go to class.

Waking up tired at 7:45 with class at 8:00 makes it easy to say "It's just a review today" or "I know all this shit and what I don't I can read" or "I'm too tired to pay attention". You really should suck it up and go anyways.

When you are in college school is your job. In a real job you don't get to skip meetings with the boss because you are tired or don't feel you will learn anything, you just go.

A large part of it is if you force yourself hell or high water to make all your classes you are a lot less likely to fuck around too bad when you should be studying. Dragging your ass into 8 am class after a night of drinking and getting coked up makes you lay off the partying fast.

[McCheese]

Like other people have said, go get yourself a job at someplace like UPS loading trucks (not the small brown ones, but the massive ones that travel between shipping hubs). That's barely tolerable for a few months. The thought of having to do it for 40 years is all the motivation I needed to go to class everyday and do well on exams.

On a sidenote, it really pisses me off when people whose mommies and daddies are paying for their school and have never had a real job in their lives complain about how hard school is and how tough their workload is. Doing gruntwork at some shitty manual labor job should be a prerequisite to entering college. (Not directed at anyone in particular here, but just what I overhear everyday at school. It boils the blood.)

[sarinrathe]

You said you had the HOPE scholarship? Where do you go?

I went to Tech, had Hope first year and lost it after that. First semester I got a 3.5 becuase it was mostly review Calc 1, Intro CS, etc. Second semester was a lot tougher - 17 hours of Calc, Phys 1, CS 2, Intro EE. And I never went to class.

Sophomore year I smoked too much pot and started playing Everquest and the grades continued to plumit. I could manage the CS stuff but the higher level maths and physics owned me. And I didn't go to class.

It wasn't until second semester Junior year that I pulled out of the slump. Finally went to class (had to retake a few I got Ds in). And I quit EQ - sold my char for beer money.

Senior year I was well above 3.0, even taking a very full load of advanced classes.

To sum up:

- One shitty semester will not end your college career
- Talk with your profs
- Go to Class
- Learn when to drop a class
- Advanced classes in your major, while technically tougher, actually will reward you with As, Bs.
- Games / Drinking / Smoking / etc might have to go. Moderation is key

Also I think Hope scholarship is re-calculated every 30 hours. You wont lose it after your first semester. If you are up to 29 or less hours by your sophomore year, you can keep the scholarship for 3 semesters, even with shit grades.

[Everlast]

Fuck that is my high school career 100% over the summer between high school and freshman year of college I got prescribed Adderall - this may not be the route you want to go but as soon as I took the medicine I felt like Luke in Star Wars when had he to make the perfect shot in the center of the deathstar 24/7 (and yes this is a VERY homosexual analogy).

I started to do math in my spare time because it was my worst subject by far - I would figure out the cost benefits of how much a person (me) spends at college over a 2 year period(Nuclear Medicine Technology - 2 year degree average of $60,000 a year), what the rewards are after the four years and then the overtime growth. College is like investing in Microsoft before it blew up.

Now im really God damn good at math, still going strong in school, have a 4.0 and a 40 hour a week job as a Pharmact Asst. making kickass money, have a 401k and getting great experiance in the medical field all at the age of 18.

You just need to find you niche, whatever makes you click into what you KNOW you can be. I know this sounds like bullshit - I was the kid whos report card would always say "Can do better", "Needs to put forth more effort", etc.

You can do anything you want to do in life, a instant sacrifice (not partying) is worth long term rewards. The feeling you get (well I, cant speak for everyone) from completing something successful after it has knocked you on your ass countless times is better then any other feeling in the world, that feeling leads to heightened confidence, which leads to more good things, its a positive snowball effect.

[Dalerone]

I went to Lehigh and was in this same situation. I failed out of so many classes my first year it was crazy. I can tell you I think if I had to do it again I wouldnt have even gone to Lehigh I would have gone to some crap school. I think unless you are going to be a lawyer or a doctor it doesnt even matter where you get your diploma its all about how hard you work at your first job and how lucky you get. It turned out ok for me, Im in the IT field as a manager im 32 years old and am already on my second house and have 3 HD tvs and 3 cars.

[Kiely]

Nice reads.
My self I dropped out of uni, end of first semester into it, I hated everything apart from independancy. Course sucked, (computing), and I figured why continue into a degree / aspect and later a job relating to it.. it'l only be a depressing life.
Now a year later, I haven't done much apart from travelling and chilling with whatever friends haven't gone away to uni [now only a few left. sigh].

Do I regret? No.. been the best year of my life =) Even if I haven't got a future ahead of me, mainly due to the fact I can't find something I like enough to motivate me career / study wise... something will turn up eventually.
Even if I "flip burgers" or some other manual job, maybe it'l teach me disciplin to get a degree in something I dislike + a better pay job. Even the army sounds tempting in that regard, since I'm a lazy p.o.s.

Or I might just get lucky and find something I like, but I doubt it..
hm. Maybe music college. Even if I won't get anything after it's probably the only thing I'd enjoy learning.. I think it's best to go to uni/college to learn something you like, theres plenty of oppertunity to make money elsewhere.
Not pulling the /billgates was a college dropout card or anything, but imo it's not hard to do fairly well without a degree.

[Frawdo]

A lot of the same old stories popping up here, I think almost everyone has trouble with first year at University/College.

My first semester in Engineering I took too many courses, and didn't pay enough attention to them. I am one of those people that breezed through Highschool with little effort, and it doesn't really work at Uni/College. Anyways I failed Calc I, which is actually not that hard if you study, but managed to keep a GPA of 2.75. But failing that one class really fucked me over in terms of pre-requisites and co-requisites, and the final result is that my first-year is taking me two full years to complete.

Second semester I worked by ass off at the start, did way better, and thought I had it all figured out. But that was only a month into the semester, and I went back to my old habits and got a D in Chem II, with my GPA falling to 2.62. Although my current college reports my GPA as 2.86, because I passed Calc I the second time around so my mark was replaced, I know the university I'm transferring too won't allow me the same grace.

Anyways this semester I took some Arts classes (psych and phil) and pwned the shit out of them (A+ in both) and so far I'm passing Calc II.

The moral(s) of the story?
- Almost everyone fucks up first semester / year after high-school, don't worry about it, just buckle down and fix it.
- Arts classes are waaaaaay easier than Engineering/Science/Math courses, and they exist solely for you to use as a way to improve your GPA.

[Samus Aran]

Just curious, what is the minimum you have to sign up for the military to get your education paid for?

I've actually thought about joining up before, but the thought of starting up school when all my friends are either about to graduate/graduating seems a bit depressing.

[Bralkan]

Originally Posted by potam

Just curious, what is the minimum you have to sign up for the military to get your education paid for?

I've actually thought about joining up before, but the thought of starting up school when all my friends are either about to graduate/graduating seems a bit depressing.

I'm telling you. Retake the classes you fucked up in. It will pull your GPA up and allow you to keep HOPE. If you took 15 hours and came out with, just for example, a 2.0 gpa. If you retake that 15 hours and come out with a 3.2 GPA your GPA is now a 3.2. PERIOD. Yes, because you have taken a total of 30 hours you will be up for evaluation for HOPE and you will basically lose 15 hours HOPE will pay for, but you WILL have HOPE.

Trust me. This is what I have to do for some of my classes to make getting HOPE back easier. Plus, it will help me in getting into grad school.

[EnigmaticParadigm]

Originally Posted by Bralkan

I'm telling you. Retake the classes you fucked up in. It will pull your GPA up and allow you to keep HOPE. If you took 15 hours and came out with, just for example, a 2.0 gpa. If you retake that 15 hours and come out with a 3.2 GPA your GPA is now a 3.2. PERIOD. Yes, because you have taken a total of 30 hours you will be up for evaluation for HOPE and you will basically lose 15 hours HOPE will pay for, but you WILL have hope.

Trust me. This is what I have to do for some of my classes to make getting HOPE back easier. Plus, it will help me in getting into grad school.

They need to rename that scholarship something else because that was way too confusing to read. I HOPE that made sense.

[Bralkan]

Originally Posted by EnigmaticParadigm

They need to rename that scholarship something else because that was way too confusing to read. I HOPE that made sense.

*rimshot*

[Luthair]

Originally Posted by painbringer

Get some work flipping burgers or whatever for half a year, and give it a new shot afterwards. - or join the military to get som perspective.

worked for some friends of mine.

I agree with take a bit of time off and work a shitty job, but while you're doing that pickup some courses through night school or distance. (Maybe even snag some kind of certificate or diploma.) At least that way your time isn't totally wasted.

[Tukwhump da Trollie]

I was one of those smart fuckers that never studied never even cracked a fucking book and aced all my tests. I say was because I got dropped from all my classes this semester due to low attendance (my college is gay as shit GG CC duel enrollment) and because of that I lose my little scholarship dealy and am effectively a drop out untill I work a year or so and save up some tuition money or snag another scholarship which is unlikely with my sub par GPA (Aceing all your exams dosent mean shit when you dont do any assignments/papers).

Most of my problems stemed from just straight up not giving a shit and haveing no idea what I want to do. I started out in the Culinary Arts program but quickly dropped out when I realised I hate people and really hate dealing with people I have to be nice to no matter what. Once I dropped out of that program (after I got the only two certifications that matter anyways) I spent a year and a half doing bullshit like Interpersonal COmmunications and Classical Mythology. Haveing no interest in the subject matter or being able to teach the classes better than my professor as was the case in Classical Mythology I quickly lost interest and started fucking up hardcore.

What I suggest and what I personally intend to do is take a few months to a year off and actually decide what the fuck I'm pissing away all teh states/my/my parents money to do. Once I figure that out I plan to set out my schedule at least a year in advance and set goals that I'm going to stick with.

I HIGHLY suggest that if you have any friends attending the same college as you are that you try and take some classes together even if its humanities or some other bullshit you will need to graduate. Find and attend study groups and make friends with people in your class. You are going to need some motivation to go to classes. People like me cant use "Well I need to do this class to get where I want to go." and head to class day in and day out. I need to want to go see x person or attend y study group to have any motivation. Hell the only classes I actually made an effort to attend were the ones I made friends with my classmates in.

Do research on your classes before hand talk to people who have taken that class and find out about the professers if there are multiple instances of a class your takeing. Dont nessecarily pick a major because you think it would be a cool thing to do either make sure its something your good at. No matter what you choose to do there are about a million people better at it than you are. That number needs to go down a ways if you want a good job. Haveing a job you enjoy is important as shit but you need to be able to get that job over all the other fucks that want to steal your moneys.

Basicly put effort into it. You have to want it. Set your goals get your motivation and get that shit done and FUCKING STUDY UNTILL YOU DREAM ABOUT THAT SHIT.

The irony of my situation is that since I started attending college and subsequently dropped out of the culinary program the only jobs I have had have been chef positions or working at a cafe.

Oh and dont be a fag take somethign other than spanish as a language. I cant speak more than two sentences of German but goddamn was that class a blast. (made a B+ gg)

[WillzZz]

What were you studying, Potam? It sounds like the same schedule a ton of my friends went through, and they really reacted the same way. You're definitely not alone, that's for sure.

What I'd recommend is speaking to your personal advisor (if they have those at your school), and trying to get a roommate/closefriend to take the same classes you are. Not necessarily an exact schedule, but you can study together, do group projects together, and it helps you to keep a little focus. Also, try to make sure you have a schedule of courses that forces you to get up and go to all of them in a row. I made the mistake of scheduling something 2 hours after my first 3 classes, and I didn't show as often as I should've. You're unlikely to miss 4 classes back to back to back to back. Also avoid scheduling a single class for that early morning thursday spot. "Just one class" is a great excuse to skip it.t