Shitty first semester

Samus Aran · 12-06-2005, 02:07 PM

Well, I'm just about done with my first semester of college, and I fucked up.

I'm going to be ending the year with a <2.0 GPA most likely, unless my teachers love me or I'm forgetting something.

Basically, I'm in a shitty position now. I'm going to be working up from the bottom. And to add to all this: my parents are gonna kill me when they find this shit out.

Basically the point of this thread is this:

Were you in a situation like this, and how did shit work out for you?

GrobbeeTrull · 12-06-2005, 02:21 PM

You have to take college seriously. It's no fucking joke. Yes, it's important to party, but it's 400x more important to get your work done, understand the content, and ask questions if you don't.

Stop playing fucking games. It'll ruin your college career faster than anything else, unless you're the 0.01% of the population that can handle that sort of thing. Which you probably aren't.

Bust your ass, set some goals, go to study groups. Get that shit done.

Regime · 12-06-2005, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrobbeeTrull

You have to take college seriously. It's no fucking joke. Yes, it's important to party, but it's 400x more important to get your work done, understand the content, and ask questions if you don't.

Stop playing fucking games. It'll ruin your college career faster than anything else, unless you're the 0.01% of the population that can handle that sort of thing. Which you probably aren't.

Bust your ass, set some goals, go to study groups. Get that shit done.

QFT...

For me I quit gaming/drugs and took up sports and pussy. Dunno how but my GPA went up.

Ya ya you will have withdrawl esp if all your friends play games and get mad at you for not playing... haha fuck em School > flunking bro

You can always go over to the dining hall(haha if you're in a dorm) where all the retards work and imagine being the boss of them if you fail.

tjac · 12-06-2005, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by potam

Were you in a situation like this, and how did shit work out for you?

How many classes do you have and what is the grade breakdown?

right away, speak with an advisor that you respect and cover all the options. there is bound to be some one-time, late-withdrawal, emergency option. Get rid of any Fs and maybe Ds that you might have (sure, the tuition is blown, but you're gonna have to redo those classes, most likely, and the GPA hit sucks).

also, talk with profs, there might be something doable within the last week or two to fix a borderline grade.

then, avoid doing the same thing in future semesters. It's hard. I still struggle with it as a graduate student. For some reason, I have no motivation for classes that don't interest me. Like suggested, group study can counter that.

Intrinsic · 12-06-2005, 03:37 PM

When I graduated High School Everquest came out. I went to college and for a year did nothing but play EQ. No one explained the whole "drop your class before you get a F" tool to me. Anyways, I left that school with a 0.7 gpa. I spent a year and a half at a community college working my GPA back up to a level at which I could transfer in to a University. I now have one semester left before I graduate with a Wireless Engineering degree and a second major in Electrical Engineering, neither of which was what I started in. It's been a 6 year road but it works out. You just have to quit pussying around and realize what you have to get done.

I will say not to give up the partying, but realize that partying is just another part of your education. Learn how to talk to people in those social situations and meet people and it will help later in job interviews and presentations you have to give.

ValkyrieIsAboutToDie · 12-06-2005, 04:37 PM

The Games/School balance is possible, but you basically have to give up all semblance of a social life to do it, so I strongly disagree.

Personally, I'm in a long-distance relationship, so the WoW keeps me in on the friday and saturday nights where I might be out doing something I'd regret bigtime instead. I'm an officer in a BWL highend with a 3.75. It's possible, but only in certain situations.

Eomer · 12-06-2005, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Were you in a situation like this, and how did shit work out for you?

My GPA was a bit better after first year (2.8 converted to your scale), but pretty similar situation. I ended up dropping out, and 5 years later I drive a BMW, have a swank loft condo complete with a 106" home theatre system. I guess things turned out!

But yeah, I was in engineering and had a hard time adjusting from my highschool mentality of sleeping pretty much all class, if I even showed up at all, and getting 90% in everything. In some ways my superior intelligence (and modesty) was my worst enemy. I'd gotten away with doing fuckall for schoolwork my entire life, and it was a slap in the face to suddenly have to attend school from 8am to 5pm most days (including labs and such), and then go home and work on assignments. I slacked pretty badly almost right from the start, copying people's assignments instead of doing them on my own (which alone would have helped me a ton), doing halfassed lab writeups and such. The only brightspot was that I still managed to do pretty well on tests, I still don't really know how (and to this day my friends who went on to graduate are still impressed with my ability to pull decent test results out my ass). It certainly wasn't studying a lot, I'd be lucky to study for a couple hours the night before a final.

EQ only came into the picture halfway through my second term, in the spring. At the time I guess I would have blamed it somewhat for my suckage, but the reality is if it wasn't EQ it would have been another distraction. I just have a hell of a time motivating myself to do schoolwork, and look for any alternate thing to do. I worked the summer, and went back to school in the fall with the conviction that I'd work my ass off, get caught back up (that's the worst part about being in engineering, if you do shitty in a course but manage to pass it, you're fucked in the next course), and be a model student. By that time I was already getting somewhat burned out on EQ, and took a break from it. I quit or severely curtailed smoking weed. And I did do my homework for the first couple weeks. But it soon all fell apart, and before I knew it I was way behind with little hope of catching up. I wrote my mid-terms, realized how badly I did (no pulling passes out of my ass this time) on at least half of them, and realized it was time to call it quits. I dropped all my courses except for Linear Algebra, which I had already managed to fail once. Second time through I got 100% on the midterm, but then after I dropped all my other courses I couldn't be bothered to show up and promptly bombed the hell out of the final and got another fail. And then because that was my only course contributing to my average, the faculty of engineering kicked me out in January (or at least gave me a year vacation), despite me already having signed off all the paperwork to exit the faculty.

So that nice black mark on my transcript basically fucked me out of attending university again without taking transfer courses from a community college. I had wanted to go into computing science, or just general science, but they told me to take a walk.

I moped around the house (there was other stuff going on at the time as well, nothing too serious looking back, I was a whiney bitch) for a few weeks before my dad got sick of it and told me I was going to work and to go get some warm boots. The rest as they say is history.

There's not a day I don't regret fucking up my chance to get a decent education so badly. Yeah, like I said in the beginning life's good in a lot of respects, but everyone's goal in life should be to live without regrets. And I've definitely got a few in regards to how I did in university. My job/business will make me very comfortable, but it's not something I love or even like, every day it's a struggle to get out of bed at 5:30 and do my thing till 5:30pm.

I think my biggest mistake was having this mentality in my head of "I've got to get into and out of school as quickly as possible, and barring that, get a job as quickly as possible." I should have travelled, taken a half assed arts degree, something else.

But sorry, this is turning into a whine post. Moral of the above: get your shit together and start working at whatever program you're in, or drop it and find out what it is that you truly want to do, and pursue that instead. Don't just take the path of least resistance and go through life following it.

Regime · 12-06-2005, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eomer

Don't just take the path of least resistance and go through life following it.

^ fuckin a

orcmauler · 12-06-2005, 05:45 PM

Having been there and done that: I dropped out my senior year with a 1.8 gpa, then returned 4 years later and graduated w/ a 3.0 (couldnt pull it up any higher b/c of my previous grades) after making the honor role and/or dean's list for 3 years let me impart some advice to you my son.

First and foremost: Take it seriously. If you are in school to party, play, whatever, then do yourself and your parents and your student loan load a favor and drop out, get a job and party till you are sick of it. At least that way you learn some responsibility.

Second: If you are staying in school, look into grade replacement. Usually most 1st semester freshman bomb much like you, so most universities have policies that most students can replace freshman level classes for a new grade or a split between the two. Yes it sucks to lose a year, but its a small price to pay.

Finally it seems that you are willing and have the desire to fix your mess. It is possible, you just have to decide if you are willing to do the work or if it is too hard.

Samus Aran · 12-06-2005, 05:52 PM

Thanks for the replies guys.

Surprisingly, it's not gaming or partying that is bringing my grades down. I only go out/drink with friends 1 or 2 times a week, usually on the weekends. As far as gaming is concerned, other than a couple of weeks where I bought some new games, I average about 5 hours a week max on gaming.

My problem is that I just don't goto class, and that I got cocky early on in the semester. On my first chemistry test, I got a 99. I actually studied for the thing ... one of the first times I'd ever done it. After that, I said "fuck studying, I know this stuff." On my next test, I recieved an 80-something.

Same thing happened in calculus. First test: 94. I actually fucked up worse in this class--I started bringing my iPod to class and thinking I could just get away with writing the shit off the board. Of course, I never even opened my book or studied again for that class. Subsequent test scores? 45, 50-something, and something <20 (I haven't even looked at it yet ... too scared of what it is).

And in my other classes, it's just a lack of motivation. I can't bring myself to goto class (the thought being that one class isn't too much to catch up with), and I can't bring myself to do the bullshit assignments. The content of these classes is easy. With the school I'm at right now, I literally should have a 4.0.

Right now, I've told myself that I'm giving myself another year and a half at best to figure out if I really want to be in school. Unless I can figure out what I want to do with my slack ass, I figure it's either the work force, or the military for me.

I feel so emo right now.

edit: Also forgot to mention that right now I have the HOPE scholarship, which takes a huge fucking load off my parents and me. Requirements for it are a 3.0+ GPA, but they only check it every 30 hours I believe (unless they've changed it already). That means I get a free semester out of it at least. But I got to number crunching today, and realized that it'll take me at least two years to get back a 3.0 GPA. Frankly, the way I feel towards school right now, I wouldn't want to have to take a student loan out just to pay for a thing I don't want. So I have a feeling sometime soon, I'm gonna have to decide between dropping out and not.

Life's very tricky right now.

painbringer · 12-06-2005, 06:26 PM

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.

EnigmaticParadigm · 12-06-2005, 07:00 PM

I went to college when I was barely 17 in 1994. I lasted 2.5 years, but my grades declined to the point of irrelevance by March of '97. I joined the military, got the discipline I needed, and matured quite a bit. I then worked for Child Protective Services for awhie until I hit the invisible ceiling (no degree = no more promotions/money).

I then went back to college to complete my degree in nursing, continued my education, etc.

School = future money. Think of it as four years of on-the-job training. Take care of school and it will take care of you.

It is a short part of your life to sacrifice for 45 - 50 years of earning potential. It may sound terribly corny, but I cut out pictures of what I wanted to drive, places I wanted to visit, things I wanted to buy, etc. Whenever I started to feel overwhelmed or burned-out, I took a break, looked at the pictures, and went back to studying. I hope you turn things around and do well; you're obviously smart enough.

aznpinktuv · 12-06-2005, 07:21 PM

u jsutr need to realy realise when to stop playing... cus if u dont grow the fuck up, your gonna have no future which means when ur 40 or so you cant go pick up eq4 or what ever is out at the time =)

Regime · 12-06-2005, 07:28 PM

Military is a great idea for discipline. My friend did that. However if you think you just need a boost take up some sport or martial arts...
Ultimate Frisbee/Soccer/football etc etc intermerals fun as hell.
What I did and my grades went from C's and d's to A's and B's.

Tea on tuesday · 12-06-2005, 07:55 PM

I was in a very similar situation. The classes weren't hard, but I never went despite having nothing better to do, and a large part of it is that I had no idea what I wanted to do. I'm in my 5th year now, and I still don't know but I do know this. Drag your ass to class do the bullshit work and get the grade. Yeah it sucks, but after a year and a half out of school of doing bullshit manual labor for $10 an hour you will regret not doing the easy bullshit work. Secondly get your core recquirement classes done and over with now. You can't get a feel for what you'd like to do if you're stuck in entry level classes. I've gone from major to major, and while I still don't have any idea where I'm going my classes are 300+ level right now, so regardless of discipline they are at least stimulating and challenging.

If I could go back in time and force myself at gunpoint to never drop out in the first place I would have, but instead of 2 years at Ohio State and 5 majors. I said fuck it, dropped out and moved to Italy. It's a good to story for picking up chicks, but God was it the wrong decision. Getting back into school after being away for 1-2 years is probably one of the biggest pain in the ass experience you'll have to go through. Most my friends have graduated now, have respectable jobs, and it's frustrating for me. This semester I've been working 50+ hours a week in addition to a full load of schooling just to pay the bills. It's not fun and whatever the alternative for you now is, it's easier to deal with it then to step back.

12-06-2005, 02:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
Samus Aran Sons of the Storm Heal Bitch Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 771 +2 Internets	Shitty first semester Well, I'm just about done with my first semester of college, and I fucked up. I'm going to be ending the year with a <2.0 GPA most likely, unless my teachers love me or I'm forgetting something. Basically, I'm in a shitty position now. I'm going to be working up from the bottom. And to add to all this: my parents are gonna kill me when they find this shit out. Basically the point of this thread is this: Were you in a situation like this, and how did shit work out for you?

12-06-2005, 03:37 PM	#5 (permalink)
Intrinsic is More and Faster Join Date: May 2002 Location: Little Rock, AR Posts: 415 +2 Internets	When I graduated High School Everquest came out. I went to college and for a year did nothing but play EQ. No one explained the whole "drop your class before you get a F" tool to me. Anyways, I left that school with a 0.7 gpa. I spent a year and a half at a community college working my GPA back up to a level at which I could transfer in to a University. I now have one semester left before I graduate with a Wireless Engineering degree and a second major in Electrical Engineering, neither of which was what I started in. It's been a 6 year road but it works out. You just have to quit pussying around and realize what you have to get done. I will say not to give up the partying, but realize that partying is just another part of your education. Learn how to talk to people in those social situations and meet people and it will help later in job interviews and presentations you have to give. __________________

12-06-2005, 05:52 PM	#10 (permalink)
Samus Aran Sons of the Storm Heal Bitch Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 771 +2 Internets	Thanks for the replies guys. Surprisingly, it's not gaming or partying that is bringing my grades down. I only go out/drink with friends 1 or 2 times a week, usually on the weekends. As far as gaming is concerned, other than a couple of weeks where I bought some new games, I average about 5 hours a week max on gaming. My problem is that I just don't goto class, and that I got cocky early on in the semester. On my first chemistry test, I got a 99. I actually studied for the thing ... one of the first times I'd ever done it. After that, I said "fuck studying, I know this stuff." On my next test, I recieved an 80-something. Same thing happened in calculus. First test: 94. I actually fucked up worse in this class--I started bringing my iPod to class and thinking I could just get away with writing the shit off the board. Of course, I never even opened my book or studied again for that class. Subsequent test scores? 45, 50-something, and something <20 (I haven't even looked at it yet ... too scared of what it is). And in my other classes, it's just a lack of motivation. I can't bring myself to goto class (the thought being that one class isn't too much to catch up with), and I can't bring myself to do the bullshit assignments. The content of these classes is easy. With the school I'm at right now, I literally should have a 4.0. Right now, I've told myself that I'm giving myself another year and a half at best to figure out if I really want to be in school. Unless I can figure out what I want to do with my slack ass, I figure it's either the work force, or the military for me. I feel so emo right now. edit: Also forgot to mention that right now I have the HOPE scholarship, which takes a huge fucking load off my parents and me. Requirements for it are a 3.0+ GPA, but they only check it every 30 hours I believe (unless they've changed it already). That means I get a free semester out of it at least. But I got to number crunching today, and realized that it'll take me at least two years to get back a 3.0 GPA. Frankly, the way I feel towards school right now, I wouldn't want to have to take a student loan out just to pay for a thing I don't want. So I have a feeling sometime soon, I'm gonna have to decide between dropping out and not. Life's very tricky right now. Last edited by Zombie Potam : 12-06-2005 at 05:57 PM.

12-06-2005, 07:00 PM	#12 (permalink)
EnigmaticParadigm Is Kermit gunna have to make a bitch go "GLARRRRGH?!" Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Pre World War III America Posts: 2,491 +53 Internets	I went to college when I was barely 17 in 1994. I lasted 2.5 years, but my grades declined to the point of irrelevance by March of '97. I joined the military, got the discipline I needed, and matured quite a bit. I then worked for Child Protective Services for awhie until I hit the invisible ceiling (no degree = no more promotions/money). I then went back to college to complete my degree in nursing, continued my education, etc. School = future money. Think of it as four years of on-the-job training. Take care of school and it will take care of you. It is a short part of your life to sacrifice for 45 - 50 years of earning potential. It may sound terribly corny, but I cut out pictures of what I wanted to drive, places I wanted to visit, things I wanted to buy, etc. Whenever I started to feel overwhelmed or burned-out, I took a break, looked at the pictures, and went back to studying. I hope you turn things around and do well; you're obviously smart enough. __________________

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12-06-2005, 02:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
GrobbeeTrull Banned Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Springfield, Ohio Posts: 1,685 +0 Internets	You have to take college seriously. It's no fucking joke. Yes, it's important to party, but it's 400x more important to get your work done, understand the content, and ask questions if you don't. Stop playing fucking games. It'll ruin your college career faster than anything else, unless you're the 0.01% of the population that can handle that sort of thing. Which you probably aren't. Bust your ass, set some goals, go to study groups. Get that shit done.

12-06-2005, 04:37 PM	#6 (permalink)
ValkyrieIsAboutToDie Needs food badly Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 1,370 +17 Internets	The Games/School balance is possible, but you basically have to give up all semblance of a social life to do it, so I strongly disagree. Personally, I'm in a long-distance relationship, so the WoW keeps me in on the friday and saturday nights where I might be out doing something I'd regret bigtime instead. I'm an officer in a BWL highend with a 3.75. It's possible, but only in certain situations.

12-06-2005, 05:45 PM	#9 (permalink)
orcmauler <3 $$mas Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 517 -1 Internets	Having been there and done that: I dropped out my senior year with a 1.8 gpa, then returned 4 years later and graduated w/ a 3.0 (couldnt pull it up any higher b/c of my previous grades) after making the honor role and/or dean's list for 3 years let me impart some advice to you my son. First and foremost: Take it seriously. If you are in school to party, play, whatever, then do yourself and your parents and your student loan load a favor and drop out, get a job and party till you are sick of it. At least that way you learn some responsibility. Second: If you are staying in school, look into grade replacement. Usually most 1st semester freshman bomb much like you, so most universities have policies that most students can replace freshman level classes for a new grade or a split between the two. Yes it sucks to lose a year, but its a small price to pay. Finally it seems that you are willing and have the desire to fix your mess. It is possible, you just have to decide if you are willing to do the *work* or if it is too hard.

12-06-2005, 06:26 PM	#11 (permalink)
painbringer Registered User Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Denmark Posts: 263	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.

12-06-2005, 07:21 PM	#13 (permalink)
aznpinktuv Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 384 -1 Internets	u jsutr need to realy realise when to stop playing... cus if u dont grow the fuck up, your gonna have no future which means when ur 40 or so you cant go pick up eq4 or what ever is out at the time =)

12-06-2005, 07:55 PM	#15 (permalink)
Tea on tuesday Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Kentucky Posts: 1,696 +29 Internets	I was in a very similar situation. The classes weren't hard, but I never went despite having nothing better to do, and a large part of it is that I had no idea what I wanted to do. I'm in my 5th year now, and I still don't know but I do know this. Drag your ass to class do the bullshit work and get the grade. Yeah it sucks, but after a year and a half out of school of doing bullshit manual labor for $10 an hour you will regret not doing the easy bullshit work. Secondly get your core recquirement classes done and over with now. You can't get a feel for what you'd like to do if you're stuck in entry level classes. I've gone from major to major, and while I still don't have any idea where I'm going my classes are 300+ level right now, so regardless of discipline they are at least stimulating and challenging. If I could go back in time and force myself at gunpoint to never drop out in the first place I would have, but instead of 2 years at Ohio State and 5 majors. I said fuck it, dropped out and moved to Italy. It's a good to story for picking up chicks, but God was it the wrong decision. Getting back into school after being away for 1-2 years is probably one of the biggest pain in the ass experience you'll have to go through. Most my friends have graduated now, have respectable jobs, and it's frustrating for me. This semester I've been working 50+ hours a week in addition to a full load of schooling just to pay the bills. It's not fun and whatever the alternative for you now is, it's easier to deal with it then to step back.