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College Adaptation gone awful

M

Mokmo418

Senior member
In the last few years, i wanted to go to college and get my BSc in engineering. I had a tech degree that took me a few year more to do due mostly to sickness. Since then, i never held a job that specifically needed that degree. So i decided to give it a go and sign up for a BSc in automated production systems (fancy name, mostly does systems integration in production systems).

The semester that ended this friday was so awful, of my 4 classes, i will only show up for one exam next week and even then i'm probably not going to pass the class without scoring over 100%. YES IT WENT THAT BAD. Before you start telling me to get off the net, WoW, booze or girls, know that none of them were using time that much. I'm 25, the very definition of the nice guy.

So what went wrong ?

-Work Methods
-Planning in general
-Everything else except health and money problems

So, since there are so many college students and graduates on this forum, i have this question: How the hell do i get through this? Any tricks ?


I'm giving a lot of thought about ending all this college adventure by next summer if the winter semester doesn't work out. This winter i'll retake 2 of the 4 classes i'm failing and do 2 other classes.
 
The last year and a half of my undergrad studies I skipped about 75% of my classes. I would show up at the midterms and finals. Needless to say my grades suffered as a result.

Looking back at it I really wish I had gone to class. After all, I was paying for them (still am).

Just realize that you are spending money on this stuff. Get the most out of your money.
 
Originally posted by: binister
The last year and a half of my undergrad studies I skipped about 75% of my classes. I would show up at the midterms and finals. Needless to say my grades suffered as a result.

Looking back at it I really wish I had gone to class. After all, I was paying for them (still am).

Just realize that you are spending money on this stuff. Get the most out of your money.
Click to expand...

Looking back at this semester I'm thinking the exact same thing. I haven't gone to class since late September/early October, and my grades are suffering. Not to the point of failing, but definitely not where I want them.

I only went to 3 Chem lectures, 2 Physics lectures, I had 4 profs for Biology and I only know what 2 of them look like.
 
Do you have a job in addition to school?

What are the classes?

Why are you not showing up for finals?

You probably won't have to make the decision to end the adventure if winter semester goes the same as this one, the university will make it for you.

 
Get help!!!!

Find some people to work with, preferably people taking the majority of your classes. I can't study at home; find an environment that is not distracting like your school library or maybe your department has study rooms like my engineering department does. Don't be afraid to go to your professors often, that's what they are there for. And don't pretend you know something out of shame, just say you don't know and ask for help immediately. Don't ever assume that you'll go over something you don't know at a later time, you won't my friend. Alot more than one day for test studying, this really helped me relieve the stress this semester I strongly recommend doing this. AND WTFBBQ GET OFF WOW COMPLETELY OMFG!
 
man i got out of college a long time ago and those kind of nightmares haunt me still. i actually have 2 recurring dreams. one is an english class i go to once every other week that i feel really bad to go in to because i feel guilty. the other is about a math class i never went to once and am frkn out about the coming final. funny thing is, that this never happened to me while i was in college.

 
1. Go to class. Every class. Think of it like you're in the military and you have no option but to show up.
2. Sit in the front, anywhere in the first three rows. Don't play with your phone, don't open your laptop, all you need is a pencil and some paper.
3. Do every homework. Do it yourself, without any help.

If you can do all three, you will make a C even if you do NOTHING ELSE.

After that, it up to you how you take it from C to A.
 
A couple of things, some already covered:

1. Take the minimum classes to be full-time, whatever that is for you. Do this for 1 semester, and then take a normal course load.

2. Find people to work with. Smart, patient people that you can get along with. There are several classes that I probably would have failed if not for working with other people. It wasn't that they were smarter, better organized, or stronger on the material than I was (although this was often the case), but that working with people helps you think about things and forces you to commit to a time to work on them. It also makes working less dull and more fun. Obviously you need to find people that are reasonably good at managing their own time. This is probably more important than anything else.

3. Find an organizational system that works for you, and stick to it. Some people use complicated technical solutions, web calendars, PDAs, whatever. I used a sheet of paper with designated areas for things related to different aspects of my life. I wrote down what needed to be done in a short way with a due date. I've since migrated to giving each thing I need to do a 3x5 note card, but that's because my needs changed. The specifics don't matter; find a system that works for you, and more importantly one that you will actually use.

4. Having a designated "homework time" each day works for some people. When you don't have homework, use it to study. Having a designated study time is not a bad idea either.

5. Minimize distractions. This is really the point of "homework time". Most people work better when they shut off their music, IM program, etc. If you're going to work/study with music, take your tests with music (on headphones).

6. Go to class. Every class. Sit in the "T" (front row or center column of the room, either way you will be in the prof's visual focus) whenever possible. Leave distractions like a laptop behind unless absolutely needed.

And as for your finals, take them. They may be no fun, and may not do your grades any real favors, but when you are already having these kinds of problems the absolute worst thing you can do is quit. Do the best you can, even if that means leaving a lot of the test blank. Once you know that you are likely to fail a class, your goal needs to be on learning as much as you can so that retaking it will be easier.
 
i have health problems and i manage to stay in school without going on LOA or dropping out.

am in my 5th year now.
 
I dunno.

Ive never had that problem and Im your same age. Maybe its my major(Poli Sci), but you should be doing what you are good at. I know I suck at math, so obviously Im not going to be a CompSci major. Luckily i learned that after my first semester.

Not everyone is cut out to be an engineer. That doesn't mean a person is dumb either.
 
Sludge had many questions...

Originally posted by: SludgeFactory
Do you have a job in addition to school?

What are the classes?

Why are you not showing up for finals?

You probably won't have to make the decision to end the adventure if winter semester goes the same as this one, the university will make it for you.
Click to expand...

-No job, mandatory paid internships (either this summer or fall but i fear the long years it took and the lack of experience for my age is not helping ) The college i study specializes in students like me, that have some technical degree (quebec education system) so they want us to get hands-on experience

-This semester, math, physics, C programming intro (lots to see in little time huge homework load), Manufacturing systems intro (industrial eng. crash course)
Next semester: redoing maths and physics, an automation class and electric circuits 101

-To achieve the lowest score over fail, (here, fail is E) i'd need an impossible score for all of them. Math i stopped going at mid semester after getting under 30% in the mid-semester exam,
physics i was always 2 weeks late on the study matter,
Programming i was late in every homework the code just wouldn't work,
manufact. syst. is pretty much the class that took the hit as i was trying to catch up with the other classes. I'll be showing up at the latter just to says i did a college final exam this semester. Or to set off a miracle.


And yes you're right, 2 semesters with a nearly null gpa is one semester out, another one makes it a year, then it's goodbye
 
Are you sure that 30% on the mid-semester exam was bad? In my differential equations class last semester, I got a 22 on the midterm which was in a high B range in relation to the rest of the class's grades. I ended up with a B in the course. Also, messing up the first exam doesn't doom you for failure. If you show that you learned the material by the final, most professors will make sure you pass even if the numbers don't work out right.

Are you working as hard as you possibly could be? One semester, I spent 40-50 hours a week on homework/studying in addition to going to classes.

If you are having troubles with your homework (like your program):
1) Start as early as possible (so you have time to get as much help as you need)
2) Get help. Go to office hours. Go to both the professor and the TA. You might find one teaches in a manner more suited to you. (If it weren't for my TA in my circuit theory class, I wouldn't have learned anything)
3) Even if you don't finish in time, keep working on it until you finish. You might have screwed up the homework grade, but the information you learn from doing the work is still crucial to the course.

Engineering is a really hard major. I'm majoring in both electrical engineering and computer science. I put in 10 times more effort for my engineering classes than I do for my computer science classes. I see the engineering students in general putting out much more effort and struggling much harder.

Don't take a bunch of hard classes at once if you are having a hard time. Take 2 engineering/math/science classes and a few really easy electives. Heck, you're better off getting a degree in 5 years than trying to do it in 4 and dropping out.
 
If you really put effort into it you'll at least pass.

If you are failing it's because you don't care. You need to figure out what you want to do before you waste more money chasing a degree you don't want.
 
I'd tend to agree, this is going to come off sounding really bad but to me it just sounds like you aren't even trying. So the code isn't working out, go talk to your professor or TA and figure out what's wrong. You're paying these people's salary, take advantage of their knowledge. I also think it would be a good idea to find some study buddies. They aren't necessary for everybody, some people don't need the extra motivation, but it sounds like you may. Not to mention it's always nice to have a few different heads around when working on a problem, as other students can probably better explain concepts in an understandable manner than the teachers.
 
As someone who has gone from a 1.7 to a 3.5 GPA, I wholeheartedly agree that you must attend EVERY class. This is step number one and really the easiest step because it just takes you getting your ass in a chair for a few hours a day. Then of course you have to study if it all isn't sticking right away, and if you're having a hard time doing that then find a better environment. For me, I have a hard time working at home because I'm used to relaxing and being lazy. Instead I go to the library, and I actually enjoy myself while studying for hours on end.
 
Honestly, if you put an effort in college you will pass. I managed to finish my engineering degree without failing one class. I did get a D in one but who cares about calc 3 anyway 🙂
 
Thanks guys for inspirational stories and tips.
Would read again A+++++++++++++++++++++++++


<-- Freshman in Community College, attends every class and shoots for a 100.

EDIT: As for attendance, I went to the best public HS in Houston/one of best schools in TX, and their standards for attendance and tardies were extremely harsh. 10 tardies flunks you out of school, 9 tardies gives a 3 day in-school suspension, and 4 tardies gives a 2-4 hour detention after school.
I do not even dare to think how many times you can be absent before being flunked out.

So not attending EVERY class in college, ON TIME, is an alien idea to me. I show up before everybody else, and in some classes I am the only person with perfect attendance.
 
First and foremost, you gotta put in the time. If you're willing to do that then I have some tips..

-If the class seems hard, go balls out until until it seems easy.
-Don't be intimidated by new and wierd symbols, they become second nature after 2 weeks of balls out studying/usage. The key is usage.
-Always do the homework. Easiest way to study (especially if you despise reading the text).
-Attend all your classes. If the lecture sucks, read something.
-Make sure you understand what the main topics are. Each main topic usually have subtopics. Like in Diff Eq for example (which is what I'm taking now 🙂), the big four are first order, second order, laplace transforms, and system of equations. It's important to understand the uses before tackling problems. If you can't figure it out, plan on asking a TA or the professor because understanding the purpose makes everything 100x easier (your mind wilingly accepts the math afterwards).
-Don't expect to go out much on weekdays.
-Set aside one day in each week where you do absolutely no work. Usually friday or saturday.
-Sleep early.
 
There's a lot of good advice here.

One thing that I did that really helped was to read over the material before the class.

If I didn't get what was being explained in class, I would zone out and learn nothing. I found that if I read the book prior to class everything made more sense and I was actually able to pay attention because I was somewhat familiar with the subjects. And go to every class, reading the book does not replace class.

Get rid of your distractions (parties, high-maintenance girls, computer games, porn, whatever). Use what is available to you (Library, Professors, TA's and other students).
 
Ok, so here's what changes next semester:

-1.5 hours/day less spent on transportation, i finally got a room at the dorm. (yes short bus ride but it's not on all day and you always have to get back early)
-I'll be able to make the library my full time study room because of this

That will not make me magically go through semesters, but it's a start in the right direction.

 
Originally posted by: George P Burdell
1. Go to class. Every class. Think of it like you're in the military and you have no option but to show up.
2. Sit in the front, anywhere in the first three rows. Don't play with your phone, don't open your laptop, all you need is a pencil and some paper.
3. Do every homework. Do it yourself, without any help.

If you can do all three, you will make a C even if you do NOTHING ELSE.

After that, it up to you how you take it from C to A.
Click to expand...

This man speaks the truth.

The "military" mindset is very helpful. It also helps if you adopt a "military" schedule of waking up early and exercising to get the blood running freely.

It is incredibly hard to fail a course in college. You pretty much have to not do any of the work. If you follow GPB's advice, it is pretty much a guaranteed C.
 
First year is the best "filter" colleges. I went from highschool with an A- average, then almost flunked out (1.4% away) the second semester due to lack of motivation, lack of discipline and a WoW addiction.

There's really nothing to it. The real problem with college is that no on'es forcing you to do anything or go to classes. In HS, they took attendance, made you do assignments or you got 'humiliated' infront of people you knew. In first year, no knows anyone, professors could care less so you don't are. I went from 99% attendance in highschool to 10% by the second semester cause I though I could live off textbooks. Well, three years later now and still here cause I started keeping up, went to every class and grew the f*** up.
 
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