i need some advice

[insertnamehere]

or reassurance. or a hug. or something.

so ive mentioned my grades up here before and how terrible they are. it looks like i could be facing suspension... they make you take a semester off and you have to reapply and undergo some kind of psychological evaluation to identify why you arent a succesfull student and go to counselling and all kinds of things, anyway, so i could possibly avoid that if i go to summer school and make super amazing grades.

problem 2: because im not making, i forget what they call it, satisfactory progress towards degree completion or something like that, i lose my eligibility for financial aid of any kind. this includes federal loans.

problem 3: i took a ton of AP classes and some classes at community college, a lot of which have turned out to be pretty usless towards fulfilling any kind of requirements. couple that with me failing all my major courses last semester, and it leaves me still needing to take some freshman classes. now, all those credits that i got, well, at the end of this semester, i'll be considered a junior. juniors are required to matriculate into a particular college. i cant exactly do that with a failing gpa and not having met all my required classes.

i want more than anything to stay at school here and i have no idea how to do it. im registering for summer classes to try to pull my grade up, hell if i really did good enough i could maybe file and appeal to have my aid reinstated. i called my mom a few weeks ago and talked to her about summer school and she said she'd help out. ive tried to call her since then... a lot... and she wont answer my calls. i have to go to summer school and i dont know how to pay for it.

ugh.... i found all this out in yesterday and today. i dont want to give up on being at a university but it seems nearly impossible. i dunno what to do.

[enree erzweglle]

Sometimes those programs send letters that say that the suspension is for a year if you haven't gotten your grades up within one semester, but often, the period (for elevating your GPA) is actually a full academic year (not just one semester) including the summer term. Maybe check that out with your advisor to see if that's the case. I work at a university and know that a lot of the schools in this region have similar practices/policies but that sometimes, they're ambiguous or the letters are ambiguously worded. Best of luck to you!

[jabumbo]

i really don't know what to say but good luck


my grades have never been good, but never quite to the point where i was in trouble. im sort of in that spot between in trouble and able to do anything with it.


i really want to study abroad, but most places wont even look at my application since my grades are too low. the sad thing is that about 90% of the kids that have the grades couldnt care less about doing anything like that

[insertnamehere]

Sometimes those programs send letters that say that the suspension is for a year if you haven't gotten your grades up within one semester, but often, the period (for elevating your GPA) is actually a full academic year (not just one semester) including the summer term. Maybe check that out with your advisor to see if that's the case. I work at a university and know that a lot of the schools in this region have similar practices/policies but that sometimes, they're ambiguous or the letters are ambiguously worded. Best of luck to you!

yeah, im thinking i can save it with the summer semester. it's just a matter of paying for it, i might have to get some icky high intrests not federally subsidized student loans to pull me through the summer. but if it's what i gotta do to stay in school....

mostly i guess im worried a bout the matriculation part. do you know anything about that? i tried calling my advisor... and some other people, i think no one here actually answers telephones, so i sent out a few emails and hopefully i'll hear something back. our campus depends pretty much entirely on internet. i actually had a teacher tell us not to try to call her cause she doesnt check her voicemail or answer her office phone, and to email her.

i just hope i can get everything to work out ok :(

[burbboi]

Seek tutledge from the student body and buckle down for a big time shakedown as far as your routine goes if getting good grades is what you want.


Something ain't working, so you have to be proactive and not resist change. It sounds like you're on 'academic probation'. I was there in the third semester of college a few years back. Definately an unnerving experience but it's really not the end of the world. Just put forth the effort to correct your grades and work towards a consistent improvement. Talk to counsellors and set some goals for the future. Find out if there is a chance that if goals are set and met whether you might be eligible to continue financing.

[kleptomaniac]

or reassurance. or a hug. or something.

here's a hug! :)

\o/

[sab0tage]

So This Is What I've Got To Say To You All
Be True To Yourself And You Will Never Fall

:)

[kll]

It's interesting how you sometimes don't realize how much you want something until it gets taken away from you...

I was in a similar situation. Partying took over, my grades suffered and I was suspended from university. My parents revoked all financial aid, so I was forced to take a semester off to work to pay for the following semester's courses. I had to take courses at the local community college to get my grades back up to get back into university. I was so excited to finally get back!

I learned a major lesson, worked my ass off for what I got and it paid off in the end, but I obviously didn't give a shit while I had it. Only after I had to work to get it back.

[sab0tage]

It's interesting how you sometimes don't realize how much you want something until it gets taken away from you...

I was in a similar situation. Partying took over, my grades suffered and I was suspended from university. My parents revoked all financial aid, so I was forced to take a semester off to work to pay for the following semester's courses. I had to take courses at the local community college to get my grades back up to get back into university. I was so excited to finally get back!

I learned a major lesson, worked my ass off for what I got and it paid off in the end, but I obviously didn't give a shit while I had it. Only after I had to work to get it back.

Yup, I failed 3rd year at uni big time, money got stopped, had to get a job in a pizza place.
Have an ok job now but nothing like i wanted:(

[insertnamehere]

haha thanks for being encouraging. it feel kinda good to know someone's got your back. even my best friend is "disappointed" in me and "doesnt want to hear about" all the stuff i have to do to try to stay in becasue i "dug my own hole" and "should be ashamed" of myself. ouch.


something happened to just cheer me up a lot, and then i read all your nice stuff and it helped a lot. we submit all our math homework online, its gay, anyway i let this girl on my hall look at my answer keys sometimes cause all my homeworks are due before hers, but they're pretty much the same thing. anyway, ive been super busy today and about to have a heart attack and realized i hadnt started on my math thats due in a couple hours yet and logged in, and she did it for me today after i logged her in mine to see my answers. :o

i'll admit copying homework isnt the key to success but i really needed that, heh.

ive been trying to figure out what my problem is so i can work on it. i think some of it has to do with the old "it wont happen to me" feeling that gets everyone hooked on drugs, pregnant, and full of aids. i got on academic probation last semester, and was in disbelief that i could actually fail out of college, so i didnt take drastic enough steps to fix everything. i improved a little, but not enough worth mentioning. i have a bad habit of missing classes, i think thats most of what it is. if i can manage to stay in i think now i'll apreciate the ability to take classes a little more....

[enree erzweglle]

yeah, im thinking i can save it with the summer semester. it's just a matter of paying for it, i might have to get some icky high intrests not federally subsidized student loans to pull me through the summer. but if it's what i gotta do to stay in school....You are motivated and energized! That's half or more than half the battle right there. (y) (y)

There is crazy scholarship/grant money out there waiting to be claimed. You write an essay on how to, say, build an IKEA desk or something and IKEA gives you $500. Something like that. Google around for them. I remember that my kid was a little overwhelmed with the sheer volume of stuff that was available. (One site, I don't remember the name of it, had a long, detailed questionnaire. You'd answer those questions and then it would point to relevant existing grant/scholarship opportunities and then it would email you to remind you of deadlines and new listings. Amazing.)

Good luck. I have faith in you too! :o

[insertnamehere]

yeah i look around for scholarships but most stuff i find, even need based, you have to put your gpa.... mine is currently a 0.76.... *cough* so uh, yeah.

i got pell grants and other things like that, thats mostly how i've paid, but i could lose that. i figured it out though, if i take 9 hours over the summer and making good grades (preferably in the A range, possibly B) i will bring my gpa up enough that i can go through the appeals process to have my aid reinstated by the fall semester. summer is gonna suck, very long classes... you have to fit a semester's worth of stuff into 5 weeks, but eh, i gotta. im taking stuff that will hopefully be easy A's. the grade distributions for the econ i have to take and the history im signed up for look good, i dunno about lit but if i work at it i should be able to pull a B in lit.

this next month is gonna be hard. i have to get through finals, break the news to my family that im a failure, do god knows what to get money for school, and then i get to start summer classes. i cant wait for that to happen. it seems like that can be the point where everything starts to get better again.

i actually have to start payin up pretty soon, so i'll have to see how all that works out. *fingers crossed*

haha, also, i have a cavity, but that has to wait. i need summer school. i never liked that tooth much anyway.... ouch.

[drizl]

whats the point of going to school if you are going to get a gpa of .76

[Documad]

I hope that you figure it out. It can be done, but you already know that it's going to be very difficult.

I'm wondering what it is that you want from college? And what are you willing to do? I'm guessing that if you find a sympathetic counsellor, it would help if you could answer those questions. One problem with counsellors is that I'm guessing they're better at dealing with an obvious problem. You don't seem to have an obvious problem and you must look like someone who just isn't trying hard enough. That's not something that gets you extra help or sympathy. A bunch of people said before that you have to do something very different from what you have been doing or you're going to keep having the same result. You seem to know that and I'm encouraged that you're taking responsibility for not trying hard enough this past semester. But what are you going to do different in summer school? Concrete things, not just trying harder.

At the school I went so, summer school is incredibly difficult because they pack so much into a short period of time. The homework was staggering. I took two classes one summer and never did it again. In accounting classes, I had to do five times the number of problems/case studies every day. So I'd ask you to think about whether summer school is really the answer. Is there a reason why you can't work on improving your study habits and doing some prep work on your own for whatever courses you're hoping to take in the fall so that you go into fall geared up to kick ass?

I'll repeat that I failed all of my classes one semester, was on academic probation, and then started in a new program with a new attitude and made the dean's list the next fall. But I went back that fall as a completely different person with an intense focus. I showed up for every single class, sat in the front row, and studied in a group with the gunners. I stayed on campus in study halls all day instead of going home and sleeping or watching TV. No more listening to my walkman in the back row of the classroom and partying every night. Another big thing was that instead of just floating into class I started participating and got assertive about asking the professor questions when things didn't make sense or I disagreed with his marks. That was in part due to the mentoring of a particular gunner girl.

[Documad]

Bless enree. I know that I should be more like her.

I was typing for so long that I missed the course descriptions for summer school. I'm so glad that you've already thought about how much work it is. For god's sake don't take a language or math-type class.

You really should hang out with the bookworms and get rid of anything that tempts you to waste time like videogames and this message board. Pretend you're training for a race or something. Sorry I'm no help. I'm frustrated because I was a lot like you at one time and I feel for you.

[jackrock]

*hugs*

[b i o n i c]

this is exactly what you do.

you write your academic problems / solutions down.
you take a shower and dress up nice, not job interview nice, but nice & neat.
you walk over to your dean / counselor's office, preferably a dean.
tell them your perspective and outlook and ask for help.

everything will be ok.

[Justin]

Im happy to state that I was an average student in college. I graduated with a 2.4 gpa(y)

That was after changing majors 3 times and failing one full semester.

I was on the 6 year plan:cool:

[enree erzweglle]

Bless enree. I know that I should be more like her. I have a list of faults a mile long--one of which is that I obsess about the length of that list--but you are so, so kind. :o

[insertnamehere]

I hope this does not sound bad, but maybe you should take some time off. I am not trying to be a bitch, but there must be some reason your grades are so low. Maybe you need some time off to rest, recharge and earn some extra money via a job and other assistance before heading back to the grinding stone.


i dunno. im worried that if i leave i might not make it back. and i wont do anything productive if i leave. i'll go back home where i hate to be, get a crappy job like go back to the movie theater or something, and spend my days either there or sitting on my ass.

you say i might need to rest, but thats the problem, ive been resting too much. i havnt actually been doing any work. i need some motivation, i think for right now not ruining my chance at a college education is my motivation.

[Sarky Devotchka]

what you need is a million dollars. I can't really offer much advice, because if there's one thing I'm good at, it's sliding by in school with minimal effort and decent grades. You should talk to a school counselor, schools want to have success stories, not drop outs on their records.

YOU CAN DO IT.

[cosmo105]

yeah, don't take time off. just clear out any other shit in your life that may be holding you back and think of school as your full-time job. good luck to you, rach. you can and will do it.

[insertnamehere]

its not that im too busy doing other things or anything, i really pretty much dont do anything. i mean, its not like i do stuff for fun, haha.

i dunno, i dont know what my problem is that i cant get motivated.