1.5 GPA Freshman Year Help!

da6onet
Sat, 17 May 2014 14:55:24 +0000

Speaking from personal experience, going from 1.55 to 4.0 is like an obese couch potato saying they’re going to run a marathon within 3 months. You didn’t get D’s all of a sudden, there has to be a structural problem that will take time to repair. Not everyone who gets accepted to an engineering program has the maturity and discipline to hit the ground running. The new found freedom of a college environment can lure even top students into bad habits.

Now if I’m completely off base and you really did spend 40+ hours per week between going to class, studying, and homework for 30-32 weeks (two 15-16 week semesters) consistently, then you need to reevaluate your choice of major.

However if I’m right and you spend a good portion of your time on non-academic activities (gaming, clubs, fraternities, etc), the “trick” that turned me from a 1.75 (end of freshmen year) to 4.0 student was dropping out of school, getting a job and supporting myself. I did that for about 3 years. The ability to show up to work on time every day and be fiscally disciplined and organized enough to pay bills is lot like what it takes to succeed in school (show up to all classes on time, plan ahead and stay on top of homework).

You may think that taking a break from school is an even bigger sign of failure, but trust me, you do not want to rack up any more bad grades. Transcripts can act like prison records just as easily as they are bona fides. I stuck it out after freshmen year saying I was committed to getting 4.0s and ended up with a 1.67 cumulative and 83 useless credits. It’s an absolutely tremendous hole. Only IF I can keep up a 4.0 through next Fall (118 new credits) can I finally get over a 3.0 cumulative.

tl;dr prove your organizational abilities first before returning to classes.