<p>There has been a lot of fatalistic and questioning speech about what happens to Mudders who fail classes or transfer. I don’t know what’s happened to everyone, but I feel like it might be relevant to share the stories of a few people I know who have been in various degrees of academic trouble while at Mudd. I apologize for the length, but hey, stories are never short.</p>
<p>-A guy who failed the first semester of his sophomore last year (or ITRed in Mudd lingo - Ineligible to Reregister). He somehow managed to start taking classes at his state university during his second semester, in spite of his 1.7ish GPA. Pulled off a 3.8ish GPA during that semester and the following fall semester at the state U. He loves Mudd, so he appealed his ITR and is back this semester, doing much better (though now a year behind).</p>
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<li><p>I know a handful of people who have taken leaves of absence (voluntary due to stress, or involuntary due to bad grades in the previous semester), and I know a few who been approved to take a lighter coarse load (12 units instead of 15, graduating in 5 years). Mudd really likes to encourage the 4 year schedule, but they do make exceptions. Also, one of these people learned within the last year that he has serious test anxiety. It was never a big enough problem for him in high school to really think about it, but after consistently bombing tests at Mudd, he lost his pride and decided to get tested. Now he gets extra time on all of his tests, making them much less stressful. BCM, you’ve mentioned that your son is doing poorly on the tests. Its possible that he could have some sort of learning disability that has never surfaced because he’s been brilliant enough to make up for it in the past. There is no shame in asking for extra time if you have a reason, I feel like a good 10% of one of my classes was moved to the extra time room for a recent test.</p></li>
<li><p>I’d guess at least 75% of Mudders get one of those lovely “Academic Advisory” emails (telling you that you are in danger of failing the class, generally sent right after big tests) at some point in their time here. I’ve already collected 5 in my 4 semesters here (2 during the semester than BCson is currently slogging through), and I’m still on track to keep up that 2.75 GPA needed to keep my merit scholarship. All 3 of my roommates have received at least one, and all of them are on the Dean’s List. This goes to say that there is a big difference between bad grades in a class or two and actually failing out of the college, or even not understanding the material. Frosh often don’t tell each other that they aren’t doing well in their classes, since they feel awful about it (who of us has received a C before?), and worry that their classmates will look down on them. Especially since it sounds like the Dean is turning BCson away since he’s not at the very bottom, I suspect he’s not doing as badly as he thinks he is.</p></li>
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<p>-People fail classes, and stay on Mudd. I have a friend who has failed a class (actually, she dropped the classes on drop day to avoid the F) during 3/6 of her semesters here. I know others who have failed many more (including several who have failed the same class multiple times). All of these people are very smart, and I’ve often been surprised when they mention their failures. Everyone has their limit, and its nothing to be ashamed of, especially when it comes to the Common Core (as the Mudd transcript actually explains to those it is sent to, most people’s GPAs rise once they’re done with the Core).</p>
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<li><p>Mudd has a transfer program of some sort. I nearly failed my physics class last semester, and since I was only taking 14.5 credits at the time, that failure would have brought me below the 12 required to be a full time student. When I talked to the dean of academic affairs about this, she scared me half to death by telling me that I would have been forced either off campus for a semester, or into the transfer program if I planned to transfer. Apparently, if a student wants to transfer, Mudd allows them to take a slightly easier course load for a semester in order to beef up their GPA for the transfer application. Or something like that. </p></li>
<li><p>Everyone I know who transferred out of the class of 2012 is doing fairly well. Admittedly, a lot of these people weren’t in academic trouble, but they just weren’t enjoying life here at all. The one’s I know of are at Columbia, Tufts, OSU, Cooper Union, and Brown. Some of them had to start over as freshmen, I’m assuming due to low scores causing the credits not to be transferred. But hey, these are top tier schools. Getting into a state university won’t be as bad. You should remember that the first semester transcript of a freshman is only going to show passes (provided they passed all their classes), and I’ll bet the deans and professors will willingly write to the admissions office of another college, explaining the intense situation at Mudd. If your son does consider transferring, it might be a good idea to save those tests he dislikes so much. If he somehow is having trouble getting in due to low GPA, he can show the admissions office the caliber of the work that he’s been doing, and remind them that he was taking 5 classes + 2 labs.</p></li>
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<p>-Perhaps most importantly, the best advice I’ve received from an alum is that happiness is the key to success at Mudd. BCM, you say that your son does nothing but study. I can’t imagine that this is good for his health. I find that I work much, much, better when I take a break to go to a concert, exercise, play video games with friends,etc in the middle of my homework. Most Mudders grew up obsessing over grades, and not having much of a social life. It’s easy to fall into the trap of constant worry over grades, but its also the quickest trail to depression. To survive Mudd, most people need to find something other than grades that makes them happy, and regularly take time to do it, even if it feels like slacking. (Additional relevant story for those who aren’t bored yet: I got 3 hours of sleep last night. I also went to an AWESOME a capella concert on Pomona. I enjoyed my 6.5 post-concert hours of working alone in wee hours of the morning, because the concert totally jazzed me up. For comparison, if I don’t do something awesome before an (almost) allnighter I get depressed and sometimes give up before I finish)</p>
<p>Anyway, enough preaching and rambling. I shouldn’t write posts when I’m tired. Hopefully this was somewhat enlightening though.</p>