Last Wednesday, I officially finished my first semester of college at ASU. The semester was a complete mess, to be entirely honest. I switched my major to Criminology and Criminal Justice. It was an uneasy decision, but I did it. I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere with my other major. I managed to get two A’s, one C+, but I failed BIO 181. I am trying to finish my math course (Right now I have a Z, which means a course in progress). I even studied for the BIO final with my roommate who is doing really well in the class and she said that the final didn’t really go off what was given for us to study off of in our study guide. I went to tutoring often, and it was okay, but I thought it would be a lot more accessible and helpful and its advertised to be. Half of the time, they didn’t even really get the material (If it was for science, particularly). I mean, even one tutor who had my BIO Professor several years ago said the Professor was mean for giving us the lab packets he gave us, because he never had to deal with work like that… :-S :-S
I honestly feel like I always get the short end of the stick. I always helped out and stayed the night with people who had mental breakdowns, I was always the one who had to call my family, and my roommate is genuinely a nice person but dear god she’s crazy (She;s from Russia…sometimes it’s all she talks about and I wish she would just go back there if that’s all she can fill her mind about) and I don’t know if I can deal with this next year. I mean, even the though of next semester makes me want to cry. I met a lot of people and solidified friendships, and I talked to Peer Mentors and people who worked within the colleges.Yet all semester, I had to pick myself up when I had consistent insomnia, nightmares,migraines, or when I once again failed a Unit Exam, and when I couldn’t get out of bed.
No matter how hard I am struggling, no matter how close I am, not one person will ever give me benefit of the doubt. I did go to counseling, and my counselor is amazing and she finally validated my feelings and helped me feel like what I’ve gone through outside of school is not crazy, but it’s still difficult.
I am still trying to find a job. I honestly think I have a better job becoming a stripper because no matter what job I apply for, not one person gives me a chance. I literally told someone once I can predict when I am getting a rejection email. I even went to Career Services for resume and cover letter advice.
Alright - you got two A’s which is great and a C+ which is passing - good enough! You have gotten one F. It’s definitely not time to throw in the towel! Retake the Bio181 class next semester to improve your GPA. Truly this is far from the worst semester you could have had! It seems like you were doing a lot of free counseling for your friends. It is good to be there for your friends, but at the end of the day, you need to prioritize your goals and your studying as #1.
It sounds like you have some anxiety (nightmares, insomnia, migraines) that you need to see a professional about! Once you get your anxiety under control, you will feel SO much better!! In order to manage stress and anxiety, it is important to schedule regular appointments with your counselor. Once you learn tools to manage your anxiety and start handling situations better, you can see the counselor less frequently. It sounds like you alright have a great relationship with her - keep seeing her and using the techniques she gives you to deal with the stress.
Also, if you do not need a job on campus while in classes, don’t get one until you are doing better in your classes. A job will just detract from study time.
This is just a little bump in the road. Next semester you will start fresh. You can do this!
Don’t give up. So you failed a class. It’s ok. Life isn’t over yet. Your first semester was basically just a speed bump. Tons of people switch their majors. It’s not a big deal. Putting aside the F you got in Biology, you did pretty well overall.
You clearly have a good head on your shoulders because, unlike a lot of other students who just hole themselves up in their room & feel sorry for themselves, you have actually reached out for assistance…and you’ve done it repeatedly and consistently throughout the semester. This demonstrates some wisdom on your part. …WHICH IS TOTALLY AWESOME! You are taking advantage of the student resources available to you on campus. THAT’S A GOOD THING! You found out what was available and sought it out. That’s what a smart adult does: (1) realizes there’s a problem; and (2) figures out how he/she can solve it; and (3) asks for help.
Re: your Russian roommate who won’t stop talking about Russia -
Don’t quit school because of a roommate. Ever. If this is your roommate’s first time away from home and if the roommate immigrated here from Russia in order to go to college, then your roommate is probably feeling more than a bit homesick since American life in many ways is so very different from life in Russia. You don’t have to be BFF’s with your roommate. You don’t have to live with the Russian student during the next school year. You just have to live with the Russian student for 1 more semester. It’s not the end of the world. Ok, so the constant talk about how great Russia is would probably get on anybody’s nerves after awhile. But look at the silver lining to the cloud - if the ONLY complaint you really have about your roommate is how often she talks about Mother Russia, then that’s not all that bad. Just peruse this forum a bit back in the September/October time frame and you will see tons of threads started by freshman students where their roommates were doing stuff like taking drugs in the room when it’s a sober living floor, stealing their stuff & denying it when confronted, threatening the student physically, leaving the room unattended and not locking the door (thus resulting in something getting stolen). It runs the gamut. You, on the other hand, lucked out with a girl who just happens to love her home country a lot. I’ll go out on a limb and assume that she doesn’t steal, doesn’t lie to you, doesn’t borrow your clothes without asking, doesn’t use your hair care or other personal hygiene products without asking, and generally speaking, is perhaps respectful of you and your space. You could have ended up with a far worse roommate.
Hang in there. You are a smart cookie and you’re going to be just fine.
Looks like you had a rough start as a pre-med, hit hard by the weeder classes (Bio, Gen Chem). Need to figure out why some people did great (your roommate) while you struggled.
Your real question is whether continuing on the path of financial struggles now you have changed to this major that is not financially rewarding. AFAIK read you have had to really nickel and dime it to get to ASU with dorms. You must want a specific job, as getting a generic job can’t be that much of a problem. (fast food, retail, food service, grounds work). Are you going to lose any scholarships? What are your options if you live at home.
@philbegas I hope I didn’t rub you the wrong way about being Russian! I think it’s pretty cool my roommate can speak Russian, you don’t see that too often. I could request a different room/roommate, but I don’t want to offend her. She really hasn’t done anything God-awful, like @tucsonmom was saying where my case could be worse. It’s just she can be reallyyyy overwhelming sometimes. But I am trying to be honest and realistic with myself right now, and I don’t think I can room with her next year either.
@Andorvw I guess I just wasn’t blessed with great skills.
@Sybylla
You bring up a great point. I was worried that my other major would not have been financially rewarding either. I mean, if I didn’t get into to medical school (Which I realistically wouldn’t have anyways), there wasn’t too much to do with the major.
My scholarships will be okay, that was most definitely my first concern. If I maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA for the entire year, then I get full renewal for my scholarship. So next semester will definitely be my time to catch up. As for jobs, I’ve been trying to stick with On-Campus jobs or jobs that are school related. I’ve literally applied for everything: Desk Assistants, Orientation Leaders for all campuses, Facility Managers for the Fitness Centers, Graders/T.As, and to be a Community Assistant.
I just really need money for my savings, and for my medication (Yay for me who had to have every medical problem possible!). I can’t be that awful of a potential employee! I work hard and I can do a job the way I am asked to. :((
-1) Next semester, PUT YOURSELF FIRST. Don’t stay the night with people who have mental breakdowns…that just hurts you. But you can get them help! Contact your RA or a trusted professor or the counseling center or anyone that works for the UNi…they can refer people for help.
GO TO CLASS, BUY THE BOOK, READ THE CHAPTERS, AND DO THE HOMEWORK!
Go to Professor’s office hours early in the semester and Ask this question: “I know this is a really difficult class-- what are some of the common mistakes students make and how can I avoid them?”
If you have problems with the homework, go to Prof’s office hours. If they have any “help sessions” or “study sessions” or “recitations” or any thing extra, go to them.
Form a study group with other kids in your dorm/class.
Don’t do the minimum…for STEM classes do extra problems. You can buy books that just have problems for calculus or physics or whatever. Watch videos on line about the topic you are studying.
Go to the writing center if you need help with papers/math center for math problems (if they have them)
If things still are not going well, get a tutor. If that tutor doesn’t help you the way you need…get another one.
Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.
If you feel you need to withdraw from a class, talk to your advisor as to which one might be the best …you may do better when you have less classes to focus on. But some classes may be pre-reqs and will mess your sequence of classes up.
For tests that you didn’t do well on, can you evaluate what went wrong? Did you never read that topic? Did you not do the homework for it? Do you kind of remember it but forgot what to do? Then next time change the way you study…there may be a study skill center at your college.
How much time outside of class do you spend studying/doing homework? It is generally expected that for each hour in class, you spend 2-3 outside doing homework. Treat this like a full time job.
At first, don’t spend too much time other things rather than school work. (sports, partying, rushing fraternities/sororities, video gaming etc etc)
If you run into any social/health/family troubles (you are sick, your parents are sick, someone died, broke up with boy/girlfriend, suddenly depressed/anxiety etcetc) then immediately go to the counseling center and talk to them. Talk to the dean of students about coordinating your classes…e.g. sometimes you can take a medical withdrawal. Or you could withdraw from a particular class to free up tim for the others. Sometimes you can take an incomplete if you are doing well and mostly finished the semester and suddenly get pneumonia/in a car accident (happened to me)…you can heal and take the final first thing the next semester. But talk to your adviser about that too.
At the beginning of the semester, read the syllabus for each class. It tells you what you will be doing and when tests/HW/papers are due. Put all of that in your calendar. The professor may remind you of things, but it is all there for you to see so take initiative and look at it.
Make sure you understand how to use your online class system…Login to it, read what there is for your classes, know how to upload assignments (if that is what the prof wants).
If you get an assignment…make sure to read the instructions and do all the tasks on the assignment. Look at the rubric and make sure you have covered everything.
If you are not sure what to do, go EARLY to the professors office hours…not the day before the assignment is due.
You might think that this is all completely obvious, but I have read many stories on this and other websites where people did not do the above and then are asking for help on academic appeal letters.
You have already received good advice here. I would like to suggest that you check out the professors that you have already registered for next semester on “Rate my Professor.” Though you do need to take the reviews with a grain of salt, this site can help you avoid taking a professor who is a tough grader, etc… Look up your biology prof and see what the ratings were for him/her. It would be interesting to see if the ratings would have swayed you from taking that particular professor. You can do this! Once you get past this rough patch things will improve. From now on be careful with your course selection. Since you are a Barrett student you get early registration. Take advantage of that and snap up the best professors right away each semester as registration opens.
As for your scholarship, for the New American University Scholarships you do need to maintain a 3.0, but you also have to end the year (2 semesters) with 30 credit hours. You will not get credit for the BIO class if you earned an F. I assume it was a lab class worth four credit hours? If you retake that class, from what I understand those four credit hours will not count towards your 30 (for scholarships and financial aid) since you already took the class. But please check on that to verify it – I am not 100% positive on this. I am only trying to make sure that you are fully informed and can use the information to make a game plan for next semester.
If you end your freshman year with less than a 3.0 or less than 30 credit hours (you can only be deficient in one of these) you may be able to renew your scholarship at 80%. You can find the information about this on the scholarship site. You also can use summer school (directly after your freshman year) to correct any deficiencies in the 3.0 or 30 credit hours. But you must take the class at ASU and summer school is expensive so your best bet is to fix this during the spring semester. You might want to consider taking a few “easy” filler classes next semester to get you back on track. You can also take a couple classes in the online format, which would give you the freedom to work at your own pace and around any headaches and illnesses. But don’t take any online classes if you don’t have good self-discipline to do the work without attending a physical class The online professors do have office hours so you can go see them and you can also get tutoring for online classes as well. Also, do your best to ensure the best grade you can in the math class you are finishing. Watch Khan academy and go to tutoring!
The main takeaway here is that it is important that you talk to your advisor and somebody in financial aid to make sure that you are heading in the right direction to keep your scholarship(s) because I know that you are depending on keeping that money.
As for Criminology and Criminal Justice, ASU has a great program. There are many potential careers that you could pursue. A few are: law enforcement, corrections, parole officer, crime scene investigator (have to take some science classes for this!), detective, border patrol, park ranger, victim’s advocate, law, working at the courts, etc… so see where your interest lies and take advantage of their many internship opportunities. Please do not give up!!!
Have you gone to the campus career center yet? Usually career centers on various college campuses offer resume assistance, they can do practice job interviews with you, stuff like that. Sometimes getting a little practice or advice ahead of time will help you turn the next job interview into a job offer.
@Lovenetc
Since your scholarship is on the line, do NOT take Bio again in the spring. You need to only take classes that you’ll surely get high grades in. If necessary, take Bio next fall…or better yet, take it in the summer at a local CC and transfer the grade in later.
Bopper gives good advice - especially #4 on the list. A lot of students don’t understand this, but if you are struggling, do extra problems. The practice never hurts. If your professor only assigns odd problems, do all the even ones. If your professor assigns 10 problems out of 20, do the other 10. Many math books have solutions in the back for at least some questions - do the ones with solutions and check your work. If you have the rare book that doesn’t have solutions, get another textbook (maybe an old, highly-rated edition - ask your professor, they’ll know) and do those problems.
Practice practice practice practice practice. That’s the best way to learn, especially in STEM classes, but really in anything. Best way to learn to write is to write, a lot.
You’re at ASU, yes? I know that you are visiting the tutoring center, but one alternative is to find a graduate student in the department who can tutor you. You may have to offer to pay them a little bit, but they’re going to be more knowledgeable than your peers in the tutoring center (and hopefully better teachers). If you have a TA in your bio class, ask the TA if they know any fellow grad students who are willing to tutor. We used to get emails like this in the department all the time.
Also, if you have chronic migraines, see a doctor about them. If you get more than a certain amount of migraines a month (6-10) then you may need to go on medication for it. I suffer chronic migraines - unmedicated, I get about 10-12 a month (about 3 or 4 every week). My doctor prescribed me some meds and I now only get 1-4 a month.
Also…I do not recommend going by Rate My Professors. The website only represents a fraction of the students who take a professor, and students who did not do well in the class are disproportionately likely to rate their professors. Many students will claim that a professor is a “tough grader” while neglecting to mention that they didn’t turn in most of their work - and you have no independent way to verify whether the professor really IS tough or whether they were just bad students. Also, some of the reviews are old - I went and looked for one of my old professors and the most recent review of her was in 2011 (and also at the wrong university). The professor may have significantly changed his or her teaching style since then.
Ask some good students whose opinions you trust about your professor.
If you have medical problems, you need to work with the ADA people at your university.
Honestly, it sounds like you might really need to take a break from school to get your health under control. This isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s just necessary. Health must ALWAYS trump everything else since without your health, you’re pretty much useless.
I am speaking from the perspective of someone who really does seem to have every medical problem possible lol. I developed lupus (and a bunch of other overlapping disorders) my first semester of grad school. Lupus is a disease that attacks literally everything (organs, joints, etc) and I’m on nearly 20 pills a day plus infusion treatments because of it. The only reason I haven’t taken a medical leave is because my advisor, professors, and department have been absolutely phenomenal. However the only reason that they have been able to help is because I’ve been open and honest about what’s going on with me.
Do NOT retake the classes you failed until you have a grip on your medical conditions. College isn’t a race and the more classes you do poorly in, the farther away the finish line goes.
Get your health in order. THEN take the advice on this thread about looking into profs, reaching out for help, etc.
