Help me save the pieces of my broken dreams

Transfer Students
1

<p>Some health trouble, depression, and an underlying disorder (like Schizoid or Asperger) have led me to have a pretty awful first year, culminating in an expulsion. What in this is salvageable? I honestly feel that my life at this point is irreparably broken, but I would appreciate it greatly if someone could prove me wrong.</p>

<p>I started at my local state U this past year as a biology major hoping to go onto a PHD. I should have been prepared for college. I don’t drink or drug, I’m not prone to partying, but I love studying and I love pushing myself. Problems manifested early on though, and I began to suffer sleep deprivation due to a roommate’s schedule. I’ve been prone to psychosis before, but going upwards of a week without sleep put me into a psychotic state, and I ****ed up all of my classes fall quarter. I was switched to a single for winter, but the antidepressants and antipsychotics weren’t having their effect. Further, the pain condition from the health problems had escalated to the point that I sometimes couldn’t even get out of bed. A few days after new years, 911 was called, and I was rushed into the hospital, having failed in the attempt. </p>

<p>From here I was committed to a psychiatric institution. A number of different drugs were tried, but the treatment team eventually settled on ECT. I refused, but they were able to obtain a court order. I was given the treatment over a ~6 week period. Now, I’m unable to recall anything from the past 5 years or so. The first conscious memory I have is being at summer camp, and the last year I went to that I was 15. When I woke up after each procedure, I always thought that it was a day in 2005…soo yeah. I can read the journals that I’ve written, and have almost a memory of what happened, but it feels more like I’m reading someone else’s writing than rediscovering my own. The medication hasn’t been worked out, but I see my doctors on an outpatient basis now; the hospital kept me for as long as they could with insurance, but yeah, I’m out. </p>

<p>I want to go back to college. I still have interest in math, in science, and in anthropology. The problem for me right now though is that OSU has formally expelled me, with the given reason being the suicide attempt. I spoke to my advisor, and I spoke to the dean; they are unwavering on the issue. I tried to enroll in my local community college, but because I have prior coursework (that I don’t even remember…) I need a written letter from the university saying that they would take me back. I checked with Kenyon and Wooster, two schools nearby, and both have the same policy; it would seem that when transferring, the school needs a record of good standing at the previous institution. </p>

<p>1.) What can I do. Where can I go.<br>
2.) Even if I do find a college, I’m really concerned that I won’t be able to compete; the amnesia covers pretty much all of high school. If I don’t have the high school skills to go to college, what can I do?
Psychometric testing has revealed that I haven’t suffered any decline in cognitive function, so SAT/ACT/PSAT that I might have taken should still be relevant. </p>

<p>I can elaborate more if necessary, I’m typing this at 4 am (woo insomnia) and I don’t know if I might have missed anything. I will say now that I don’t intend this thread to be some megatopic debating the ethicality of (in any order) suicide, ECT, involuntary commitment.)</p>

<p>EDIT
3.) Will a year of straight F’s be mitigated, or am I completely ****ed on grad school.</p>

2

<p>On question 3, no, you’re not completely screwed. You’ve got a documented condition, and if you get good marks from here on out, you should be fine. You’ll just explain what happened in your personal statement, much like you did above, and then explain how a new combination of medication (or whatever) allowed you to get a 3.8 (or whatever) on your coursework since then.</p>

<p>I’m not sure about the other questions since I don’t live in your area, but I’m sure there is a CC somewhere that will take you. Heck, I think most California community colleges would.</p>

3

<p>i would try to contact the community colleges again, and explain your situation. After you get into one of the community colleges, work to the best of your ability, and work on transferring. remember you don’t want to fall into the same situation again, so if you start having problems talk to someone about them right away, and i’m sure that working together with someone you can overcome your disorders and move onto grad school and a career etc. i think that if you can overcome everything facing you that you can do well, and honestly posting here and showing that you still want to give it another shot proves that you have the drive to find a school and do well at that school. best of luck, i believe in you!</p>

4

<p>Go to a community college. They take every and anyone. </p>

<p>If you’re worried about the work that you don’t remember, take the placement exams and let them place you in a course that’s appropriate for what you do remember. And if you’re worried about not being able to handle it, go part-time at first. Then, once you successfully do that, try full-time the next semester or the next year. </p>

<p>No, you’re not completely screwed on graduate school! Stay at a community college either for the two years or until your GPA is good enough to where you can transfer to another state institution. This go around, you might want to try living at home, that way, you’ll have more control over your situation and you sleep/study habits. Then just rebuild from there. Retake some of the classes you’ve failed that is essential for you to go to graduate school as a biology major. And focus on the GREs. Your GPA might not be insanely close to a 4.0 or as high as you’d like it, but just try your best to knock the GRE out of the park. A high score on that might off-set a not-so-crazy-amazing GPA and if you explain your situation in your personal statement, then the adcoms will have more insight on your situations in the past.</p>

<p>Just go to a community college. It’s not going to be a quick fix, but it’ll be a relaunching pad for you and a lot of other people.</p>

5

<p>I messaged a moderator, but if someone else sees this and could delete my post, I’d really appreciate it. When I take my ambien to get to sleep, I sometimes do things that I normally wouldn’t do under other circumstances; I’d already decided not to post about this, but yeah, it looks like I did anyway.</p>

<p>I spoke to my local CC, and the local branch of the big public uni that operates in my city (they share a campus,) and they were both firm in saying that they can’t accept me without a letter of good standing from my previous university. Other than that, the only school within a reasonable commute is a christian college that doesn’t actually offer my major. The next closest CC (that I know of, and that’s listed on the OACC site) would be a 2-3 hour commute each day.</p>

6

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<p>Mods do not accept thread deletion requests. </p>

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<p>Sorry to hear such an adverse story.</p>

7

<p>I managed to speak to someone on Friday and yeah, I can’t get in. Period, the end. Even if I could, the preparedness scares me. I understand that I can take “easy” classes to basically take high school in college, but there are two problems that stem from this. The first would be that if I clog my 4 year degree things like Algebra, I’ll have less room for the good stuff, and I won’t really get the experience I’ll need for grad school. What’s more concerning though isn’t academic development, but development of my social cognition. Even IF I could get into a class with people my own ‘age’, I’d still wake up every morning 15, and I’d still have the social skills of a 15 year old boy. I don’t know what kind of social changes occur in the high school years, but I’m really concerned that I just won’t be able to handle the social aspects of it all.</p>

8

<p>Is it possible for you to get an on-line degree?</p>

9

<p>I was under the impression that most online schools weren’t well respected, and that many could basically be called diploma mills. Google results have a lot of negative comments about the University of Phoenix, which has the largest online student population. A 16% graduation rate doesn’t bode well with me, and I’d be worried about getting into a good grad program with a degree that many graduates have described as “worthless.” </p>

<p>I’d also like to get away from home, but that’s another matter entirely.</p>

10

<p>So yeah…pretty much ****ed, as I expected. NO idea what to do now.</p>

11

<p>Re post this on the parents forum. The suggestions there will be more thought out. Hope things work out.</p>