So I am an electronic and computer engineering freshman and I just finished my first semester with 2 F’s. Honestly , I know why I performed so poorly this semester. It happened due to several factors. One of them, I was in severe depression. And yeah , honestly, I don’t know what I should do about it now , because in the later future I want to get into a good master’s program. Talking to the juniors, they all said to me that I am cooked and it’s gonna be hard for me to graduate. So I really have no idea what to do. For the next semester, I am coming recharged and fully ready. And as an alumnus, I hope to receive advice on how I can study so I could graduate with a normal GPA that is acceptable as I want to do a master’s later. BTW, we have a U.S. GPA system, and for your information, I study in China in a U.S. university, so one of my mandatory subjects is Chinese and I am international. You can ask me any questions.
Does your school offer forgiveness classes? Meaning, can you repeat the courses you failed and replace the Fs with better grades? Many schools have this option for a certain number of classes. That is one way you can raise your GPA quickly.
Some schools allow you to retake failed classes and replace the grade, I’d ask if that is a possibility.
Engineering is a high drop out major. Which classes did you fail? Talk to the profs ? Talk to the advisor?
Maybe operations or supply chain in the b school might be a soft landing because those areas seek engineers.
Talk to the experts on campus.
It’s going to be a struggle. Perhaps it requires community college and later transfer back to a four year.
Your depression is much more important. Seek help. Even if you need a gap sehester, that’s the first thing to cure.
How do your second semester classes look ? I assume you didn’t get to the next level.
Is one class math that you failed?
Life is long. Even with bumps you can surpass but your journey, if you choose to keep the same, will look different.
Don’t worry about grad school. Worry about tomorrow. One day at a time.
I don’t have specific advice for engineering. But I do have some hope to share. I got a 2.0 my first semester freshman year. So not quite the same but not ideal for sure.
I ended up improving my grades, and then getting an MBA from a top university and another masters at an Ivy.
So this one semester does NOT define you. College is HARD and adjusting can take time.
My path was very similar!
If it offers another glimmer of hope, my spouse had a 1.6 in engineering. Situation was more clear, wrong major and having way too much fun. Got it together slowly but surely through a couple more majors, and ended with a job offer at a top company. Eventually left and started their own company and now they are asked to go back and speak at college.
This is not to suggest engineering isn’t your path, but rather this semester doesn’t define you. I would definitely ask about grade recovery. Good luck!
Some thoughts on this. Stop school and work on you. A friend’s son while at college put himself in the university hospital for depression. Called his parents and was treated. He finished school doing extremely well.
Second is that engineering is tough. You have to use every peer to peer group, math /science labs, professor hours and break out study groups till you can prove you don’t need to. BTW in engineering, the best students do all of this. It’s hard to do engineering alone in school or the real world.
At Michigan the Dean of engineering came out in 2017 when my son started and at the open house showed his report card if you will. 2-Ds,1-F,1 C and a B…
So talk to your advisor. Many schools passing is 2.0. What is it at your school? But beware many companies want at least a 3.0-3.5…but there are many companies also that need engineers.
So the low passing rate tells you how hard this is.
Talk to your advisors and professor’s and let them help guide you but if you have a mental health issue this all can get worse. Engineering is very stressful. My son’s favorite phrase when in school was “we all struggle together”… Your mental health would be my main focus honestly and I wish you the best
yeah they do , thats what I am planning to do , thanks god I failed the relatively easy classes in my year
Alright I will, thank you for your advice
thank you. so much , for the advice, truly inspiring person
I didn’t fail math, I failed CS101 and Electronics class , relatively the easiest class in my major but managed to get good grades on the hardest ones, the next semester I am going to have University Mechanics, Linear algebra, CALC2, and systems and programming and another Chinese class
Yeah my school allows that , and thats what I am planning to do
2025-03-18T16:00:00Z
Honestly speaking, I do not really like the quality of education in the ZJU-UIUC program, and I am considering changing my university (I am not a dual-degree student). So, I am asking the seniors: is it worth transferring, or is it better to complete my bachelor’s at ZJU?
If you can still apply and transfer, complete the transfer application. If you get in, you’ll have a choice: transfer or stay. If you don’t even apply, you won’t have that choice.
Btw, you said you’re international at a UIUC subsidiary university within China, are you European (hence the choice of a European university) or American?
I guess my question is…how is this second semester going?
When you apply to transfer…anywhere…you will be required to submit your current college transcript.
If things are not going all that well, you might want to consider other options for next year.
Thank you for your question. It’s going alright, yeah. I know that I should transfer my college transcript , but if I want to transfer, I will drop out and re-apply with my stats.
I am not part of the EU. If I want to move to another university, I will drop out of this one and then re apply
Are you suggesting that you won’t send the transcript from your current college when you apply to a new college?
Usually students apply in the Spring, while they are still enrolled, because they need to secure letters from 2 professors as well as an exeat/guarantee they’re in good standing from their college’s administration. Dropping out would likely make it more difficult to get these recommendations. You wouldn’t be exempted from your current university sending an official transcript.
What’s your budget?
What major?
Some US colleges may well be accepting transfer applications right now