<p>ZG may be having her first meltdown since going to college three weeks (or is it four?) ago. I’m trying to figure out if this is the normal stuff or if it’s more serious than that. She has decided that she wants to change majors because she hates bio and isn’t smart enough anyway. That would mean giving up her dedicated scholarship, which would be a problem, but so be it. She’s taking advanced bio and chem this semester with very long labs in each. These classes (the first for her, but not intro level) were never intended to be what she loves just what she has to get out of the way. The potential tiny problem is that there aren’t any majors at her school that she would be really happy with/good at/that would meet her life goals. My theory is that she’s just now realized how different college is and it will probably be ok when she gets used to that, but I’m not sure if I should worry. Anyone?</p>
<p>Can she keep her major and just drop one of her lab classes? Two lab intensive classes first semester freshman year could be tough (though plenty of kids do it).</p>
<p>Oh dear, Zoosermom, I’m sorry you’re D is going through this. Is there anyway you could get her to postpone her decision till next semester (that is, finish out the year as a bio major)? My D has a scholarship tied to a major, and we asked her to stick with it for 2 years to keep the money. That way, she still has 2 years to get something else, and the two years would be enough for a lesser degree (in her case, a BA in music rather than a BMus.)</p>
<p>But, if your D can stick out the year, she may get over the adjustment period and find out that she’s more capable than it seems at the moment. Sometimes professors come on hard and lighten up later on. Sometimes you just have to deal with a bad professor one semester, but it gets better. </p>
<p>And if it doesn’t seem to be getting better, it looks like there would be a transfer in her future. By postponing the decision, she gets more time to think about what she would rather do, and maybe not make a similar mistake next time. She gets this year paid for, too (probably credits will transfer somehow).</p>
<p>However, I know in the past year I’ve read threads of kids who pulled out of college soon after starting because they were miserable - and it was the right decision for that kid; and kids who put in to transfer, but changed their minds after all, and it was the right decision…; and kids who decided to stick it out, and things got better, and that, too, was a right decision! </p>
<p>In general, I think you need to walk a tightrope – find a way to be supportive of whatever her future decision might be while encouraging her at the same time to make the best of her current circumstances.</p>
<p>She can’t drop anything, unfortunately. Her problem is that she didn’t take AP chem because it wasn’t given and hasn’t had any chem at all since freshman year of high school. I think she can dig in and do the work, but she’s convinced herself that she can’t do this work without having had some elementary college chem. Someone told me that almost every freshman will find something to melltdown about. True?</p>
<p>It sounds as if she should speak to her academic adviser, who can help sort out whether this is a typical freshman reaction, an inappropriately heavy courseload, or the wrong major.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks Binx. That’s very good advice. I’m going to ask her to stick it out for at least a bit longer before making a decision and maybe even talk to her advisor.</p>
<p>She may want to take a wait and see attitude. I’m assuming she will finish the classes this semester. Her attitude may be quite different by the end of the semester. I’ld encourage her to make contact with her professors. I was glad my D finished Physics last year. She would call after every physics exam complaining how she did so bad ( did this in highschool also). She ended up doing fine.</p>
<p>Your D may be testing your response to her changing schools. Does she seem happy otherwise? Has she made new friends ect.? Is she getting enough sleep/ eating healthy? The newness of college is probably starting to wear off, and the work set in, especially if she is taking more advanced classes.</p>
<p>Her scholarship is specific to her major?</p>
<p>A friend’s D opted out of a Bio major because the premed/science drone quotient was too high. Will likely major in History of Science where she can fulfil her interest in science without feeling inadequate.</p>
<p>“Your D may be testing your response to her changing schools. Does she seem happy otherwise? Has she made new friends ect.? Is she getting enough sleep/ eating healthy? The newness of college is probably starting to wear off, and the work set in, especially if she is taking more advanced classes.”</p>
<p>She is very happy otherwise and seems to be on the ball, but this one class is freaking her out. She has sought a tutor, so that may help. I’m not a science person, so it’s not possible for me to comprehend whether it really is problematic for a person to go right to advanced chem without anything else in four years.</p>
<p>“Someone told me that almost every freshman will find something to melltdown about.”</p>
<p>In my experience, it’s more that certain people will melt down in any new situation. My older son, for example, has always had awful first days of school. For a few years, I had awful first-day photos with him crying or looking angry. Finally we agreed that we would do second-day of school photos. </p>
<p>These days he has periods of anxiety before every first day, even a first day of tennis lesson with a new pro and new group. He’s been to CTY twice, and I have watched his anxiety mount as we move into the dorm, and watched it melt away within 5 minutes of the roommate showing up, when it becomes clear that he will be rooming with a great kid. There is usually an irrelevant reason named for his agitation. I fully expect him to have an anxiety attack at the beginning of college.</p>
<p>My younger son, on the other hand, marches off happily and confidently into any new situation.</p>
<p>"Her scholarship is specific to her major?</p>
<p>A friend’s D opted out of a Bio major because the premed/science drone quotient was too high. Will likely major in History of Science where she can fulfil her interest in science without feeling inadequate."</p>
<p>The scholarship is specific to her, you guessed it! bio major. Loves the bio part and hates the chem part, but there’s only one more required chem class.</p>
<p>Can she drop one the lab portions of either class? Back when the dinosaurs walked the earth that is what I did. I took the lab a semester later.</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter decided last week that she wants to change major. She had been admitted to the Journalism College. She was told she cannot apply to the Science dept until 2nd semester and preferably after 2nd semester. She was told though to start taking the classes for the major she wants 2nd semester and the Journalism classes she is in now will count as electives.
I feel for your daughter. 2 science classes with labs first semester is not easy.</p>
<p>It sounds like the tutor route could be very helpful. Of course, it has to be someone who is supportive and a good tutor. I think getting that in place ASAP could help with the pressure.</p>
<p>zoosermom, I must be missing something, but I have no idea what you are referring to as “advanced chem”. Typically, a college student begins with a two semester general (inorganic) chemistry class, which always includes a lab. Next is organic chemistry, also two semesters and also including labs. After that is advanced organic, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, etc. I have never heard of any college “advanced chem” class, because after general chem, all classes are specialized by field. (Maybe I am out of date, but I have a BS in biochem with a minor in chem, and I was a TA for general chem (for engineers) for a short while in grad. school. Many moons ago.)</p>
<p>Did they put her in an honors section of general chem, based on one high school course? If so, I believe that was a mistake, if her only experience was one h.s. freshman class. They may have skipped past some of the more introductory topics in order to leave more time for in depth study of other topics. Instead of dropping, maybe she can try to get permission to switch to a non-honors section of general chem (which is what I think she is in). If there is a section meeting at a time that works for her and is not oversubscribed, I think that would be a reasonable request. If I am wrong about the name of the class, and they put her directly into organic chem without AP Chem or at least high school advanced chem, then the college was irresponsible, and somebody should be demanding the right to drop the course.</p>
<p>Also, she might find the material more manageable in a couple of weeks, as she remembers some of the high school course.</p>
<p>midmo,</p>
<p>Both the schools my kids attend have a couple options for General Chem. My D had the choice of a single semester or two semesters. A friend of mine’s D at our state uni tested into a particular chemistry class. It was the more advance general chemistry class, with the Chem and Chem Eng majors. She struggled despite taking Chemistry as a junior in HS.</p>
<p>Zoosermom,</p>
<p>Since she is happy otherwise hopefully this will pass. Is this one of the first times where something in school is really difficult for her? In my D’s I think Physics problems were the first problems she encountered where she wasn’t 100% sure how to do them. Also, the chem lab may be out of sync with what she has been taught in class so far. My friends D encountered this, so was lost in lab the first few weeks.</p>
<p>“They may have skipped past some of the more introductory topics in order to leave more time for in depth study of other topics. Instead of dropping, maybe she can try to get permission to switch to a non-honors section of general chem (which is what I think she is in)”</p>
<p>I think that’s what happened. I didn’t go to college, so I may not have the terminology right, but this is a 300 level course specific to majors and she feels unprepared. She does feel prepared for the same level bio because she did well in AP bio. I can’t decide how much is her perception and how much is actually wrong. She hasn’t had any tests yet, so I’m not sure how she could know.</p>
<p>"Since she is happy otherwise hopefully this will pass. Is this one of the first times where something in school is really difficult for her? In my D’s I think Physics problems were the first problems she encountered where she wasn’t 100% sure how to do them. Also, the chem lab may be out of sync with what she has been taught in class so far. My friends D encountered this, so was lost in lab the first few weeks. "</p>
<p>Both of those things are true here. The professor for the course plays PowerPoints and the professor for the lab is more hands-on. I’m not trying to minimize her difficulty in any way, but it seems to me that there could be adjustment difficulties here, regardless of whether the major is right or wrong.</p>
<p>Quote: “whether it really is problematic for a person to go right to advanced chem without anything else in four years”</p>
<p>Do I understand from your post that your D never had chem in high school and is now taking a chem class that is designed for science major? If this is the case, it will be a very tough first few weeks. College sceince courses (designed for majors) move at much faster paces than AP courses in high school. They are sometimes hard to adjust even for strong science students. If she is having difficulty in the assigned problem sets. Make sure that she seeks help from tutors or from a study group. </p>
<p>It is too early to know whether she “hates” bio; it is a big field where one bio subdiscipline may seem like a foreign language to another. I may be able to explain to you better, if you indicate what initially attracted her to the field.</p>
<p>zoosermom - my H has his Ph.D. in organic chemistry. I’ve heard throughout my life, and now the lives of my kids’ friends who are in college that organic chem is about the hardest class college can offer. My H has offered help to our kids’ friends, who, in high school, were top 2% students with lots of AP and honors classes. Chemistry is hard, even for those who love it. It must be more than overwhelming for her, and she needs to seek out her prof (or TA if the class has one) for help catching up. Unfortunately, you can’t make her do it; she has to want to do it, but you might offer it as a suggestion, and just affirm her for her courage to take the class.</p>
<p>Interestingly, my H started out as pre-med, but after he took organic chemistry in college, as hard as it was, switched his major.</p>
<p>How did the school put her into a 300 level class, designed for chemistry majors, if she’s a bio major and didn’t submit an AP score? This doesn’t make sense to me. I think someone needs to figure out why and how she got there, and then see if there’s anything that can be done about it; it sounds like an error.</p>
<p>Did she intend to sign up for this course?</p>