<p>Hello, this is my first time posting here so I apologize if I made some errors with rules and what not. I’ll try to be as articulate with my point so please bear with me. </p>
<p>Anyhow, as the title says, I’m fearing that I might be in trouble and might be facing suspension or dismissal from my school and I would really like some help with my current situation:</p>
<p>So I just finished my last year at my UC but I decided to postpone my graduation for an extra year in hopes of pursuing a double major. Now originally, this 2nd major was something I’ve been wanting to switch to since the end of my sophomore year. But because there were so many limitations, mostly with classes for major pre-reqs and the difficulty to get into those said classes, I couldn’t choose that as my major option until about a year and a half later of classes and regulation changes. All the while, I entered the school as undeclared so I was rushed for a major decision by the end of my 2nd year as well. At that time, I didn’t really have anything lined up as I spent most of my 1st and 2nd year taking a bunch of classes with no real connections between each other, hoping that I could find something I truly enjoyed. Eventually, I settled with being a Math major as it was the only thing I’ve taken the most required classes which I figured would be the only thing I could realistically finish by my Senior year.</p>
<p>To be frank, I HATED it. I hated virtually every class I’ve taken and just the subject in general. I’ve always wanted to be part of the Arts which was what I wanted to double in, but I figured I just needed something to ensure that I get my degree through one way or another. Needless to say, I also suck terribly bad at my major. Despite attending everything and trying to get help here and there, I just don’t understand the material. Honestly, it’s a miracle I’ve managed so far based on pure visual memorization and trying to tie in w/e seems logical on exams, homework, etc. </p>
<p>Fast forward a year and I’m in my 2nd quarter of Senior year. I’m down to my last two major classes with whatever left spent on trying to get finish the reqs for my 2nd major. These last two classes were rumored to be the hardest and I think rightfully so: I really couldn’t squeeze by visual memory, I had to actually comprehend the material. Obviously that didn’t go very well and I borderline failed both my midterms. All the while I was going through a lot of problems in life: family member passing away, parents losing jobs so I had to work extra to support myself, and various other things like low grades, roommate problems, other obligations that combined to make life extra stressful and overall very depressing. These factors combined meaning I was not prepared for my final in that class at all.</p>
<p>As stupid as it may be, I resorted to cheating on my final hoping to just pass it and thus the class. This was the first time I’ve ever done it as I got caught. I was expecting consequences to come quickly but I was never confronted about it until almost the end of the following quarter where they gave me an F for the final and issued a suspension for summer. Around that time, I was trying to finish the last class for the major while still going through life problems from before. (strangely enough, I still passed the class from the quarter before.) After my last final, I was confronted again in that class for a similar problem. It was on the basis that I copied other people’s answers on my midterm and final. However, I’ve learn my lesson and I made sure I didn’t cheat. I talked to a counselor about this issue and explained that it was a) physically impossible to copy because I was sitting several seats away from the closest person on my midterm and on an isolated desk on the corner of the room for my final and b) the accused problems were either true/false or short questions that looked similar to our practice materials with different numbers which I again tried to recreate based on those materials. I also explained everything I said above and how I couldn’t understand the material so memorizing was all I could muster. The professor refuse to accept this and now I’m put for some sort of meeting to settle this issue about a month from now. </p>
<p>Now here my concerns: </p>
<p>How can I prove my innocence at this point.
I’ve already described everything about this issue and if they’re not convinced now I’m not sure what else I can say at the meeting to prove my point. Essentially, I feel like I’m fighting a inevitably losing battle of being wrongly accused and receiving unjust punishment for it. </p>
<p>Also, I was told that if they conclude me as guilty then I would receive more consequences on top of my current “suspension”, but was never told how drastic it would be.
In any case, I want to know what are other options outside of school that I can take to make use of my time immediately. (transfer, get a job, etc.) </p>
<p>How would I break this to others if things go for the worst. Currently, no one (family, friends) know about this issue and I really don’t know how to break it to them if things go for the worst. My parents knows of my struggling grades and bare minimum performance in this subject. I’ve already told them many times about my major struggles and how I was planning to extend an extra year and how I have everything planned out. (Realistically, I don’t have anything set in stone largely because of this issue) If anything I want to keep this away from them by all means since they’re already going through so much on their own, I don’t want to bring this issue to further worsen everything for their sake and for mine. </p>
<p>How does this affect rewards, grants, etc. I have financial aid supporting me with only tuition and some small scholarships leftover from a long time back. I’ve already filed for and extra year of study so how would the worst case scenario affect these things? </p>
<p>And lastly just how to deal with all this stress and tension. Summer Vacation’s only been a week so far and I’m feeling more stress than ever not knowing what to do or plan for the upcoming year in case things go wrong. (And just fear that this whole month is spent on fretting about these problems.) I’ve had several plans lined-up, including summer-jobs that depends on my future school conditions. </p>
<p>Thanks for reading all of this. I know it might be a lot of digest but it’s something I’ve been wanting to get off my chest for a long time. And now with this issue at hand, I feel like there’s no better time. I want to say that I’m in no way trying to excuse myself for my actions. I’m fully aware of doing a lot of wrong things in this whole process. I just really want to know how I can move on from all this and to prevent being misjudged for anything. I don’t expect any sympathy for what I’ve done but I hope to have a fair understanding of how to improve my current predicament and just make positive of this massive slump I’ve had deep down since starting college. </p>