Should I drop this course?

Dread Pirate Arbuthnot

So I've been struggling with depression (I'm bipolar) for a while. It's gotten really bad lately. I've reached out and am working on Getting Better.

However, this depression means that I fell way behind on schoolwork, and it is beginning to snowball. I am catching up but it is hard.

I talked to someone at the school (I'm registered with mental health services) and they are making arrangements, but the woman I spoke to was extremely surprised that I was mentally ill and taking a full courseload. She strongly recommended I drop a course.

(Money isn't really an object here. My parents are paying for my schooling and are prepared for setbacks.)

I am taking a year long course on Rock and Popular Music. I'm not too interested in it. It's surprisingly hard. I've missed a lot of class and am way behind in it.

Should I buck up, put the effort in, and try to catch up, or should I drop the course and focus on my essentials?

Malkor

Well would you be inclined to take it pass/fail? Less pressure than a letter grade I guess. But if you're not interested in it, you're just not interested. Those credits can be made up at a later date with something more engaging.

Kistra

If you just aren't interested and there are other classes that will fill that requirement that you think will be more enjoyable drop the class. On the other hand, if it is just the least interesting of your classes and you will need to take something that uninteresting eventually I would talk to the professor.

I got mono my first semester of college and ended up in a similar boat, the academic services people were making arrangements for me to stay in school but recommended I drop a course or two. There was only one course I could drop without setting me back in the progression of my major but when I went to talk to the professor he practically bent over backwards to help me out. It was a 3 hour long class and I just couldn't handle that so I went for a single hour each week and he sent me his powerpoints and a bullet point summary of the class discussion (he took notes for grading purposes, I got an edited version without names) and spread out the assignments from that month over the whole semester.

On the other hand some of my other professors were dicks and I dealt with them entirely through the academic services people. Talk to the professor, if they are going to be a dick drop the class ASAP, if they are going to help you out why not take the class?

Kakodaimonos

I'd recommend you drop the class. Especially if it's an elective. If you want to, you can always reregister for the course when you have a lighter course load. It's more useful to get your degree requirements out of the way and on track. You can always fill in electives when you need to.

Lewisham

I would follow the advice of what medical professionals are telling you to do. Cop the Incomplete, then take it again later on if you want to explain it away from your transcript ("I was ill" is plenty enough excuse for a single Incomplete that you then take later).

ceres

If you feel like you need to drop the class, drop it. If it's not a core requirement for your degree I wouldn't even think twice about it.

If it is, and it's a prereq for a bunch of other stuff, then that's a little different.. it doesn't sound like it though. I've had to do this (for this reason) a number of times in the past... probably more than will look good on a transcript. In the end it was what I needed to do to stay on track, though, and at this point finishing at all trumps finishing fast for me.

Grizzled

Context: I'm a graduate student with a couple of years of teaching experience.

Advice: You should drop the course, or maybe consider taking an incomplete IF you feel like you are making good progress on Getting Better.

Reason: We see situations like yours on a regular basis - say 2-3 students per class per term. The ones that say they will "buck up, put the effort in, and try to catch up" are almost never successful. They usually end up with a C or worse.

The reason I say drop the course is that most students who take an incomplete never end up making up the work and it turns into an F. One of the professors I work for keeps records of this stuff and told me over 80% of his incompletes end up as Fs. Probably because whatever situation prevented the student from keeping up with the class also prevents them from making up the work on time.

Focus on taking good care of yourself and finishing strong on the courses you are keeping up in.

Also: In college I had two drops and an incomplete that I managed to finish, and hey, I got into a pretty good grad school. These things are not as ruinous as people sometimes seem to think they are.

mcdermott

If you have to ask, you should probably drop the class. Make it up later, especially if it's just a dead-end (not a pre-req for anything else) or an elective. No big deal.

You might be able to buck up and finish the course, sure. But you could also take all that time and effort and put it into your other courses, catching up and getting ahead, and have an easier time dealing with your issues as well. You'll be happier, and your academic outcome is likely to be more favorable as well.

P.S.: I'm speaking from experience, if it wasn't obvious. I tried it both ways. There are four outcomes (I experienced all three)...either:

1) you drop now, refocus your efforts, do better in your other courses and have more time to deal with issues
2) you stick with it, rally, get a decent grade in this class and all your others
3) you try to stick with it, struggle all semester, maybe pass the course (and maybe not) and your other work suffers
4) you try to stick with it, wind up dropping a day before the deadline to avoid failing (or simply getting a grade you wouldn't be happy with), and waste even more time and effort on the class

Now, I'm not judging you, I promise. Because, again, been there. But do you really think (2) is the most likely outcome?

Morblitz

In academics, it is always better to drop the class rather than tough it out and risk potential failure. I say this because academic history, as far as my experience goes, is mostly permanent, and you don't want to wreck your GPA or whatever you're shooting for by biting off more than you can chew.

There's no shame in dropping a class and taking it slow because of a disability. I have chronic pain and depression, and whilst the only real consequence is that it is taking me more time (an extra year) to earn my undergrad degree, I am also succeeding at my own pace. I had to withdraw from a core class a month after the withdraw-without-penalty period, thankfully on medical grounds. It sucked hard to have to do so, but as I'm to finish my semester today, I can clearly see how I would have torpedoed the whole damned thing if I listened to a classmate, and stayed to tough it out.

I'm doing the class next year instead, and because im 3/4's of the way through my degree, my course load is looking a lot more attractive next year. I also have time to better my health condition until then. As long as you prepare for it, take care of yourself, and make sure you're ready. You can't lose with this option. Don't think you are dropping a class to get off scot free though. The reason you are dropping it now is so you can take it (or something else) later. Which MEANS you need to work on WHY you couldn't do it now, if you want to be able to maintain this kind of course load.

Play it safe, you can't predict what life will throw at you, especially when you're in an up hill battle to begin with, and those incoming barrels won't give a second thought to knocking you back down.

Dread Pirate Arbuthnot

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to drop it. This can be locked.