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Required Withdraw At University
Trus
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Registered User regular
Long story short I have an awful first semester of University (2 failed courses and I was put on academic probation) and since then I have been trying my best to fix everything and get my GPA to an acceptable level. Since then I haven't failed any courses but I haven't exactly been getting stellar grades. Stupidly I didn't check my student email after my finals until today...where I learnt that my GPA was at a level that would require me to withdraw for one year unless I put in a written request to continue.
I sent that request in today but I learnt the deadline for that had long since passed. The dean advised me to speak to an academic adviser, who I just sent an email to but I'm not sure I have any option right now other than to take the required year break and re-apply for admission, or I can try and transfer/apply to another school.
I guess my questions are:
what are my chances of still being able to get the special permission (I assume low, but the email I received didn't have any indication of a deadline for that just that if I didn't have it before the end of June my registrations would be removed)
What would be my best option if I can't continue at my current university
edit: This is in Canada if it matters at all
I sent that request in today but I learnt the deadline for that had long since passed. The dean advised me to speak to an academic adviser, who I just sent an email to but I'm not sure I have any option right now other than to take the required year break and re-apply for admission, or I can try and transfer/apply to another school.
I guess my questions are:
what are my chances of still being able to get the special permission (I assume low, but the email I received didn't have any indication of a deadline for that just that if I didn't have it before the end of June my registrations would be removed)
What would be my best option if I can't continue at my current university
edit: This is in Canada if it matters at all
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Normally, I'd suggest trying for coursework at a junior college or similar in the interim. Most colleges and universities won't take you in your current academic condition, though. Perhaps try working and banking some money (and motivation to succeed) in the meantime?
When you transfer back after a year, you'll be in a much better position to succeed.
is anyone in your family looking to donate a bunch of money to a school? no? yer fucked. sorry.
in your year off, you need to quickly figure out why you failed at higher education, and fix that issue. Take community college classes in the meantime to not lose a year of your life (your credits should transfer once you restart school) and you'll also get a good "lighter weight" introduction to school
<edit> didn't notice the Canadia bit... so i'm not sure if my advice still applies (do you have community colleges?)
I just graduated, and I regard going straight into a 4 year university as one of the worst decisions I've made. There's no reason to pay a premium for the bullshit classes.
I like all my poli-sci classes I just HATE the general learning crap I'm forced to take and I don't try in them. Daedalus suggested going to college to take those kinds of courses for cheaper, is that a viable option?
If a community/junior college will take you on academic probation, hell yes. I did the first 60 hours of my bachelor's for a tenth of the cost I would've paid at a four-year school, then transferred to TSU and will get the same degree as if I'd put myself into tens of thousands more debt.
Had zero problems being re-admitted one year later thanks to the good use of my time, and the work experience was hugely helpful when I was job searching immediately after graduation - that type of experience gave me a leg up on most students who had only part-time work experience when graduating. It was also beneficial in that accounting work was agonizingly boring for the most part, and the desire to be sure I never got stuck doing something like that again really did a great job of motivating me when I was back in school full-time.
If possible, you need to speak in person to these people. Have a plan A & B (for the break, next semester, and the rest of your time there), if you can stay, and a plan C (again break, community college classes you are considering, possible work study, etc) if you are not allowed. Either way, face to face, and ask for the advisor's feedback, and input. This shows you are not the typical "Oh noes, my parents are gonna kill me if I get kicked out, uh help!"
You need to show that you have considered your options and have a viable plan of attack for going forward. No BS. Own up to your mistakes, and show that you are actively trying to get your shit together.
Good luck.
If I could do it all again I'd have taken a year or two before going into university.
Thank you, Rubacava!
If you really want to change this you need to go in person, not through e-mail, not on the phone, to your advisor and/or the dean and seriously talk to them about it. You need to have reasons laid out for why you're at this point and a plan to recover from it.
Some schools have special programs specifically for people in your position where they make you take a semester "off" of regular classes and instead make you go to time management, organization, writing, study skills, etc classes. If you are lucky enough to have your school have one of these, beg to get in one. During this semester they also try to help you evaluate whether or not you're in the right program, and if you aren't, they work with you and the faculty in the major you want to be in to get you in.
Hopefully you can explain to them whatever the reason was for your low grades, and demonstrate that you improved over the time you were at the school.
I would be fairly surprised if, as a first year student, they weren't somewhat willing to work with you if you can demonstrate that you want to be there and you are smart enough to do the coursework. Speaking as an american student, but you have to fuck up pretty badly for a pretty extended period of time to actually be tossed from a university here.
If you have screwed up too much in terms of deadlines, your best bet is to work with them to create a plan that will get you back to university as soon as possible, if that is your goal. Maybe if you commit to taking a semester at a CC and do well, your suspension can be mitigated.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
I mean this quite seriously. You're talking about going back or going somewhere else, but you haven't mentioned anything about the circumstances that led you to this place. You flunked two classes, you didn't raise your GPA to a point where the university will automatically let you stay on, you missed a really important email that was sitting in your really important inbox that you didn't check on.
You would do better to evaluate why you want to be in university, what you want to be doing, and why you think things will change next time. If you can't answer all those questions honestly to a point that satisfies yourself, I think you have to think long and hard about whether university is the right place for you.
And, so we're clear, I absolutely believe that university is not for everyone, it doesn't represent any success or failure, just a certain career path. If you want to be a journalist, you can start at the local rag, and many, many famous journalists do.
"The letter that you received explaining the option of 'special
permission to continue' indicated that you have until June 29, 2009 to
accept the offer. You will need to discuss the implications of
accepting this offer with an academic advisor"
meaning I have like another week to accept the offer, but the email I got from the assosciate dean says and I quote:
"The deadline for that passed quote some time ago"
I plan to go talk to the academic adviser in person on Tuesday and hopefully she can tell me what exactly is going on.