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Academic probation - eek! What next?Feb 13 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line --- So you're in a bit of trouble. Last semester, you fell behind on your classwork and flunked a few courses. Now your GPA is so low that you're on academic probation. Maybe it was your first year of college and you just weren't prepared for the work. How can you raise your grades and stay in college? First, realize that a lot of students have this problem, especially in their first year. Even if being at home was stressful, having to adjust to living in a new environment takes time and energy away from dealing with coursework. You want to succeed. That is a good thing. To determine a strategy for success, figure out exactly what went wrong before. Do you really want to be here at all? Why are you in college? To be independent, to be with your friends, or to eat dining hall food? Those are certainly some of the benefits of the college experience, but they shouldn’t be your primary reason for being here. Now that you are here, you might feel an obligation to stay, but there’s nothing wrong with questioning your decision. Better to realize that now than later. If you’ve decided that college is indeed the place for you right now, here are a few suggestions for pulling your GPA out of the academic basement. Go to class I know, it seems obvious. But many people still skip out from time to time. In high school, you are pretty much forced to go to class. The luxury of being able to cut class in college without risking detention is irresistible, especially after you’ve just spent all night working on a paper for that class. But unlike high school, classes in college meet only two or three times a week, so a lot more material is covered in each period. Stick to a schedule A study in the January 2000 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggested that habits are a goal-directed behavior. In other words, actions that are performed repeatedly eventually become associated with a goal. The study suggests that you can form new habits with conscious planning. Here’s an unscientific way to test that theory. Pick a time to go to the library, say every night from 6:30 to 8:30. Taking your books with you, go to the library every night. Find a place to sit, and do not let yourself leave until the two hours are up. You can spend the two hours counting the ceiling tiles, or you can hum to yourself, or you can do your homework. The idea is that if you are bored enough, studying will actually seem interesting. I’ve done this and it works. The secret to making this a habit is devoting yourself to this schedule, whether you feel like it or not. My goal is to learn the course material. Now I associate spending time at the library with earning better grades, and going to the library is a habit for me. Isn’t psychology fun? Take care of yourself During the week, you eat ramen noodles, drink soda, and sleep no more than five or six hours a night because you have so much work to do. On the weekend, you sleep all day and drink beer all night. I bet you don’t feel too good, do you? Your body will tell you when it needs fuel, when it needs exercise and when it needs sleep. Pay attention to it, or else it will rebel. A tip for keeping colds away is to wash your hands when you use the bathroom (amazingly, many college students still have not mastered this concept). Mental health is just as important as physical health. By studying with a group of classmates, you can lean on each other for help with understanding material that went over your head in class (making fun of the professor is good stress-reliever, too). Keep in touch with the people who care about you. Don’t bother with people who make you miserable. If you suspect that your problem is more than just normal ups and downs, start by talking to someone in the campus counseling center. Above all, prioritize your life so that you have the time to take care of you and your coursework. Talk to your professors They are intimidating at first, with their fancy degrees and big words. But once upon a time, they were students just like you. Don't feel embarrassed if you need to ask them questions; chances are they had to ask those questions themselves. Professors get a little irritated when students wait until finals week to worry about grades, so sooner is better than later. Professors hold office hours for your sake. Don't let them sit there all by themselves – make use of the free help. In closing... I hope this article at least gives you an idea as to what to do in case you end up on academic probation. Remember that it isn't the end of the world, but it's still the individual's responsibility to get back on one's feet.  |
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