Golden Deer Pub Community Forums

DISCLAIMER: I do go off on a bit of a ramble. I think I just barely averted a full spiral.

Hey Drathi~

I don't know if any below will actually help but... I hope it does.

First: deep breathe! In through the nose, out the mouth. Calm and relax.

(First, you know, I just noticed you live in PA - what college are you going to out of curiosity? ^_^ I didn't know Drathi lived in the same state with me!)

Your classes:
I told this to my sisters and it helps. Seriously, dude, do not feel the pressure or the angst of attempting to graduate in four years. It is a goal to set, but do not kill yourself trying to achieve it. It's wrong. So many things happen. A class isn't available, you don't do so hot in another class, etc. Whatever. I don't know your situation or why you want to graduate in four years but... just accept now that it will probably not happen. If it does: yay! But this should not be a source of stress.

Also what helps, again, I don't know your exact location, but I'm betting you'll know this: LCCC. It's a wonderful community college. If you do not do so hot in certain classes, take some summer courses, or retake the classes here. My sister goes to Wilkes and she discovered that for some of the classes ONLY THE CREDITS TRANSFER - NOT THE GRADE. I do not know the exact details and I can find them out for you if you need, but this took a load off her shoulders. She's decided to take some of her worst classes at the community college. If you aren't near LCCC, don't be afraid to look up things like that at the colleges near you.

Seriously: do not stress over a few bad grades. I made one F and maybe three or four Cs. My GPA remained at about a 3.5 with this and I was able to raise it even higher until I graduated with a 3.8. Getting a few bad grades isn't the end of the world. I know it sucks - it sucks like hell. However, it's life. It happens. My first year I had to deal with eye surgeries. *shrugs* For my sister: her car broke down on the way to her final. Also, I know you had some computer issues: this year, make a back up plan. There are always computer labs on campus and at libraries. Make sure what happened this year CAN'T happen in future years. If your computer fries or your connection goes down make sure you can accommodate for it. I had to do a few late night quick runs over to my libraries over a few times when I was going to LCCC.

Maybe the work was turned in half-assed, but at least you got work turned in. Some points are better than no points at all. Just work that much harder next semester to pick up the grades.

@age:
Dude, I'm 28, going on 29 here soon in less than a month. I don't even feel 18 half the time. It doesn't help that people tell me I barely look 20.

I'm in a similar position. My relatives don't give a shit and even if they did, most of them are trailer trash living off welfare (taking advantage more like and I'd like to turn half of them in). My parents never went to college. ^_^ We keep trying to encourage my dad to go but I don't think he's interested. The only thing our parents could offer us was free room and board as long as we paid for our college tuition. Try telling that to programs like FASFA who INSIST that parents are giving their children money. Tch. All I got are a bunch of student loans and then the last half I had to pay out of pocket. Hence why I'm not particularly interested in investing in the four year scheme. My sister is doing it though.

Don't feel like adulthood is something you need to achieve. ^_^ You become an adult through how you handle situations and the experience you gain through it. From your post and how you talk, I think you are more adult than you realize Drathi. You care about your grades and your future and you know what it's like to not have that support. My sister is 27 going to Wilkes. It amazes her the amount of children that are in the classes with her. Mom and dads paying for them and half the time they just don't care. It makes her jealous as HELL. Half of her teammates she got stuck with hardly EVER even showed up to the get togethers they scheduled - and her grades were reliant on them and their work. She ended up doing their share on top of hers.

It sounds like you have your head on right Drathi. Seriously. Take a deep breathe and relax. You've probably achieved more than you realize.

I knew it! I knew there was a catch. Didn't I tell you that there was a catch? The unemployment-office kicked me out. I have to choose between having enough money to eat healthy, ride trains and generally having an economy for a year and a half on one hand, and on the other hand, having a snowball's chance in hell of ever, ever getting a job maybe.
Both organisations were there, right there, saying they already had procedures to make sure all the paperwork is compatible, and nobody told me it was a trap.

My whole life, my father was right. I always thought he was just a paranoid arsehole, but no, it's true, everybody is out to get me, and the only way to be safe is to get them first. You'll only be treated as a proper person when you're feared. People won't tell you anything important that you need to know, unless they're more afraid of the alternatives.

@Maxine: ; o ; *hugs* I attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Though, I live in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Probably the closest community college for me though is CCAC. It was like 4 in the morning, when I typed that. Sleep does wonders for calming down and you take several deep breaths.


But I digress, for that situation what you said helped a lot. ^_^ But yeah, I was wondering when you'd notice we both lived in PA. XD I think I mentioned it before that you're probably the closest ITL member to where I live.

@Drathi: I started school when I was 18, I ended up taking 3 years off to take care of my family while my father was ill, and I didn't return to school until I was almost 22. I'm graduating in 3 weeks, 3 years "late", even with summer classes and credits from high school. If I had graduated "on time" I would have been done ages ago, but I'm not. And I'm better for it. I've gotten much more out of my education by not rushing through it and not stressing about an artificial completion date that doesn't take into account changes of major, failing a class, not being able to take a certain class, etc. I wont lie, I have been asked in interviews why my resume includes a gap in education, and 3 different schools, but nobody has ever held this against me, if they want anything at all they just want an explanation. And your explanation is perfectly valid. Also, taking time of school is becoming much more common in the US than it used to be. You will be fine.

I don't know where the pressure to graduate is coming from, maybe your parents, but the 4 year goal line only reflects how long it takes to graduate optimally with a regular course load, and not meeting it shouldn't be taken as some kind of failure.

In regards to your GPA. Its very unlikely that any job outside of an academic context is going to need to know what your GPA is. Most employers care more about experience than they do about your grades. You're probably not going to jump right into your dream job out of college, you'll have other jobs, and after a few it will be the fact that you finished college at all that people care about, if they care at all. Your GPA will fade from relevance pretty quickly unless you're going down a grad school route. I'm an excellent student now, but when I was a freshmen I was a terrible one, I have at least two D's from that year, and nothing higher than a B+. And even though I HAVE had to submit my full transcripts for my teaching position, I have never had anyone question it because 2 D's out of the 40 something courses I've taken during my time in university simply don't stand out that much.

^ Yeah, don't put the adult before the horse.

I think FASFA IS a wonderful program, but I think there needs to be some sort of subsidiary FASFA program that takes into account that parents do/can not always give money to their children.

I just waited in line for 6 hours for Fanime pre-reg.

I hope you got your pre-reg.

I hate waiting forever in line for some thing or event and then having it run out just as I get to the front.

I got my badge, yes. As well as the badges for the other 14 people in my group.

You know when you read somebody died and the name is familiar, but then the date makes it impossible? Heh.

I am a feminist and I am pissed.