Hello. I've posted about how excited i'd been about going to college. I'm doing a degree program i love but there's one issue. The first semester just came to a close, but my main worry is out of the 8 courses i'm taking, i think i might have failed 3. Even those i might have passed, i don't think my grades were that great. It's not that the exams were super difficult but i did not study much as i had a job that was very demanding that i had very little time left for anything else. You see, i could have left the job but i needed it for my tuition and transport money. My main worry is, there's a lot of competition out there and i know that with a physics degree i'm elligible for a masters in aeronautics or aerospace engineering...where my main passion lies. Say, i perform great in the upcoming semesters (3 semesters left before the practical, industrial placement part of the program), will my first semester grades and that having supplemented some of the courses negatively affect future academic or job prospects?
I would suggest talking to your academic advisor. I know that at my college, they allow freshmen and sophomores to retake courses if they did not do well in them. Then the bad grades can be replaced. Also, they might be able to help you balance your course load with your work load.
I'm going to second you talking to your academic adviser. I would also maybe consider taking less classes. I don't know how your school works, but 8 classes would be at least 24 credits at my school which would be impossible for any STEM field.
ALWAYS talk to your academic advisor with academics related questions. I second on taking less classes if possible. 8 classes is normally 24 hours, which is considered overload with most universities. As far as retaking classes go, I would actually retake the classes that are a prerequisite for your major classes as if you struggled in the prereq classes, there will be an expectation that you know the material in future classes of which that knowledge needs to be known for.
This is how my school works( i'm in southern africa). I enrolled for applied physics that means i gotta do all the courses that come with it ...they are compulsory. 4 of the courses are physics core courses, which i think i passed. I'm ( including everyone who's doing maths, computer science and applied chemistry) take the remaining 4 courses, 2maths and 1 computer science- the ones i think i failed. Each course is at least 4 hours of lectures per week. Failing a course may either lead one to writing a supplementary exam or re-taking the course. So reducing the workload is almost entirely out of the question, my faculty advisors' words. My main worry is, may the not-so-great grades negatively affect my future prospects...i perform well in the core physics courses.
Hey Teepee, if it turns out that you passed the classes that you were struggling in, then I would say that it's best to look forwards to future classes, maybe taking a smaller course load, and maximizing your performance. If however you don't receive marks that are decent enough in the classes that gave you hard time this semester, then try to retake them and do exceedingly well. Don't beat yourself up over this. Just focus on the future and strive to do your best. Good luck and I hope you take us to the moon.
thanks guys. I've been beating myself up over my performance so bad that i never realised that so many freshmen in through similar problems. After your advice and some stuff i read from some physics forums, i realise that i can tackle this and all my studies with a fresh positive attitude. Again.....Thank you!
