Ask HN: Do any of you have good undergrad comeback stories?
I am currently and actively screwing up, unintentionally, in a T-5 CS program. Even, though I am still in this no good, horrible semester. Is there hope?
Long answer: Of course there is. One bad semester is just one bad semester. Few companies look at grades/scores except for the first job, and if you have an answer as to what went wrong, most understand. I remember people in my program who were in their 5th and 6th year of work for a BA (full time). Some had a hard time adjusting to college life and needed a "redo" year. Didn't harm them in the long run.
C = MD
I don't remember any details of what my own life was like in college -- too long ago -- but i know these types of things were a constant -- when is the drop date, what do you do if you missed it, how can you not fail a class even tho you just decided you weren't going to show up all semester, i slept thru the final, i got food poisoning during the Final), etc. etc.
Professors have a lot of power.
A school counselor would is almost certainly worth a talking to.
Colleges are not what they used to be -- they _really_ have to be responsive to students, and many of them already were to a certain extent.
But it won't just fall in your lap - you have to go get it. Talking to friends/classmates is obviously helpful if you have those, but if not I'd start with a school counselor if they have that, then proceed to the school policies that talk about hardships, etc.
to me, it's a paradox -- the time when you most need help, you are least likely to seek it out -- or, it's the most difficult to seek it out, because you are down / depressed / whatever.
then it spirals, etc. etc.
i figure, the best you can do sometimes is break it down into baby steps -- the usual advice for getting big things done.
e.g.
- find out the name of the college counselor folks
- read a bit, call them, get appointment
- go to appointment
- sit down and say "i need help"
- go from there.
* recognize when things are going in a bad direction, spiraling, and even if you don't feel completely helpless or depressed or whatever, you _must_ go get help - it's what you owe to the universe or your family or etc. Get help from a parent, friend, other family member, doctor, psychologist / phychiatrist / counselor, teacher, professor, acquaintance, stranger, etc. the idea is to act _before_ things get too out of hand. and, if, after you've talked to someone, everything is fine and you get back on track, if it seems like it was a false alarm, great - get back to living a meaningful life. and if not, at least now you're getting some help. you did the most difficult thing which was to reach out for assistance or help. in a perfect world, someone would always be right next to you to help you and push/pull you in the right direction whenever you needed help, but sometimes you have to help yourself, and you did that, and that's a great thing.
and if you're young, you can rest easy in knowing that you can ** up your life like 100 times and eventually you start to realize, oh, it wasn't actually that big of a deal. :-D
by the time you get to 40 or so, you realize how much ** goes wrong in peoples' lives, and a lot of times, people just keep on going.
that's not to deny real hardship, but something like a failed class, semester, degree, etc. -- in the big scheme of things, it starts looking _real_ insignficant.
myself, i half-failed out, worked full time, back to school, finished, etc.
my only problem now is i decided to be a not-so-good entrepreneur -- don't be like me -- be a good entrepreneur, instead. ;-D