My personal story of overcoming academic difficulty

Because preventing and dealing with academic difficulty have been the some of the most popular post to date, I wanted to share my personal story about overcoming being in the academic crapper as a first generation and low income college student:

Photo credit: www.mirror.co.uk

After my first quarter at a large public Research I university, I was dangling by a string with a 1.23 GPA. I felt disappointed in myself for such an epic fail. I was ashamed of it and wanted to keep it from my family, whom had I thought had high expectations for me that I did not meet and would never love me again.

I thought I would be kicked out of college immediately. But, I wasn't. I got a letter (they still sent letters back then in 2002!) letting me know that I had one more quarter to get it together before being booted to the proverbial curve. The letter also told me to schedule a meeting with an advisor, so I did.

At that meeting with the advisor, he helped me develop a study plan and set up tutoring. He talked to me about asking for help as soon as I recognized that I could use some extra support. He thought I should talk to my family instead of hiding it from them. He also suggested that I talk to a counselor to deal with my feelings of shame and failure. 

I took his advice to heart. My family was actually very supportive. On top of that, talking to a counselor really helped me to realize some of it was my fault and I could change that. It also showed me that some of it was out of my control, but I could control how I dealt with it. I felt empowered after talking to my family and a counselor.

By sticking to my study plan, going to tutoring, talking to my family, and continuing to talk to a counselor, the next quarter I worked my way up to a 2.7. I made it my goal to prevent being in academic difficulty and stuck to it.

I think about this experience every time I talk to a student about academic difficulty. I can say it was following these steps and these tips that helped me prevent my grades from taking a nose dive for another quarter. It wasn't always easy, but I did it.

Got questions? Please feel free to ask The Advisor about it.