Screwed up big time this semester

[randomkoreandude]

Originally Posted by CrazyJew

Fortunately I have a job lined up next year, a computer science co-op position. They've already accepted me, I just have to wait for my citizenship to file since it's a defense company and they won't hire legal resident aliens. However, the co-op itself is sort of a probationary period, where once I graduate, they will decide whether to keep me as an employee or not. If **** hit the fan and I ended up not becoming an employee at the end, I don't want a sub-par GPA from dragging me down.

try and aim for a 3.5+ GPA by graduation, at the cost of an extra ~$2000 to pay off after school,

or

settle with a 3.0-3.2, save myself $2000 after graduation.

(scholarship only pays for classes I keep, not the ones I drop)

also, I have to wonder how much my GPA will really matter anyway from a university that is ranked like 97th in the country.

ok honestly 2000+ is nothing nowadays for loans so dont let that be your barrier cuz thats just marsupialed

since you have a job and you mention your schools not that great, you COULD just coast and do well at the job, network and shine and make yourself useful so as to be kept around. once you get your first job, college means NOTHING other than showing off. college will mean something if you decide to go back to school for more degrees but if this is it then maybe this route is better

 

[Joffrey]

Originally Posted by CrazyJew

Fortunately I have a job lined up next year, a computer science co-op position. They've already accepted me, I just have to wait for my citizenship to file since it's a defense company and they won't hire legal resident aliens. However, the co-op itself is sort of a probationary period, where once I graduate, they will decide whether to keep me as an employee or not. If **** hit the fan and I ended up not becoming an employee at the end, I don't want a sub-par GPA from dragging me down.

I've just never done this bad. It was a giant slap across the face. This is pretty much rock bottom for me in regard to my life at university so far. And the missus is the only thing keeping me sane right now. I'm happy that I know she'd still stick by my side even if I dropped out of school and became a pot farmer. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, though.

So here is my predicament. I can either late drop the classes and not affect my GPA, but this will cost me about an extra $1800 in loans to pay off after school. Or I can take two F's, my gpa drops to 3.03, and hopefully I'll get it back a ~3.3 before I graduate. Not good enough to work for microsoft, but at least it's still something. Or I can take out an expensive loan to try and maintain a better GPA. There's the tradeoff...

try and aim for a 3.5+ GPA by graduation, at the cost of an extra ~$2000 to pay off after school,

or

settle with a 3.0-3.2, save myself $2000 after graduation.

(scholarship only pays for classes I keep, not the ones I drop)

also, I have to wonder how much my GPA will really matter anyway from a university that is ranked like 97th in the country.


Drop the classes and eat the $2k. Cut back your hours at work if you can't balance the two.

 

[mlongano]

Advice from a 59 year old "old fart":

Since you seem to be very concerned about your GPA (and who could blame you) my advice would be to drop the classes, chalk up the $1,800 as one of life's cheaper lessons (seems expensive to you now, but in a few years it will represent one weeks pay), and move on. The two grades of "F" won't count towards graduation credit anyway...so you're already out the $1,800...no sense in keeping the failing marks on your record if you don't have to.

Ignore the advice here regarding marriage and college. I was married when I was a sophomore in college. I worked full time during the day and took five years to complete a four year degree. Two years later I did the same with a traditional MBA (bricks and mortar, no executive MBAs in 1975). The MBA took me five years but with an undergraduate Psychology degree, it has served me very well these last 30 years.

Working full time and going to school full time is not for everyone. If you can handle the student loans, use them to subsidize your earnings. Stay full time in school. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can get on with the rest of your life. It's tough, and I know it seems like there is no end, but there is...and it's right around the corner.

Don't be so hard on yourself. You've done very well so far, and as time goes by you'll realize that not every disappointment means life or death.

By the way...the love of a good woman will serve you as well or better than your college degree. Later this month my wife and I will celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary.

Good luck to you!

 

[BP348]

Originally Posted by mlongano

Advice from a 59 year old "old fart":

Since you seem to be very concerned about your GPA (and who could blame you) my advice would be to drop the classes, chalk up the $1,800 as one of life's cheaper lessons (seems expensive to you now, but in a few years it will represent one weeks pay), and move on. The two grades of "F" won't count towards graduation credit anyway...so you're already out the $1,800...no sense in keeping the failing marks on your record if you don't have to.

Ignore the advice here regarding marriage and college. I was married when I was a sophomore in college. I worked full time during the day and took five years to complete a four year degree. Two years later I did the same with a traditional MBA (bricks and mortar, no executive MBAs in 1975). The MBA took me five years but with an undergraduate Psychology degree, it has served me very well these last 30 years.

Working full time and going to school full time is not for everyone. If you can handle the student loans, use them to subsidize your earnings. Stay full time in school. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can get on with the rest of your life. It's tough, and I know it seems like there is no end, but there is...and it's right around the corner.

Don't be so hard on yourself. You've done very well so far, and as time goes by you'll realize that not every disappointment means life or death.

By the way...the love of a good woman will serve you as well or better than your college degree. Later this month my wife and I will celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary.

Good luck to you!

This ^ is very good advise!!

Mlongano congrats on the 38th anniversary!!!

 

[CouttsClient]

Originally Posted by mlongano

Advice from a 59 year old "old fart": Since you seem to be very concerned about your GPA (and who could blame you) my advice would be to drop the classes, chalk up the $1,800 as one of life's cheaper lessons (seems expensive to you now, but in a few years it will represent one weeks pay), and move on. The two grades of "F" won't count towards graduation credit anyway...so you're already out the $1,800...no sense in keeping the failing marks on your record if you don't have to. Ignore the advice here regarding marriage and college. I was married when I was a sophomore in college. I worked full time during the day and took five years to complete a four year degree. Two years later I did the same with a traditional MBA (bricks and mortar, no executive MBAs in 1975). The MBA took me five years but with an undergraduate Psychology degree, it has served me very well these last 30 years. Working full time and going to school full time is not for everyone. If you can handle the student loans, use them to subsidize your earnings. Stay full time in school. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can get on with the rest of your life. It's tough, and I know it seems like there is no end, but there is...and it's right around the corner. Don't be so hard on yourself. You've done very well so far, and as time goes by you'll realize that not every disappointment means life or death. By the way...the love of a good woman will serve you as well or better than your college degree. Later this month my wife and I will celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary. Good luck to you!
+1000 Excellent advice. Congrats on the anniversary!

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

you fucked up!

My ***** Shonuff, droppin' some truth bombs all up on ya.

 

[sartorialism]

Originally Posted by mmadha

Unless you have plans to go to medical or law school I would not worry too much about grades. I mean I graduated with a 3.72 GPA and I am a complete loser and waste of space.

On that note, it's worth screwing up your GPA just to ensure that you don't go to law school. It's not worth it. Here I am, at a top law school, maintaining a high GPA and getting no job offers. FML.

 

[mlongano]

Originally Posted by CouttsClient

+1000

Excellent advice. Congrats on the anniversary!

Thanks everybody!

 

[Huntsman]

Sorry if I missed it, but what's your total debt burden? If you are not getting credit for the classes, and you are in comp-sci, I doubt the $1800 is that much of a big deal. It;s one of those pay the piper scenarios. But geez, I don't know how you can go through a SEMESTER and not realize you are failing. I mean, dude. That is not the cruelty of life, that is is not looking after your own house.

A single C cost me $2500 in scholarship money for that one class, so I understand that bite. Fulltime/fulltime here also.

~H

 

[pebblegrain]

Originally Posted by CouttsClient

+1000

Excellent advice. Congrats on the anniversary!

its not good advice. obviously no one who is satisfactorily married is going to tell you they made a mistake.

There is no reason to get married during college. tell me one reason why you can't wait until you are 24? Unless your girlfriend is 33 already and wants to have kids right now.

You should not work full-time in college. there's a reason why all these trust fund pricks succeed at such a higher rate than poor MFers: they never have to worry about paying their school bills. Just take the school loan and eat it now, concentrate on school, pay it back later.

I guarantee you a 3.8 GPA on your resume will look better than a 3.05. is it that hard to understand???

 

[Reggs]

Wait to get married.

Regardless of when you do, pay close attention to how she handles this problem in your life. If she freaks out too much or makes you feel worse about yourself, then you need to jump ship ASAP.

 

[Dewey]

The problem with fulltime/fulltime status is math-related. There aren't that many hours in a week.

A regular three-credit course over a 14- or 15-week semester is supposed to be a 10 hr/wk commitment on the student's part. 12 credits = 40 hours = "full time." This is class time plus study time. Commuting time does not count.

Work 40 hours, take 15 credits, you are signed up for 13 hours of work and study every day of the week. Take one day off and that's 15 hours a day, six days a week.

Unless you can get paid for not working, or have a job that will let you do a huge chunk of studying on the clock (a lot of work-study is like this), then the math does not work out and you do not put in the study hours that you need to complete the courses with good grades.

Yes you can cruise through freshman and sophomore year on 3 hours a week of study time, or less, with some courses. Intro courses, part-time instructors, the use of occasional standardized exams for sections of 300 people, the recycling of exams and sharing of study guides, etc., all of these factors and more make it possible for students to cut corners early on.

But something is wrong with your degree program (i.e., it's worthless) if that is the case at the junior and senior levels.

This is a big reason why about half of all college students fail to graduate. Freshman year, maybe sophomore year was easier than they expected. They had a lot more free time than they expected. Some work, some cultivate hobbies that demand more and more of their free time. The sad thing is that they continue to commit to not studying (take on job, hobbies, whatever) at the just the time when they really need to commit to studying more. And this ends with not bad grades in one or two classes but with bad grades across the board -- the dread flunking out, which you are in the process of doing.

To make an analogy, if a young baseball player crushed A level and drank heavily and did fine at AA, would he quit practicing, study, conditioning, etc., as he levelled up to AAA and the major-league level -- and expect to do well?

 

[deadly7]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

Sorry if I missed it, but what's your total debt burden? If you are not getting credit for the classes, and you are in comp-sci, I doubt the $1800 is that much of a big deal. It;s one of those pay the piper scenarios.

Actually, the majority of comp sci positions are drastically underpaid. And from the sounds of things, he's going to be nothing more than a programming monkey. At a college graduate co-op level they're a dime a dozen and cheap as all hell.

 

[ennui]

A good GPA increases your chances of landing a good first job. By "good" I mean a job that will pay decently, get your valuable experience, and (most importantly) give you a way to make connections with folks who will get you into your second job.

Especially if you are coming from a lower-ranked school, a good GPA will be the primary way you will stand out from the masses. It's often the difference between being stuck in customer support or QA and landing a development job out of school.

$2k or so is noise man. You can make that in 3-5 days later on depending on how your career progresses. That should not factor into your decisions at all.

 

[dtmt]

Originally Posted by deadly7

Actually, the majority of comp sci positions are drastically underpaid. And from the sounds of things, he's going to be nothing more than a programming monkey. At a college graduate co-op level they're a dime a dozen and cheap as all hell.

This is completely wrong.

http://education.yahoo.net/articles/...ng_careers.htm