- #1
randomperson8
- 9
- 0
Need help figuring out my future (keep doing physics??)
Hello. I'm an undergrad finishing up my sophomore year, and I really need help figuring out what I should do with my life. I think I'd just like to tell you how my college career has gone so far and then ask for advice.
I started out my freshman year as a physics major and was very excited and very motivated. I was more or less on top of things, but despite trying as hard as I could in freshman physics 1 I still got a B. (however rumor was only a couple people got As out of like 50). I also had calc 1 and that was an easy A. Getting a B in my major class was disheartening though, but the next semester I was still determined and motivated to do well.
So second semester started and at first things went well, probably better than they went 1st semester. I had a high B or close to an A throughout most of physics II and a solid A in calc II. However in the last month or two of the semester things went really bad. I lost my A in physics and it got to the point where it was impossible to get it in that class. When this happened I just lost it and sunk into a deep depression and started smoking cigarettes. All my motivation was gone and I even bombed my calc II final and ended up with a B in there too.
I wanted to just drop out of college temporarily to figure out my life, but my parents wouldn't let me and forced me to go back. So I did but still had almost no motivation to do well. I dropped the physics major and switched to math but with a physics minor, thinking it'd be easier. I didn't really care about my classes so much that semester and tried to be more social, and I ended up getting Bs and even Cs. I took like 3 math classes that semester and realized I really didn't even enjoy math the way I liked physics, and also found it to be just as difficult. So I switched back.
Now this semester I'm in Mathematical Physics and Modern II. Modern II is going well, I have a high B and might even be able to pull off an A if the final goes well, but I'm struggling a LOT in Mathematical Physics. I'll be getting a C in there or maybe even WORSE, which would mean I'd have to retake it or something.
so that's where I'm at now and I don't know what I should do. My overall GPA after this semester will be a tad above a 3.0 and my physics GPA is even worse (like 2.6ish). I don't see how I'm going to survive upper level classes after kinda screwing up my first two years. Also these grades surely aren't good enough for grad school and without going to grad school I don't even see what the hell there is to do with just a physics bachelors degree and low GPA...
Should I just give up and switch to something COMPLETELY different that I might actually be competent at? Should I drop out for a while and just try to figure out wtf to do with my life? Should I keep plowing through it and end up a subpar physicist that can't get into grad school? I just don't know anymore. What are my options?
Hello. I'm an undergrad finishing up my sophomore year, and I really need help figuring out what I should do with my life. I think I'd just like to tell you how my college career has gone so far and then ask for advice.
I started out my freshman year as a physics major and was very excited and very motivated. I was more or less on top of things, but despite trying as hard as I could in freshman physics 1 I still got a B. (however rumor was only a couple people got As out of like 50). I also had calc 1 and that was an easy A. Getting a B in my major class was disheartening though, but the next semester I was still determined and motivated to do well.
So second semester started and at first things went well, probably better than they went 1st semester. I had a high B or close to an A throughout most of physics II and a solid A in calc II. However in the last month or two of the semester things went really bad. I lost my A in physics and it got to the point where it was impossible to get it in that class. When this happened I just lost it and sunk into a deep depression and started smoking cigarettes. All my motivation was gone and I even bombed my calc II final and ended up with a B in there too.
I wanted to just drop out of college temporarily to figure out my life, but my parents wouldn't let me and forced me to go back. So I did but still had almost no motivation to do well. I dropped the physics major and switched to math but with a physics minor, thinking it'd be easier. I didn't really care about my classes so much that semester and tried to be more social, and I ended up getting Bs and even Cs. I took like 3 math classes that semester and realized I really didn't even enjoy math the way I liked physics, and also found it to be just as difficult. So I switched back.
Now this semester I'm in Mathematical Physics and Modern II. Modern II is going well, I have a high B and might even be able to pull off an A if the final goes well, but I'm struggling a LOT in Mathematical Physics. I'll be getting a C in there or maybe even WORSE, which would mean I'd have to retake it or something.
so that's where I'm at now and I don't know what I should do. My overall GPA after this semester will be a tad above a 3.0 and my physics GPA is even worse (like 2.6ish). I don't see how I'm going to survive upper level classes after kinda screwing up my first two years. Also these grades surely aren't good enough for grad school and without going to grad school I don't even see what the hell there is to do with just a physics bachelors degree and low GPA...
Should I just give up and switch to something COMPLETELY different that I might actually be competent at? Should I drop out for a while and just try to figure out wtf to do with my life? Should I keep plowing through it and end up a subpar physicist that can't get into grad school? I just don't know anymore. What are my options?