My academic future right now looks like hell

[pakmingki2]

I don't know why, but I'm currently just so unmotivated and lazy in college right now.
Im going to be a junior, and I did really good during my freshmen year, pretty much getting all As or A-'s.
And then, in my sophomore year everything went to ****.
I don't have any explanation whatsoever.

Im trying to be an EE major, but i wasn't accepted into the department which was no surprise. It's really not too big of a deal, since there are also a lot of people who don't get into their department until senior year.

However, I've taken many EE classes because I've constantly begged to and petitioned to the department to allow me to take them, and i always promised them i would do better but i always end up doing garbagety cause I'm too lazy and unmotivated.


Right now the only thing that keeps me from complete depression and suicidal thoughts is the mere fact that I'm still enrolled in a decent university, however if i can't get my act together in my junior year the only thing i'll be able to do is get an applied mathematics degree, and what the **** can you do with that?

 

[anubis01]

I don't know why, but I'm currently just so unmotivated and lazy in college right now.
Im going to be a junior, and I did really good during my freshmen year, pretty much getting all As or A-'s.
And then, in my sophomore year everything went to ****.
I don't have any explanation whatsoever.

I'm pretty sure you know why you're lazy, it’s just a matter of being honest with yourself.

Im trying to be an EE major, but i wasn't accepted into the department which was no surprise. It's really not too big of a deal, since there are also a lot of people who don't get into their department until senior year.

However, I've taken many EE classes because I've constantly begged to and petitioned to the department to allow me to take them, and i always promised them i would do better but i always end up doing garbagety cause I'm too lazy and unmotivated.

If it wasn't a big deal you wouldn't have begged to take those classes and you wouldn't be "depressed". Look I'll tell you flat out you will fail if you don’t take responsibility for your actions and seek to correct them.

I too did have very bad grades in my freshman year. The reason was even though I was doing work it simply wasn't enough and combined with my horrible, lazy studying habits I nearly went on probation. However, I finally fixed my problem by recognizing the fact that I did have a very big problem when it came to studying habits and it was time to either fix the problem or change majors.

 

[Choppy]

This sounds like a classical case of hitting the second year wall.

Let me take a wild stab at this. In high school you were pretty smart - did very well with minimal effort. In your first year of university, because you took a bunch of advanced high school courses, you were very well prepared. You'd seen a significant portion of the material already and were able to buckle down and learn the rest.

Then in your second year your classes began to build on all that new stuff that you just memorized for the exams in first year. You tried to do the same thing you've been doing all along study wise and it just wasn't working anymore. Rather than improving and adapting it, was easier just to let your marks slide a little. Maybe they slid a little too much in your case.

So the question is what to do about it.

First of all, you need to figure out if you're really passionate about what you're studying. If engineering is where you want to be, you'll be willing to log the hours you need to get through it. If you're just hoping that it will lead to a cushy job, you're going to have some trouble.

Next you have to examine your study habits. Look at the amount of time you put into studying and assignments as well as the quality of time you put in. How can you study more efficiently? How can you balance the other demands in your life and still be happy? Talk to other students who are more successful and figure out what techniques work for them.

 

[turin]

Choppy said exactly what I was thinking. I went through a similar experience, as well (in EE). I would add two suggestions to Choppy's great advice.

1) You may have thought that you could handle more credit hours per semester than you really could. Reduce to the minimum.

2) Get together with your classmates as much as possible to study, even if it is not for a particular assignment or exam. The world of knowledge and understanding is so huge, you cannot possibly have thought of the best way to approach every detail of every subject, even regarding your personal way to understand things. Other students at your level will help you understand ways to approach the subject matter that work better for you than you will realize on your own. (This was a particularly difficult realization for me, but now, years later, my superior attitude during my undergrad days seems quite silly to me.) This can also be frustrating, though, particularly if you are very intelligent, and not used to working with others on academic work. You may have to sniff around for study partners that work well with you.

 

[mal4mac]

If i can't get my act together in my junior year the only thing i'll be able to do is get an applied mathematics degree, and what the **** can you do with that?

A lot! Get down to the career office and ask...

 

[changeseeker]

A lot! Get down to the career office and ask...

In fact, the hottest job prospects right now are for people with applied math / statistics for data mining. There are all these companies out there sitting on large amounts of data they need to make sense of and not enough people to do it for them. So the salaries are up the roof!