we all make mistakes and some of them cost us while most others help us to become better. But to worry that you are going to make a mistake is a waste of time and energy. It is okay to think things through before doing something to try to minimize the seriousness of the mistakes but whatever you do there will always be a better way. And thus you can never avoid makign mistakes completely. So, get your butt in gear, go back to school, if that is what you really want to do and keep on top of courses. Let the parties and other fun things be your reward for doing the assignments et al.
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I feel worthless
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Ok, man, think about it this way. Partying is fine and all, maybe a little, drinking, but just remember this. You pay tuition to take classes, not to party. Keep partying to a low, and think about why you're there. It's like paying $100 to get into disneyland just to eatr and use the bathrooms. Get it? (i.e., Go ahead and "eat and Use the bathrooms"(party) while you're there, but "go on some rides"(study)). Get it???
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Don't worry.I'm going to offer some pretty unorthodox solutions, I suggest you at least read them and give them some thought.Seriously, I know EXACTLY what you're going through. My GPA my freshman and sophomore years of high school was a collective 1.5. Yes, that's quite shitastic. I was one hell of a hellraiser back then and I was always in trouble getting suspended, stealing, skipping weeks of class at a time, it was pretty goddamn ridiculous.For reasons I won't get into I ended up trying to turn things around when my junior year rolled around. I think first semester my senior year I managed to swing a 3.8, and now I'm at a pretty respectable University and things are pretty good.I still put my social life first, my GPA right now is a mediocre 2.9 or so, but that's not terribly bad. There's a few things you're going to want to learn to master if you want to continue carrying on like you do.1. Learn to do shit in the morning. This means if you're going to go out and have a good time on a Tuesday night set your alarm an hour or so earlier so you can get your work done. 2-3 hours if you have a paper - that may seem like a lot but trust me. You'll need it. I made the mistake of giving myself too little time, and that only resulted in my missing my first class. Also, you'll be at your most sober in the morning, so you'll be pretty clear minded and able to get shit done...unless you've got a hangover. If you at all anticipate getting overly drunk that night, set your alarm way earlier cause you're gonna need all that time, oh, and drink a shit ton of water.2. Give yourself an hour between classes - this gives you adequate time to get to a library and do your homework, or add some finishing touches to your homework. It's tough and unnecessary sometimes to give yourself an hour between every class, just make sure you've got a nice gap somewhere in your day so you can finish up work you haven't done. Preferably earlier in the day. This will work, but if you have a shit ton of work to do, do some of it when you wake up.3. This may not be the solution you'd expect to hear, but when it comes to getting stuff done, pot > alcohol. I'm not saying become a pothead or anything, but it's true. Your studies are much more interesting when you're high. Also when you drink, you're pretty much out of commission for the rest of the day. On pot, you're out of commission for an hour or two, then you can get right back into the groove of things. Just don't overdo it and start smoking the moment you come down, and don't start smoking a shit ton or anything, and don't smoke when you're depressed, there's a chance it'll just amplify your feelings. Smoke with friends, and smoke with discretion. What I'm basically saying here is you'll get better grades on pot than you will on alcohol. Once again, I speak from experience. I've dealt with being both an alcoholic, and a pothead and my grades on pot were much better. But seriously, you don't want to end up being either so smoke with discretion.4. When you've got a test or something to study for, you're going to have to study, and if you're anything like me, that's going to happen at the last minute. Now, if the last minute means the night before, still set your alarm for a bit earlier so you can review last minute. That helps when you've been cramming. Studying only the morning of a test IS NOT a good strategy. But if it must be done, it must be done. Do these basic things: Write shit down, then read it. A lot of teachers where I am will do powerpoint lectures, and will post those online - study those. If you've got a study guide, you're a lucky bastard. Go sequentially through everything on it and write it down. Now I'm not sure if you want cheating strategies at all some I'm not going to post any, but if those would help, I'll fill you in. Now to everyone reading this I DO NOT condone cheating - unless it's for a general education class for which the knowledge you learn therein will offer no benefit in the major or field in which you have chosen to study and will only come in handy when you're playing Trivial Pursuit. Also just to clarify, I rarely cheat these days.5. Explore shit. What I mean by this, is explore the vast offerings of classes by your university. Don't just take the prerequisites to your major or whatever, take at least 1-2 fun classes each semester. Like writing? Take a creative writing class. Like martial arts? Take Karate. Like swimming? Take Scuba Diving. There's a firearms class at my university, as well as a course on the books written by C.S. Lewis. There's a course about Greek and Roman mythology and another course on bowling. Like cooking at all? Take a cooking course. Want to learn to ride horses? There's probably a course on that. Ever wanted to learn a musical instrument? There's probably tons of courses on every instrument you'd ever want to learn. Acting, Ultimate Frisbee, any class like this will add a highlight to your class day and will actually make you want to get up and go to class. I don't know if missing class is an issue for you, but if you've got a fun class you don't want to miss, you're more likely to go to all your classes, ESPECIALLY if this class is early in the day.6. If you're ever in class, and you've occasionally talked to the guy or girl next to you, you're friends. Yes, it's true. If there's a test coming up, just say to them, "Hey, wanna come over to my place and study for this test?" Do it. One of the BEST things about college is how informal it is. It's not at all weird for someone you barely know to invite you to hang out at their place whether it's to study or hang out or whatever. If you can get a few other kids involved, you're getting work done and you're probably going to have a good time, especially afterwards.Now a lot of you guys are going to look at this list of suggestions and just balk. Yes, it's unorthodox, but it's pretty tried and true. You'd probably expect my GPA to be a lot higher if I followed all these tips, and you're right. It's not higher because I learned all these things from being here at college. Also I've got a few issues of my own I'm dealing with.Anyways, the tips the rest of you guys offer are pretty on paper, but useless in practice for most people, or at least people like me. What I'm saying are some crazy, but crazy enough to work options for someone who wants to start slow.It's best that he try your guys' solutions first, but if those don't work, he's got my little list to fall back on.Good luck.
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Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this topic, especially Hapless. Although those methods you've outlined may be unorthodox, at least I will have something in case all else fails. I know my first semester sucked horribly, but I do feel much more confident now. You know what, maybe I really am not that confident, but from all these stupid "self help" audio tapes I've listened to and self esteem pages, the first step to gaining that self-esteem is to believe you're confident and can acheive, which I do. Sorry it took so long to reply, however I've had so much going on as of late (including the non-stop playing of Christmas video game presents). Once again, thank you all.As I've done with previous topics in the past, I'll occasionally update the topic with some of my progress.
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Put on a price tag, and get your act together. The harder you work, the better you'll play when it's playtime.At least in my experience.
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What up. I am a freshman in college also. i go to Southern Oregon University. the second biggist party school in the usa other then UCLA. I had that problem also. But i talked to friends who partied and got good grades at the same time. Do you homework in the morrning and partie at night. The best way. If you do it in the morn you dont have to worrie about it at night. My roomate would always party with me at night. I never saw him study or do homework so i though he was in the same boat as me. Man was i wrong. When we got grades back for the term man he smoked me with grades. i had 2.0 and he had a 3.7. I was like wtf. You are always partin with me. why are your grades so good. he told me that he did his homework in the morn. While i was sleepin eating just hanging out he was in the room studing. then when it came to party time i would make the choice to party, not homework. So just do the homework and studing durin the morn and day. And party like there is no tomorrow at the night time. That is what i did and it is helping. My grades are better then they were in high school now.