To every good there is a bad. Think about it this way, for every hour away you are from home, make one good friend. When you feel lonely and like nobody cares, someone is thinking about you. Simply follow your heart and dreams because you live your life, not anyone else; do not let anyone convince you otherwise. They say change is always good, but nobody ever said if it was going to be easy or hard. If you are ever having a hard time with a situation, there are many resources that are willing to reach out and help you; you just have to let them know. Getting involved in clubs and organizations often helps release stress and allows you to meet many people who are most likely going through the same thing as you. You can never just give up.
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First thing you need to remember, like the friendly words written on the front of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is “Don’t Panic”. I think Douglas Adams’ words should apply to not only intergalactic travel, but also to everything you do. I promise that your life will not be over if you fail a class. You can still get into med school or law school or graduate school under the unfortunate circumstance that you receive an “F”. Believe me, I’m living proof. I failed my Political Science class and am now attending the graduate school here at Texas Tech University.
After you have taken a deep breath, you can look at your options, and there are several. First you need to evaluate where you are in the semester. If you know that you are failing a class and it is before the drop date, you may want to go ahead and drop out of the class. If you do this early enough in the semester, you may even be eligible for a partial refund. You can drop a class on Techsis Web for Students if it is before the twelfth day of class. Just choose “Register Drop/Add” from the menu, select the class you want to drop, and use the pull down menu to select “Drop”. It’s quick and painless. However, after the twelfth class day, you will need to go to Office of the Registrar in West Hall Room 103. Don’t be afraid; the staff is very nice and ready to help you. Bring your Tech ID and they will handle the rest. Be aware of the drop dates and Texas Tech’s policy on dropping classes, and you should have no problem with that troublesome class.
If you realize you are failing a class after the drop date but before the semester ends, there is still hope! You could ask your professor if there is any extra credit work that you could turn in. Even if he or she says, “No” you are still not any worse off than you were before. Professors want you to succeed provided you are willing to put in the work. I personally overslept for a test and could not recover from the goose egg I got. I went to speak to my professor, but he would not allow me to make up the exam. However, most professors want to work with you in these circumstances.
Finally if you come down to a situation like I did where you are failing a class after the drop date and there is nothing that you can do but take the “F”, it can be fixed. Texas Tech has a grade replacing policy where you can retake the class and the higher grade will replace the failing one. You will need to fill out a brief form and turn it in to the registrar’s office as well. For more information about the policies or the Office of the Registrar, you can visit their website. http://www.depts.ttu.edu/registrar/
I have been told that the average college student changes their major between 5 and 6 times before they graduate, which sounds like a waste of money to me. Rather than pour so much time and money into your education and then realize that you want to change your path, there are a couple of things you can do to help prevent this from happening to you.
It is okay to be confused about your career path when you first start out but by the end of your sophomore year you should know what degree you want to pursue. I am confident in saying that it is okay to be confused because I realized that I was not in the right major and through searching for a new major I learned some valuable information. I was in Pre-Pharmacy and taking Organic Chemistry II when I realized that I hate chemistry. I am the first in my family to go to college so my parents pushed me to be a doctor, lawyer, or pharmacist. Although making loads of money is good I realized that being happy is more important, so I took the Strong Interest Inventory test at the Career Center to help me determine what area(s) would best fit my interests. The DISCOVERY! Program at the Advising Center can also help you find an appropriate major/career path and you should research both opportunities to see which would be more beneficial to you. For me the Strong Interest Inventory test was very eye opening and I would recommend it to anyone.
As it turns out, I was much better suited as an English major. First step to change my major was to talk to the English advisor. She was able to fill out my degree plan, discuss my options, and help me to set a graduation date. You may think that advisors have too many students to worry about to give you the focus you deserve. Advisors are amazing people that would love to help you. The Arts and Sciences college tried three times to push back my graduation date because a class substitution had not been done. I would get the email from A&S and almost immediately after get a carbon copied email from Suzi telling them to make the replacement please. Suzi had my back at all times and I really need to send her a card to thank her. Otherwise, I would still be an undergraduate right now. Moral of the story is advisors are marvelous!
Set aside a little time in your day to change your major. It took me half a day but I was also filing my degree plan. Once you get the degree plan from your advisor, you need to decide on a minor. After visiting the advisor for that department, you have to take your degree plan back to the Arts & Sciences office if you are in that college.
I was once asked, “If money were not a factor, what would you do for the rest of your life?” I replied, “I would be a writer and college literature professor”. Today, I have graduated with my degree in English from Texas Tech University, and I am currently working on my Master’s degree. If you feel like you are not in the right major, ask yourself that question. Be honest with your answers. You can save yourself money and more importantly time.
You have just graduated or are about to graduate from college. You want to go to graduate school, but the last thing you want to do is take another test. Do not worry. With some planning ahead, the GRE is a pushover.
GRE stands for Graduate Record Examination and uses three sections to evaluate you. The quantitative tests math skills and reasoning. The verbal tests reading comprehension and vocabulary. The writing tests your ability to convey your meaning clearly and quickly. Understanding the format and the directions before you start can save you precious time on the test.
You can sign up for the GRE online through their website www.gre.org. You can pick the test site, the date, the time, and pay online. How easy is that? Texas Tech has a testing center on campus, so you can also sign up and pay with them. The test costs about $160 so you only want to take it once.
There are a couple of ways to study for the GRE. When you sign up, the GRE board will send you some test prep software that has a couple of full length tests and some other useful content. You can also purchase a test prep book from a company like Kaplan that also includes a CD with full length test, quizzes, sample writing prompts, and a diagnostic test. Finally you can check out a test prep book from the campus library. It will not have the CD but the content is still very helpful.
I used a Kaplan book that I purchased from one of the bookstores. It cost about $35 but it was well worth it. I had the freedom to study where I wanted and when I wanted instead of making trips to the library. I took the diagnostic test first to see where my strengths and weakness were so I could focus my studying on those sections. The CD also has quizzes that focus on specific sections and a grade book to track your progress. The back of the book has lists of the most common GRE words and their definitions as well as root word and prefix meanings.
If you choose one of these methods or a combination, the most important thing is to be aware of the format of the test. Once you have that down, the rest comes easily. Good luck!
You, just like most all other people want to have the best, to reach our potential and make out impact on life. Success is when we achieve our potential. If we are not in the path to achieve our potentials, we are avoiding success. Therefore we are failing! It seems a majority of people fail in life, simply because they did not become what they COULD have become. When we don’t reach your abilities to be great, we not only fail ourselves but let others down. Think of all the people’s lives you can impact but then you choose not to.
Don’t be selfish; strive to be who you really are. Develop that person you really are. This is only possible through discipline. Choosing the better/best option has a price. I know that when we forgo what is easy yet nice for that which is difficult yet fantastic will be difficult. Start training yourself now. We expect athletes to workout and condition themselves to become great, why should think we don’t need to do the same in our own pursuits? Do what’s right and best, and don’t forgo what’s great for what’s merely good.
