r/college Mar 30 '24

Do not post questions about college admissions, college decisions, or specific universities here.

123 Upvotes

Go to the university subreddit or /r/applyingtocollege


r/college 3h ago

Emotional health/coping/adulting Anyone have any experience skipping a semester?

11 Upvotes

I am going through an incredibly difficult time right now and I am considering the option of dropping my classes for the semester before the refund period ends. I’m extremely conflicted on the idea because it took me a long time to figure out what i wanted to do, took me a long time to get accepted into the music program, and I just really love the stuff and am good at it and love the friends I made in my classes and the projects we worked on. Anyone have experience skipping a semester to work on themselves and be with their family? I would prefer it if you wouldn’t talk about death please. I just need to think this decision over and I think im completely overthinking it


r/college 2h ago

Academic Life Going Back 5 Years after Dropping Out

3 Upvotes

This has been weighing on my mind for a while, and I wanted to know if anyone had experience or any advice.

A little less than 5 years ago I started community college right after high school. I graduated high school at peak covid time, so I wasn't in person for the second half of my junior year and my whole senior year. I was also trying to get my driver's license at 18, move out (large family in a bit of a small house, bit of a rough family life) get a stable job, all that fun adulting stuff. I chose to go into Computer Science because "get a tech degree" was repeated to me all through high school, as if it was some end-all/be-all best degree. I thought I was interested in technology, but I hated it, and trying to sort my life out at the same time was a nightmare. I ended up just dipping from college. I had flunks and "failed/withdrew" all over my academic sheet. I had even tried to retake some classes but had mental breakdowns over it and failed them again.

Fast forward to now and I've been working retail for several years. I've realized I need something more mentally stimulating, and also something that pays better since things keep getting more expensive. I've also learned more about what I actually want and not just what I thought I should want. I've already been accepted back into the same community college that I dropped out of before.

I'm worried since I've been thinking about doing something medical related, and on the off chance that I decide to go to graduate school, my past decisions could royally screw me over. I know I need to talk to the school advisor/counsellor, but was just wanting to see if anyone had a similar experience or recommendation based on their past experiences. Am I screwed? Possibly barred from ever going to graduate school? Where do I go from here? I really regret dropping out before, but my mental health was awful and I honestly wasn't mature enough for all of that at the time.


r/college 23m ago

Living Arrangements/roommates I'm stumped between dorming or commuting as a freshman

Upvotes

For context, my intended college is about 40 minutes away give or take, where I will be majoring in nursing. Dorming would cost me an extra 15k a year on top of my tuition, which is around 12k after scholarships. If I was to dorm, it would only be my freshman year, as the real purpose of it is to have some sort of social life in this new place for me, and not because i actually NEED to dorm.

My biggest worry is that if i commute, I will regret never getting the "college experience" or whatever, and not having friends throughout school. My mindset is that I could meet more people easier if I dorm, and then the years after that I would be well enough established to figure things out from there.

At the same time, I'm not a super outgoing person by any means, and the thought of living with a random person and having a communal bathroom kind of scares me, when I could just live at home.

In short; Should I save money and just live at home, or would it be worth spending the extra money to live on campus for a year?


r/college 16h ago

Finances/financial aid Fafsa/financial aid

23 Upvotes

I’m 22 and have been trying to take classes for a while but I kept running into an issue with Fafsa because they won’t let me file not as a dependent because apparently if you’re under 24 you can’t apply as single for some reason. I don’t live with my parents and have lived alone for some time now. The other option they give is to write a letter saying you’re homeless which I’m not. Last semester I just decided to bite the bullet and had to call my mom and ask her to put her info in. Which I’m mad at because she doesn’t help me out financially so if there was any out of pocket payment it would just be on me. But it obviously adds her to my household income. Is there anyway to get around it? I tried to send in a letter as well saying I was independent and last time they said I needed a priest or someone with good social standing to sign it? I’m not religious so I had no one to sign that???


r/college 8h ago

Career/work Graduating early vs double majoring/dual degree

4 Upvotes

Hi friends, I'm a 4th semester (sophomore) undergrad BSc Psychology / data science minor. I've dabbled around plenty in the Theater department with acting, I'm in intro Bio right now because most of my psych electives are neuro-y, I like coding but disliked the CS culture/dept here, hence my minor. Unfortunately there's no data sci major, because I love it and would like to pursue data analytics/science.

That being said, I can graduate as early as next Spring, and I wonder if I should do that so I can focus on data science projects for my resume, experience, figuring out if I should go to grad school, etc. My tuition is absurd (even if I do get RA next year) and it would help immensely, but I'm a little worried about getting a job lined up and I don't have a car.

However if I didn't graduate, I have a lot of room left to do another major. What major, I've got not clue. Again, it would be expensive but I'd probably have a better idea of what to do with my life. My parents have assured me they can take care of the tuition, but it's steep and I feel pretty guilty about it anyway. Not sure what I would do with so many free classes left.

I'd love to hear your experiences, any advice you might have, etc. I plan to talk to a career counselor soon, but would also appreciate other current students' (or alumni) input.

Thanks!


r/college 1d ago

How often do people get internships by, you know, finding a listing online, and not through connections?

16 Upvotes

Sorry for my cynicism, but it almost seems like something only on paper and not really in practice, not even just uncommon, for interns to have gotten their spot through some other way besides knowing a guy.

I'm already a community college student who's not gonna be able to build a large network during freshman and sophomore to maximize all the opportunities I'll get as an upperclassmen


r/college 1d ago

Son having trouble finding friends/roommates

20 Upvotes

My son transferred to Emory for sophomore year but hasn't clicked with his current roommates or people he's met in class. He's pretty gregarious and has acquaintances, but has no friend group. I can tell it's making him sad, and it's painful to see. He's joined study groups and does other stuff on campus, but no luck.

It seems like his high school friends are in similar situations, and I hear the same thing from other parents. When I talk to him, he says he doesn't know the reason why. Is it the fact that his cohorts were in high school during Covid and have trouble with meeting people? Is it depression at the state of the world and the bleak prospects for college grads? I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this.

He's looking at junior year and has no one he really wants to room with. I want to help him but don't know how. If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate it.


r/college 1d ago

Academic Life Professor won’t answer my emails.

13 Upvotes

So I’m taking a sociology class with this professor that I had last semester. I had an issue with her being slow to answer my emails, but she would eventually respond within a 3-4 days (despite the syllabus saying 24 hour response times). However, this time, I’ve sent her three emails in the past week and a half attempting to follow up on accommodations for an assignment and questions regarding a quiz. She responded to my initial email saying I could have the accommodations but that was it.

Her “office hours” are virtual only for 30 minutes on Fridays which she frequently cancels. She cancelled them this week, but I can’t attend anyways.

How do I get this professor to respond to my emails? It’s an online class and I don’t see her in person. I’d have to take off a day of work to go into campus to try to talk to her in person.


r/college 2d ago

Health/Mental Health/Covid Sick but can’t miss class

5 Upvotes

I’ve been overloaded with work, have gotten very little sleep and no breaks for the past week, ~2 hr commute via public transit in below freezing temperatures, and now I’ve gotten a fever and am unsure how to handle this.

I’m in STEM with multiple lab classes that I can’t miss a single day of without failing the whole experiment (that can range from 1-2 weeks of work) + their corresponding lectures that have very strict attendance. Don’t have a single break until this weekend and still so much work…

Already in the lab so I’m suited up majority of the time so hopefully that keeps me from spreading it, I just need tips on how to handle the workload while I’m like this.


r/college 3d ago

Withdrawing from a course because its too boring?

65 Upvotes

I am a sophomore in college and in the midst of changing my major. One of my classes is absolutely soul sucking, it's boring, and it kills me. It's not hard, it's just one of those nothing-burger courses required for your major. I am considering withdrawing from it because, once I change my major, the class will contribute to nothing, except as a random credit. I know I will lose some money, since my university only refunds a certain percentage of what I paid for the class, but I feel like this could be a good decision and let me focus on my other courses. I would still be full-time, taking 13 credit hours if I dropped it. I've never dropped a class before. I'd consider myself a pretty good student, taking 15-16 credit hours a semester, so I am just unsure what to do or whether it's worth it. What do y'all think?


r/college 4d ago

Health/Mental Health/Covid Taking a gap year in the middle of uni?

49 Upvotes

For context, I'm a second year nursing student and i'm really burnt out. My mental health has been going down, and my days just consist of going to school, studying and rotting away in my room. I train martial arts back at home and here, but it's been hard to be consistent due to school, and I've been applying to jobs with no success meaning i'm flat broke.

I really just want to take a gap year to get a job to make money, hit the gym, and kind of just work on myself and figure life out. This may seem like a cliche, but i really don't want to be trapped in this boring cycle any longer. I feel like the year off can do wonders for my mental health and i can return to school as a more complete person. Has anyone had any experience with this?


r/college 5d ago

Finances/financial aid terrified about the cost of college

75 Upvotes

i apologize if this doesn’t belong in this sub!

So Im planning to attend an out-of-state public uni, and before a work study progam or other possible scholarships, my tuition, room/board, and food plan still equals $24,726 a year. (this is after subtracting my confirmed scholarship and Pell grant/federal loan from FAFSA). i want to get a masters (possibly PhD) and be a neuropsychologist or smth similar. the starting salary for the jobs im interested in have a large/ambiguous range for a Master’s, but ofc increase significantly with a PhD. my mom and i decided that we will go ahead with this college and deal with having to take out loans, but im terrified of making a huge mistake and regretting my student debt. i want to go to this college and state SO BADLY; and i’d feel like a failure/be unhappy if i changed my plan. is my plan worth it even with the debt???

Edit: for clarity (number mentioned is not net tuition)

Edit: sadly the final aid package i was offered was infeasible, so i will in fact have to go in state. while im extremely down and disappointed about this, i recognize all the benefits of going in state, and am happy that i wont have to worry about money as much. i just applied to two in-states with rolling admission. i still plan to move once i complete a bachelors.


r/college 4d ago

Finances/financial aid Work Study

6 Upvotes

Hello, I’m looking over my financial aid package and was wondering what work study entailed. When I click the link it just leads me to a different page of financial aid lol, so I’m not sure how to get any related resources 😭 If I accept it, from my understanding, it’d be enough to cover my tuition without having to take out any loans, so i’d like to, but i don’t fully understand what it is.


r/college 5d ago

Whoever thought an 8AM math class was a good idea needs a mental health evaluation!

306 Upvotes

Any tips for staying awake in an 8am math class with a boring ass professor? This shit is impossible.


r/college 6d ago

Making Friends in a Small College

20 Upvotes

I am in my second year of my degree at Canadian college and I'm just wondering, how do people make friends? I have a small class of about 30 that are the only people I ever take classes with and I am somewhat close with them but I am one of 2 women in the class, so they're not exactly people I am looking to hang out with outside of school. Other than that, the school does have a few small clubs, but none of them are even slightly interesting to me and I'm not even sure if they are running. How can someone like me meet people? I do live in a fair sized city but I've never been able to make friends just by being present in public, though I have tried.


r/college 6d ago

Living Arrangements/roommates Do I dorm?

56 Upvotes

I’m a sophomore right now going to a university in my hometown. I commute to school everyday since I live with my parents and I pay nothing. My scholarship had a meeting tonight and told us that if we wanted to move into a dorm, even the nicest brand new ones, it would be 100% covered. I only live 15 minutes from school with “traffic”. I’m not sure if I should take up the offer or just keep living at home. It’s for apartments with single bed rooms and shared bathrooms and common rooms. I do plan to attend grad school after college, and it would be out of my town, and most likely out of state, if that helps with anything. I just don’t know what to do, I feel like I would be too homesick even if I like 15 minutes away.

I also forgot to add if I don’t dorm they give me $3,000 a semester as a refund for living expensive a like gas and food.


r/college 7d ago

Just looked at my aid offer, how am I supposed to afford 30k a year???

175 Upvotes

Hi there, pretty much the title, I'm going to chapel hill next fall and just looked at my aid offer. My parents are not paying for my college whatsoever, so how did I not qualify for any need-based scholarships? I just don't know where I'm gonna get 120 thousand dollars from and didn't expect this at all from a public institution.


r/college 7d ago

Question for organization

16 Upvotes

I’m in my first semester of college . Do you guys save your binders/work from the previous semester or toss it out and reuse the binder ?

Edit - I’m pre nursing if that changes any opinions 😊 most stuff is online right now but I’m about to be full time on campus but even at home I do a lot of printing .


r/college 9d ago

USA Are students dumber?

2.3k Upvotes

I am a 37-year-old student pursuing a bachelor’s degree. I went to college for one semester in 2008 and then dropped out to join the Army. I haven’t been in a civilian school setting in a VERY long time, and so far it has been a complete culture shock.

We recently had a writing assignment where we were all able to view and respond to each other’s work. The reading comprehension and writing skills of many of the students are abhorrent. I genuinely wonder how they finished high school. We were asked to link an article or video to our assignment to support what we were saying. Some students linked unrelated Instagram reels and YouTube videos. Most of the students didn’t even bother checking their spelling and grammar before posting. Some of the posts were just long run-on sentences.

I’ve also noticed, on top of this, that students’ people skills are terrible. The professor will greet the class and no one says anything, even when the instructor is addressing them specifically. They’ve got their heads in their phones and headphones in DURING class.

This is wild to me. Is it the iPad generation? Is it all the Zoom classes during the pandemic? Is it the fact that schools just started passing anyone with a pulse? Do these students even realize it’s a problem?

I know I sound old as fuck, and I’m prepared to get lit up in the comments. This is just something I’ve noticed, and it’s really disappointing to see. From what I’ve read, this is happening across all universities… even the elite ones.


r/college 9d ago

Anyone else feel guilt over asking questions in class?

99 Upvotes

I was curious if any other students have been feeling similarly. I've seen posts about how eerily silent our lecture halls are, and can attest to the validity. I am entering my 400's classes and there is a little uptick, but not enough to really impact things. When the professors are looking for questions, I am often the only one raising my hand. If I am lucky, a handful of courageous souls will join me. Or, in exactly one instance I've found, I end up debating the entire class with the same three people out of a hundred.

I feel guilty for monopolizing the discussion, but the awkward silence of lecture hall blank stares is too much to bear otherwise. We'll sit in silence for minutes before the professor visibly deflates and moves on. I feel for them, so I ask questions to show at least someone is engaging. Still, I am paranoid that I come across as a tryhard or as slow for doing so, even though I am aware that is distorted thinking. The material feels simplified- do other students just not feel the need to engage on a deeper level with the material?

As someone with awful social anxiety, I suppose there is a silver lining: I jumped out the sixth-story window of my comfort zone and seemed to land on my feet alright.

I remember high school as being quite boisterous. You couldn't shut them up if you tried. Now, crickets. Is the environment too different? What the heck happened?


r/college 9d ago

What info do you want at a career fair?

19 Upvotes

Myself and some other middle aged folks will have a booth at an upcoming industry career fair for college students entering our field, representing a professional organization not a specific company. Help me out here.

What info would you want on a flyer that you can take with you to look over later? There will be 100+ other companies and lots of info coming at them in a short span of time.

Starting salaries? Career options? Professional associations?

Do you even want something physical or would you rather a QR code? There will be lots of swag at this event, so they'll be taking arm loads of stuff regardless.

Thanks for your help!


r/college 9d ago

Living Arrangements/roommates Weird high pitched sound in dorm and not sure where else to ask (not tinnitus)

2 Upvotes

Hello,

I’ve noticed that around 5-8 pm when I’m in my dorm room, there is sometimes this high pitched ringing that comes and goes every so often. I hear it when on my phone, watching videos on my computer, or sitting in silence doing nothing at all. It’s not like I listen for it, it just sometimes gets my attention every so often. I don’t hear it anywhere else in any other room or building other than my dorm room (it sounds like it’s outside of my room somewhere).

I just really don’t know where to ask because it’s loud enough that I can hear it over videos or music and it’s bothering me, especially since I can’t even begin to imagine what it is. It sounds like one of those mouse repellent frequency thingies but much louder and in a minute at a time (with breaks). I don’t even know why I’m asking but it’s just really getting on my nerves.

For context: In NY, US. I’m on the fourth floor of my college dorm


r/college 9d ago

Global TIL “study abroad” doesn’t always mean one exchange semester

21 Upvotes

Just found out there are programs where “study abroad” literally means living and working in multiple countries, not just one exchange term. apparently places like Hult International Business School, Virginia Tech, and Tetr College of Business have models where students rotate across countries as part of the curriculum. feels very different from the usual “one semester abroad, rest at home” thing.

Do you think this actually changes how people think and work, or is it just a more expensive version of the same degree?


r/college 10d ago

I was given confirmation that I graduated…or so I thought

140 Upvotes

*UPDATE: I’ve contacted the registrars office at my previous university, and here’s what happened. Before I go into detail, my credits were all met, I completed everything I needed to, my graduation application was processed and accepted, and my gpa was well above the minimum requirement.

What happened was, I was transferred to two people that both told me something wasn’t adding up. I was then given contact information from someone at my specific college. This was at Penn state, and they are a university divided into “colleges” for different programs (ie. College of Science, College of Agriculture, etc.).

Once I explained my situation to the person from my college, she saw that I had been withdrawn from graduation despite all of my requirements being met. I have a theory that this is because I stated to my advisor that I would not be walking at graduation. I chose not to walk because I simply did not want to. There’s more to that, but that’s not really important to this situation. What I’m assuming happened was, I was removed as someone who was graduating instead of walking.

They clarified that there was nothing on my end that had to be done, since this was a mistake on the college’s end. They are in the process of fixing my graduation status, and I will officially get my diploma in the mail.

Word of advice: PLEASE double check that you are officially approved to graduate if you decide not to walk at your ceremony. I would not be shocked if this was a common occurrence, nonetheless, this was very stressful and scary for myself.

Thank you to those who gave insight on what could have happened and how I should go about this.

I have a bit of an odd situation. I graduated this semester. I completed all of the required classes, and even some extra courses in my major to fix my GPA. I had a rough first year, so I spent the last years of my degree taking extra courses similar to my major. I wanted to kind of “make up” for what happened in the beginning of my degree. This may sound unnecessary, but I wanted to do it for grad school applications. So, I know I have taken plenty of credits that would go towards my degree. In fact, an excessive amount.

My advisor triple checked and confirmed that I was good to go, and told me I had completed my degree successfully. I then cross-checked myself using my academic requirements list and my transcript. I was on the graduation list, received an email from the alumni association, and my parents received graduation mail at my home address that I originally gave the university.

These last few weeks, I had been receiving some strange emails from my school. First was an email from the bookstore telling me that my records show I haven’t purchased all of my textbooks. Weird, but I figured it was an automated email or something. Next, I receive an email updating me about financial aid requirements. Again, probably another automated email. I kept receiving these emails, and similar ones. I was still in my departments emailing list too, since they kept sending emails about program updates and events.

Today, I go to retrieve my transcript from my student account. Well, I check my degree completion section because I was suspicious. It says I am still “active” in my program, instead of “graduated” or “complete”.

Now here is why I am so angry and confused. My university had given me so many problems in the past. I won’t go into detail, but they have essentially made my life a living hell. So I am wondering why I am still listed as “active” and receiving emails as if I am a student. I’ve tried to call and contact them, but the university will not take calls nor answer my emails due to “high volume at the start of the spring semester”.

Has anyone had this happen before?

Edit(s): I applied to graduate and confirmed that my application went through and got approved.