Has anyone else ever felt inadequate in college compared to high school

Do you actually enjoy your subject/major? If yes, then I don't see the problem in slowing down and taking a non-accelerated version of the course. The degree is the same at the end, right? Don't get too down on yourself, college shouldn't be depressing - it should be the best time of your life.

Personally, I found college much easier than high school because I actually had a bit of interest in the subject matter. Not 1 **** given and barely got a 3.0 in high school, but 3.8 in college (magna c*m laude).

 

How much are you studying? Maybe you need to figure out a way to motivate yourself. If you think you are trying as hard as you can then you probably should consider taking easier classes. There is no reason to risk lowering your GPA.

 

dude, you need to get out of that high school mentality on how smart you are vs others.
it's about you vs you now. you obviously need to change how you study. don't feel weird getting into study groups either. manage your time better.
make sure you have a balance life, it's college, go out on the weekends and on thursdays if you can, especially if you go to UT.
also make new friends and don't waste any days.
you are doing something wrong if college is depressing.

 

Hah my 3.0 in high school was also weighted for AP classes, and I had a LOT of AP classes. brb <2.0 without AP weighting

If it's just prereq math, I wouldn't make a big deal out of it at all. Just take them separate, get thru them without killing your GPA, and don't look back. It would be a much more relevant problem if you were struggling this badly in your major courses. Can you drop the current class without counting against your GPA?

Not to get preachy/cliche, but throughout life you're gonna meet plenty of people who are better than you at all kinds of things, just gotta figure out what your strengths are.

 

Here is one life-altering secret that I'm going to share here with ClutchFans members only free of charge. You know those AP classes you took? TAKE THEM AGAIN IN COLLEGE AND ACE THOSE CLASSES. Whoever looks at your transcript later won't know those are just repeat courses for you (make sure you don't claim those AP credits). Build some confidence. Build some cushion in GPA. Get acclimated to what's expected out of you in college. Ease into college life.

Same reason why first year NFL quarterbacks rarely start. Unless you're Andrew Luck.

 

Always try to take the easier professor if you want to get good grades. I avoided bad teachers like the plague for the most part and was able to obtain a 3.87 GPA for my undergraduate. Every time I had a bad teacher, I will just learn the material myself or set up a study group with "motivated" students. But honestly, the GPA isn't that important. I would focus more on networking and developing good communication skills. Networking is where I got my internships and my job which is a relief considering the economy today.

 

One of the biggest lies we sell to young people is that they can be anything they want. Well, you might be able to be anything you want, but there is no guarantee that you'll be good enough at it to get a job. But this lie is very profitable, and a lot of young people are in massive life draining debt because of it. And it takes a lot of wisdom and emotional security to honestly appraise your abilities and make sound decisions on which education and career to pursue, so don't feel too bad that things are clicking for you 100%, because your future self isn't walking though a door to tell you exactly what you should be doing in order to secure that perfect future life for yourself. Your college has counselors, use them. They won't help as much as a time machine, but at least they're available.

Hope that helps.

 

Like tinman said it's not about being "smart". It's about study and study habits. Go to study groups. If you are falling behind in calculus then you are probably deficient in your math fundamentals. You probably need to go back and figure out where the cracks in your math foundation began. That was my problem that eventually caught up to me. This doesn't mean you aren't smart. It means you simply don't have the proper skills to accomplish the tasks you are trying to accomplish. You need to develop those skills.

Additionally, I had problems with professors like you are having. Math professors are notoriously worthless for undergrad students. I can't think of one good story about a great undergrad math prof. Find a decent TA or study group to help you fundamentally understand what you are doing with calculus. Part of my problem with calculus is I was simply following patterns and I wasn't actually understanding what I was doing (as strange as that sounds) when I was trying to solve problems. I grew to hate it.

I was like you in the sense that I could get by in high school without much work. College is different. You have to work and you have to learn how to study. I was able to get thru 3 semesters of engineering (which I never really enjoyed) with a 3.0 GPA before everything collapsed on me in my 4th semester. I got 4 F's and D that semester and I was ready to drop out of college. Long story made short...My dad felt horrible for pushing me into engineering and talked to the dean. The dean felt terrible and granted me a retroactive withdrawl from that semester and allowed me to transfer out of engineering. That's my lil story.

 

I don't want to give you false hope here, but my recommendation is that you attempt to objectively troubleshoot where your shortcomings are (study time, focus, test taking skills, etc...) and have an honest evaluation of your motivation to see if you're willing to fight through and push forward or if you think you've given it all you got and you need to switch to an easier major/school.

I'll tell you an encouraging success story experienced by yours truly. I had straight A's in high school, as in, not a single B on my transcript. And I took all AP classes and aced them with 4's and 5's mostly. I started college with 31 AP credits, and I rolled into chemical engineering as my pre-med major thinking I'm gonna breath through it like I did in high school. Well, I was sadly mistaken, and the first reality check came in with a grade of 63 on my first calculus. The second reality check came in a week after, with a 55 in Physics, my favorite subject. I broke down, I may or may not have cried a little, I picked up smoking cigarettes, and I was having difficulty coming to terms with the humbling fact that I'm not the academic superstar that I was in high school, and that I am currently failing 2 central courses in engineering, and that if I continue in this path my dream of going to medical school would never materialize.

After contemplating switching majors, etc.. I finally decided to give this one more shot. I objectively evaluated my study methods. I pinpointed several problems in my preparation for exams and my test taking skills (causing me to always run out of time). I made some adjustments, and I was making solid, steady improvements with some set backs (another 50-something on a physics test). Thankfully, physics class gave us the chance to have our final exam count for 60% and the 3 midterms count for 30% if we score higher on the final. And after killing that final, I was able to get out with an A in physics, a B in calculus, and a GPA of ~3.5 on 16 credits that first semester. The 2nd semester of freshman year was also pretty rough, but I stuck to it and squeaked by with a 3.6. Then I finally hit my stride, and I popped 3 straight semesters of 4.0 work. The hardwork was finally paying off, and my dream of going to medical school was slowly becoming more realistic. Fast forward 5 years, I am now a 2nd year med student at my 1st choice medical school, and I look back at that night of objective evaluation and thank god that I decided to stick to it and give it all I got instead of quitting too early. Moral of the story: there is hope.

Now here's a funny extra nugget: My first year of medical school was reminiscent of freshman year in college, except worse. I pretty much performed below average on almost every single exam. It was demoralizing and saddening, But I've been through this before, and adjusting the 2nd time around was a little smoother because I had the confidence that I am capable of doing it again. Now in my 2nd year, I sense some major improvement, but I'm still far from where I would like to be. 2nd moral of the story: once you do it once, it will be a life lesson that will get you through future road blocks in your road to success.

Now back to studying. Hope this lengthy and poorly written post at 3:30 am gives you some inspiration/optimism to push through and not give up.

 

How difficult was your high school? Getting a 4.33 GPA or whatever in a bad HS will get you into a good university but sure won't prepare you for what's going to happen when you get there. That's what it sounds like to me by the limited info you're sharing. If you want help that is actually centered around you and your problems and not other people's advice based on their experiences, then you should give more context instead of the woe-is-me story you're currently running.

 

If it's just a pre-requisite, I'd drop. I thought I'd do that too my freshman year and about halfway through the class it was clear that I was in over my head. I stopped paying attention, walked out and quickly dropped the class and moved to the non-accelerated version.

 

Get a tutor and study study study. Going out and getting wasted is fun and all, but it doesn't provide you with any future. Go to the library - away from all distractions. Read the books and lecture notes. Outline the books and notes. Reread. Group study.

One thing I find that helps is to make (even pretend) the info you're studying interesting. When you enjoy it, you absorb it.

 

Like others have said, don't worry about how everyone else is doing. Just worry about yourself and what you need to do to improve.

How do you know you were in the 95th percentile? What year of College are you in and what class is this? If it's not too late through your college career, seeing as your GPA is fairly high, have you thought about changing your pathway?

All the best from a fellow University student.

 

I know, no one who has ever done this in college has gone on to do anything worthwhile in life!

 

College should be the best time of your life cause after college you know what's next.

I actually like college more than high school.

Don't get me wrong, high school is not that bad.

Academically I was in the top 10% of my class in the first three years.

Then senior year happened and I dropped and took the 17th spot in my class.

I thought in college I'll make B's.

But so far I am acing all of my classes except for one class that gave me a B --- a math class. Lol

Don't get too depress, it's all in the head my friend.

Get out and have some time for yourself.

Rethink and remotivate yourself.

Go to tutoring or form a study group for that class.

You'll be fine, life without challenges is boring ;p

 

Enjoy each challenge.

Have patience.

Remember, grades don't tell the whole story.

 

My first year of college was one of the most fun/terrible experiences of my life! I was in the best shape of my life, social butterfly, enjoying life, meeting tons of people. but at the same time, my school life sucked diiiiiiick. I had a 1.999 and my counselor wouldnt bump me to a 2. I had received an academic warning. Mainly because I was able to coast in hs and get a 3.5 without trying. Where as here, no matter how smart you are (with some exceptions) you wont do well if you don't study and put in the time/effort.

 

If you want to get into graduate school they do especially med school.