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Taking Stock
Important!
The following Web site is designed for University College Exploratory students whose GPA is below Academic Good Standing. In no way is all the information presented here intended as a substitute for academic advising. Rather, this site is intended as a resource for any student wishing to improve their academic performance.
Any Exploratory student with a GPA below Academic Good Standing is placed on probation and must complete the following homework assignment in order to be cleared for registration.
Probation Homework - Table of Contents
Students have been getting poor grades in college since day one. But the reasons students do poorly can be complex, multi-faceted, and sometimes unavoidable. It could be a handful of little things contributing to a bigger problem or other larger issues that need your full attention. No matter what the causes were that contributed to your doing poorly, they must be addressed. How you got to this point is probably less critical than where you intend to go from here. (If a serious medical or life issue occurred during the semester you did poorly, you may be eligible for a medical or compassionate withdrawal. Contact your academic advisor for more information).
First of all, think about your initial reaction to your grades, or finding out that you are on Academic Probation, or have a GPA below 2.0. Your first response may have been one of surprise, anger, disgust, despair, or even joy (“I didn’t do as bad as I thought!”). You may have shrugged it off and said, “I’ll just work harder next time.” You may have blamed your professor for testing too hard. You may have decided that you did the best you could do given the situation you were in. Each of these feelings is valid and each response is legitimate.
No matter what your generalizations or judgments are about your academic performance, you may conclude that you just need to study harder. The resolution to work harder is admirable, but somewhat short-sighted. What does it mean to “study harder?” You will need to focus on how you plan to “study harder.”
It’s important to know the terms of your probation, or the consequences of having a GPA below 2.0. Some of that is covered again in this website, but if you’re not sure about something, ask an academic advisor.