

Failing in College and what to do about it - rodrigoavie
http://www.rodrigoalvesvieira.com/failing-college/

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saymen
My first experience with Uni was horrible. I was hoping to learn serious
computer science, but got disappointed by maths, physics, electronics, etc. I
was one of the best at programming, but overall result was very poor, I was
one of the worst. Additionally I failed calculus at 1st semester (but other
exams were passed) what made me depressed and I did 1.5yr pause doing
completely nothing (barely used computer-I started hating it).

Now I'm 22. Decided to start one more time at the same Uni, same faculty,
second semester ahead. I'm getting average (or little below avg) marks. I
became more focused on non-IT-classes, because I managed to find ways how can
those math/phys "things" can be used in practice.

Result:

+I became little more self-confident, headstrong, hard-working guy

+I developed ways to be more connected with people

+Forcing myself to study things I don't like (physics) somehow makes my brain
smarter, nimble, flexible

+I don't struggle with procrastination

-Being older than the others in group is little bit uncomfortable

-Problem with employers asking questions about that pause/harddepression period

-Endless comparisons to younger friends in my mind

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rodrigoavie
Wow, I agree with every single point you've made.

I often see myself making comparisons too, but now I think they're more likely
to result in bad feelings than in bringing me any kind of useful knowledge. So
I just consider them useless and try to not make comparisons again.

Thanks for sharing. Good luck for you and me!

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t0
I just failed precalculus, but I've aced my programming classes.

Is it worth switching majors? I've been programming forever, but the math
simply too hard and not interesting enough.

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rodrigoavie
The concept of majors and minors in undergrad school does not exist here in
Brazil. However, I only imagine myself as a Software Engineer in the future
and CS is the only course I can do. So I basically have no choice, I'll have
to become very good at Math. I will succeed. I better do.

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rcfox
In my experience, the math courses tend to get easier later on for a variety
of reasons:

1) You learn simplifying techniques. (you'll learn to love the Laplace
transform)

2) You get better at studying. I also failed my first (and second) calculus
course. It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn how to study. (Tip:
Find a friend to study with!)

3) You'll eventually start applying it to interesting problems. I found
control theory really interesting, so it became a lot easier to care about the
math involved.

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rodrigoavie
Thanks for sharing your experience and a tip man.

