Failing in College and what to do about it | Hacker News Reader

Failing in College and what to do about it

rodrigoalvesvieira.com

3 pointsrodrigoavie6 comments

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

Thanks for sharing your experience and a tip man.

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