Relearning how to be a student is hard
Hi guys, as October starts and school starts picking up, I felt like this was something a lot of people could resonate with.
My freshman year, I was so unhappy to be here. This school was never my first choice, and I'm also in a very rigorous major as an out-of-state student. I was super homesick at all times, and to hide how miserable I was, I spent all my time partying, hanging out with friends, or just doing anything but studying or going to class.
Obviously, I failed miserably my first semester. I did so bad I was put on academic notice in both my sorority and through Purdue. I failed two major-required classes and I was so embarrassed that my mental health slipped even worse. I'm like 90% sure I was depressed for all of my second semester, and I barely managed to scrape by with my grades so I wouldn't fail out.
It's now my sophomore year, and I find that my life is going a lot better. I sucked it up and I'm retaking the classes I've failed. I have support systems who genuinely care about me. I'm taking classes with mandatory attendance and finding it so much easier to get out of bed, even when they're 7:30s. I'm eating right, sleeping right, and taking care of myself thanks to the people in my life who care about me.
My only problem: relearning how to be a student. I haven't genuinely sat down and did my own homework in years, always using AI or blatantly not doing it because I was smart enough to get by on the exams. I feel like a five-year old, trying to sit here and stare at my screen and actually retain the information that I'm trying to learn. I'm embarrassed, and quite frankly, it's been a huge blow to my ego. I see people around me who are able to sit for hours and hours at a time and work through huge lectures, and I can't even sit here for long enough to focus on one problem on my 20 question assignment.
It gets better, and I know now that I am never alone. Life has its' up and down points, and at Purdue, I feel like the down points always hit way harder. If anybody has any advice or kind words, that would really help me out here.
TDLR; I failed my freshman year, trying to be better during my sophomore year, but unsure how to learn how to study and learn how to be a student again.