After 2 years in UT my GPA is real bad. First year, I joined as Life science major, and I did horrible to extent where I got academic probation. Second year, 3rd year was OK, but then I was still clueless. I had no clue what I wanted to study on and what to do after graduating. While there are some people who can press forward without having clear goal, i wasn’t like them. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do, so I literally ditched studying. My first 2 years are done, and coming into 3rd year. I now have clear goal – to go into law school. Now, this isnt just one of those dreaming goals which I decide hey it looks cool to be attorney so lets try to be one. I want to be lawyer to help those around me because many takes<\/p>\n
advantages of my family who doesnt know much about law. Also, I love reading\/writing\/discussing, and wouldnt mind spending days\/night reading different cases and help family\/client, so I figured that its the one dream I have to chase on. To be realistic, however, I think it will be too hard. My overall GPA is about 1.7 ish. I have some courses in which I got 75~80%, whereas some of the courses I took i failed. I know some law schools do take note of struggles that student can face when coming into university and therefore take the best 2 years \/ or last 2 years of the GPA for student. So My goal right now is raising GPA and getting good LSAT mark. To be honest, I am not that worried about LSAT as much because it looks like the test is fairly straightforward (dont take me wrong, I didnt mean it to say LSAT is easy. I meant that LSAT is the test that you can do well if you spend enough time\/efforts on it.) What worries me the most is classes that I will be taking on upcoming September. Its not too rare for student to improve significantly coming into 3rd\/4th year, but at the same time I know it wont be easy. I am trying to use every single thing I can do to well in upcoming semester. I went to get advices from learning centre \/ registrar and so on. Still I feel like I need more help if I want to succeed academically. While I do not want to put too much details about my personal information in here, I am History specialist atm (to be more precisely, East Asian studies), and im not really sure what will be the best way to succeed next two years. I have been East Asian specialist for last two years (and some courses I took in EA, I did really well), but I cant figure out how can I do well upcoming semester. If the subject were say, Math or Physics, solving more problems and memorizing equations will help. IF subject is about say, language, memorizing\/practicing will help. However, East Asian studies are not quite the case. Most of the courses I took in EA take reference to history, but does not directly ask questions about history. Instead it will ask you to apply the knowledge to write the essay. While sometime writing essay instead of exam is fun, right now I find it much more difficult, because there is no direct guideline given. You wont be tested for some materials you studied, instead you will be expected to use knowledges about all the papers you read through classes and make your own view to persuade professor\/TA. So right now I am on the point where I know I need to improve and prepared, but I just dont know how. Can anyone help me with this? 1. EA Major, what is best way to improve your mark for classes that focus on alot of reading\/writing? 2. What are the courses that I should take to improve my mark? (I mean there are no ‘bird’ course, but I am just asking your general opinion, some classes you found it pretty easy to go through – doesnt mean I will find it easy, but I want to just take note-)<\/p>\n
3. What are the best ways to improve your GPA? – What helped you the most? 4. What are the some of minor that you found entertaining\/easy to take (i mean easy as not the materials, but doesnt require much prerequisite courses) I finally made mind up and I feel pumped up real hard. However, I know that I need actual plan than just go like ‘hey I am gonna work hard and do well.’ So I need every help I can get, even small advice would be real nice. Thanks people!<\/p>\n
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hey there,<\/p>\n
i think you hit the nail on the head when you said you need an actual plan rather than just a blind commitment to working really really hard<\/em> – whatever that means.\u00a0obviously, whatever ‘working hard’ boils down entirely to how you work. i don\u2019t know that the suggestions i give will be revolutionary. they may even be things you\u2019ve heard before or thought yourself. but i never said i was a genie* \u2013 this is the best I can do.<\/p>\n 1. the only way to improve your reading and writing is by reading and writing – \u00a0big surprise. if you\u2019re not taking courses in the summer, take advantage of that by reading as much as you can. read things you like. read things that challenge you (DON’T read any jane austen, for the love of god. that won’t help. and yes, austen fans, this is a public invitation to fight me).<\/p>\n if you want to practice your writing, there are lots of ways to do so. sometimes freeform writing is great to keep your writing muscles warm. something that I used growing up was \u2018Wordly Wise<\/a>\u2019; see if you can get your hands on a couple of books and start practising. they may even be available at your local public library.<\/p>\n 2. honestly \u2013 and this isn\u2019t just me holding to a party line or whatever \u2013 i don\u2019t think there are any courses at this university that i\u2019ve found significantly easier than others, and i’ve taken everything from BIO260 to JPD439. i find that courses are constantly surprising me by how easy or difficult they are. my marks in courses surprise me. i\u2019ve often done well in courses where i thought I\u2019d do very badly, and vice versa. that being said, knowing what\u00a0kind<\/em> of courses you\u00a0thrive in (for example, you mentioned that you do well in East Asian studies courses, which tend to be essay-based, so perhaps more East Asian\/History courses would be up your alley) can help guide you towards similar courses, where you’re likely to be successful.<\/p>\n otherwise, you can\u00a0see\u00a0course reviews on Portal<\/a> (un-aska-sanctioned, university unofficial website alternatives are also available \u2013 often featuring\u00a0more colourful language).<\/p>\n 3. i feel like I can\u2019t answer the first question, but i can give some anecdotes about the second. everything i know about doing well in school\u00a0comes\u00a0down to two things: first, do something you love. if you\u2019re doing something you don\u2019t love, figure out a way to stop doing it. second, treat your degree like it\u2019s a full-time job.<\/p>\n i don\u2019t want to push any unhealthy ideas on you: family and health are important and you shouldn\u2019t sacrifice those things for school. i also understand that students often have to work at jobs to survive, and have to juggle those things with school. barring that, however, try to prioritize school as much as you can. i spent an average of 40 hours a week on school (that\u2019s classes + studying\/work outside of class). that\u2019s as much as a full-time job. try to take the initiative to ask for help and suggestions. collaborate with classmates. be fully engaged in what you\u2019re doing. that should help.<\/p>\n 4. again, I\u2019m not going to grade POSts based on level of difficulty (see this tag<\/a>\u00a0for for meandering musings as to why i think assessing difficulty is useless), but i will tell you that you can find type 1 minors here<\/a>. type 1 POSts are POSts that you can enter automatically after completing 4.0 credits. they have no prerequisites other than that. you may want to browse that list and see if any of the type 1\u2019s interest you.<\/p>\n i wish you all the best with all of this. keep working hard. you can get\u00a0through this, my friend.<\/p>\n cheers,<\/p>\n aska<\/p>\n