Blake Wiseman looked at his eCourseware report card and winced. Having prioritized work over school, the then University of Memphis freshman’s grades had suffered the consequences.
“I was working until close most nights,” said Wiseman, now a sophomore. “I didn’t really commit. I didn’t put forth the effort.”
Adding insult to injury, Wiseman received an email from the bursar’s office which said his low GPA had made him lose his HOPE Scholarship.
“I told myself that I was going to do everything it took to get my HOPE back,” he said.
Wiseman is just one of many
college students who has struggled through a semester slump. Even though fall semester grades are often the lowest among U of M students, freshmen tend to have the lowest grades of all.
The average freshmen GPA at Memphis is 20 percent lower than the overall average, according to numbers collected by the University.
However, many freshmen do improve after a rough start. The GPA in the spring semester goes up by almost half a point on average and at least one professor is reaching out to help students in need of academic assistance.
Chrystal Goudsouzian is a U of M professor who runs the History Educational Resource Center the History Educational
Resource Center. She sent The Daily Helmsman tips on second semester success to help students struggling with their grades.
• Go to class! Attendance is key to keeping up with your classes and letting your professors know you are invested. Don’t be shy if you miss a few and want to get back it is better to come back that to just stop going. I once had a student stop attending my class for so long a stretch that he grew a full beard from one class to the next that he attended!
• Stay connected. Make friends in your classes and keep up with them. Study together, hang out. It will make you more inclined to come to campus and go to class. You may even look forward to it!
• Eat and sleep. Exercise or get some fresh air if you can. Pulling all-nighters in your dark room doesn’t do you any good when you show up for that test exhausted and “hangry.” You won’t be able to focus and you won’t like the grades you earn.
• Talk to your professors and teaching assistants.
If you don’t understand something, need help, or have something going on that is hindering your work or attendance show up during office hours. We don’t bite.
Blake Wiseman was again scrolling through his email.
Five months past, and another semester had gone by. But this one was different.
Wiseman sharpened his focus, establishing a routine that made school his top priority. He hadn’t skipped a beat, consistently making to his classes on time.
Now before him was an email from the bursar’s office, this time informing him that his GPA was high enough for him to regain the HOPE scholarship. Wiseman informed his parents, who were more than thrilled by the news.
“Oh my gosh let’s celebrate,” his mom said.
But Wiseman wasn’t in the mood for a celebration. He didn’t think he deserved one. For him it was fixing an error, making amends for his mistake.
“I was like okay,” he said. “Now I know what I need to do the rest of the time I’m in college.”
