You asked:

My first-semester grades were awful. When I was home for break, my parents were threatening to pull me out and make me go to community college. I know I really need to buckle down, but how do I deal with my parents?

Parents can be tough to deal with sometimes. If your parents have given you a second chance to return to your school this semester, they haven’t given up on you -- they’re just disappointed at the results from the past semester. Take advantage of this second opportunity to do well and be completely honest with your parents about your schoolwork from now on.

• Look back at why your grades were awful. Maybe you didn’t spend enough time studying for exams or working on that big project. Perhaps the professor is just incredibly tough, but you didn’t go and ask for help. Did you miss assignments that could have brought your grade down? Were you in class? All of these can affect how your parents might react to your grades. Tell your parents how you plan to change your habits and how you will improve this time around. Make a checklist for them so they can see the goals you’ve set for yourself.

• Ask your parents what you can do to remain in your current school. Ask them to set expectations for you to meet this semester that would allow you to remain in the same institution for the remainder of your undergraduate degree. This allows your parents to express what they want from you so you can further expand and rearrange your goals to improve your academic success.

• Offer to send home progress reports to your parents. This is a great way to keep them in check with how you’re doing. Plus, since no one wants to send home a bad report, it might motivate you to work harder at getting better grades.

• Even if your grades are still on the downside this semester, talk to your parents about the pros and cons of staying at your current school and continuing your education. There might be more academic resources at your school to help you better your skills in a given class. (Staying at this school because all your friends and nightlife are there is not the best reason to stay if your grades are suffering.)

• If you do have to transfer to a community college, use that opportunity to bring up your grades and transfer credits back to your school of choice when you are able to keep your grades up without too much struggle. Many students spend a year or two at a community college to improve academics at a much lower cost than a university’s tuition rate, so it’s not the end of the world.

Name: Sarah Arsenoff
School: UNC Wilmington
Year: Senior
Major: Marine Biology
Her Deal: This is Sarah's third year as an R.A. for freshmen and international students. She writes for Periplus, a university newsletter for students who, like her, are in the honors scholars program.

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