LD

Sorry to hear, are these midterm grades? what courses are they? PLS is probably political science, is acc acounting?

Last time you were talking about a tutor, is that set up yet? if that is just starting then keep hope, there is time to bring these grades up before end of term.

personally i am very happy that although I know this is very hard and stressful, that you are still not hurting yourself and dealing with this by posting here. not cutting is sometihng you have much more control over compared to grades, and is much more important in the long run.

can i ask do you feel like you are learning stuff in your classes? are you interested? I'm not going to say that grades are not important but learning is more important. grades are a symbol of the skills and knowledge youve learned, but they are not the skills and knowledge. grades are important in this society but they make open doors, they don't help at all once you're in those doors, that's when you need the real knowledge.

LD i'm trying to give you some hopeful optimism, i hope you understand i'm trying to cover all bases here. I do have much faith that you will be able to bring those grades up. you are working hard and working constructively to do that, with talking to the counselor and working on a tutor. I also believe you to be very smart and able to understand and to learn. (that doesn't mean that all subjects will be your forte though of course) so i think that working at it will get you results.

but there is also a slim possibility that your grades won't come up and if that happens there needs to be some perspective. first i don't know if the low grades make you feel bad about yourself and your abilities, or if it is just frustrating because you want to do better. if it is the first then you have to realize that there are lots of reasons grades could be low... we talked about understanding the material but not taking tests well... could also be you don't click well with the professors in those two classes... if things go wrong and you still want to pass those courses it is possible that another semester with a different professor, different class, maybe even different textbook things might be totally different.

Bottom line is, while this is important to you, and i'm not saying it shouldn't be, because it is very commendable wanting to educate oneself in any way... keep in mind there are so many important other things going well in your life. fiance, hatchling, doing well in so many ways. And those things are much more long lasting than school. Your marriage will last for the rest of your life. school will pass and sometime in the future won't seem as important any more.

i'm trying to give you lots of ways to think positively about this, i hope it isn't backfiring and reminding you of negative things. bottom line is keep working on it and be proud of working your best and taking such constructive steps to improve.

also, hate to throw in a cliche, but try not to see the glass half-empty. look at your post, did you notice <font size=4>you got an "A" in one of your classes!</font> Try not to forget that you are a success in many many ways, including just in going to school and caring so much about it and working so hard. The "A" shows you can do it so don't give up!

Good luck LD keep working at it but remember that grades are a measure of success of your performance iin your classes but are not a measure of success of you as a person. We here already know what "grade" you get as a measure of your life. (hint it comes with a gold star, and maybe on halloween a pumpkin sticker. gee i miss those

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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