Hoggirl Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Ds is still several weeks away from starting his second year of college, but I am already worried about the "sophomore slump." He and I have discussed it, and he seems to feel the best approach for dealing with it is to load up on coursework. He feels like it's a tough year anyway, so might as well pile it on. I know I experienced the slump in college. The newness of being away from home was gone. While I had settled on a major, I was only taking introductory classes in my field while still fulfilling a multitude of core requirements. You don't have the clout of an upperclassman, but you're not a newbie either. Did you or your children experience the sophomore slump? Is there any way to minimize it or make it more tolerable? I would love to hear wisdom gleaned from past experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 This is the first I've heard of this. I like your son's approach of attack and conquer! I could be wrong, but I don't think that dd gives much thought to her status as an underclassman. I'm sure there are benefits to being an upperclassman, but I don't know what they are other than registration priority and internship opportunities. I think dd feels next year will be somewhat easier as she already knows her way around. Courses were probably equal in difficulty last year, but she can't compare at this point. Like you, I'm interested to hear the experience of those who have students who survived the sophomore slump and those who managed to avoid it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I was very thankful for my 19yo's dual credits in this regard. She took a lot of her general requirements as dual credit at the local cc. While her first semester at university was general stuff, she got into classes for her major the second semester. In fact, she changed her major the first semester based on an exploratory class she took her first semester. My oldest did run into this issue. I think a big part of the problem was that she really didn't want to be in the major that she had selected. She switched from animation to video game design her 2nd year. In her second semester of video game design, she wanted to switch to computer science, but she would have had to almost start completely over. The only courses she had taken that would have still counted were English, history, and government. Nothing else would have counted except as elective. It would have taken her a minimum of three years to finish a degree in computer science after two years of college and 40 credits from dual credit. None of her science would count because she took the classes for nonscience majors. None of her math would count because cs required a statistics course specific to cs and they didn't start counting math until calculus. She had taken trig. Even the computer science courses she had taken wouldn't count because she took the courses for non-cs majors. My oldest did end up leaving college after three years and right now has no intention of going back. The only major she can possibly see herself doing is computer science. Our local state university is the flagship and is actually quite competitive to get into. They would absolutely not take her in computer science. That is a very competitive program and she doesn't have the GPA to even be on their radar aside from the fact that they don't take many transfers. I'm hoping that she will at least decide to get an AS in computer science. She is working retail right now, minimum wage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Had to find out more about this SS so sharing my findings here for anyone else who isn't familiar with it. Per Wiki: "A sophomore slump or sophomore jinx refers to an instance in which a second, or sophomore, effort fails to live up to the standards of the first effort. It is commonly used to refer to the apathy of students (second year of high school, college or university),[1][2] the performance of athletes (second season of play), singers/bands (second album),[3] television shows (second seasons) and movies (sequels/prequels). Here's a blog post in which one student describes her experience. http://www.georgefox.edu/offices/student-life/resources/slump.html Cynthia is this something which your son was familiar with from talk on campus? Dd may well be already familiar with this, but it is new to me - maybe not in concept, but in name. Maybe parents of freshmen should encourage them to leave room for improvement the following year? :leaving: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MBM Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 :lurk5: I fully expect this to happen around January of freshman year for my youngest. No idea how to counter it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 :lurk5: I fully expect this to happen around January of freshman year for my youngest. No idea how to counter it, though. When I read this I thought this was a great way to avoid the Sophomore slump by getting it over with in the freshman year. Then I googled freshman slump just for the fun of it. That exists too. I knew the concept of this, but never heard it referred to by this term. It's the usual "awakening" that some freshmen have after the end of the first semester and grades come in. Maybe those who experience this type of freshman slump don't have to deal with the sophomore slump as they're needing to work on raising their GPA instead of worrying about doing as well as they did the first year. But what you're saying is that your student may experience the sophomore slump early. I'm enjoying some popcorn too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I have never heard of this. I think things/interests do ebb & flow with all areas of life, so I'm not sure that treating it as something special would be particularly valuable. I'll find out when we get there, I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoggirl Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 I honestly can't recall when I first heard this term. As with many other things in life, different people probably experience it to different degrees. I kind of wonder if it's tied into the necessity of really getting serious about choosing your major. I did have a friend whose daughter went through a slump at semester of freshman year and did not have it after that. I also kind of wonder if the quarter system exacerbates it. My alma mater had "trimesters" (because no summer school was offered - the campus was used for other things in the summer). Winter quarter was always really tough anyway, but sophomore year was the worst. Thankfully, we did have our large winter formal during that quarter which gave everyone something to look forward to. Ds may try for study abroad spring quarter. If he were to get that, I think it would make winter quarter more bearable. Then again, if he didn't get it, it might make the slump worse. Sigh. I'm just a worrier by nature. Of course, I can prove that worrying works: 98.7% of what I worry about never happens! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Glad to hear that you're being proactive and now there's a 98.7% chance sophomore slump will never happen! I think that maybe some of the pressure felt in sophomore year is due to needing to declare a major and I can imagine that it's felt more strongly by those who have had a change of heart or really don't yet know what to choose. I think that in this case quarters can be beneficial as there's more opportunity to choose different courses which may lead to a decision. It seems your son's school makes it very easy to declare and change majors, so he's got lots of time. At 18 or 19 it's hard to know what you want to do for the rest of your life! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 My second year of college was probably my most challenging of them all. I think the credit though goes to the fact that I was taking Organic Chemistry not because it was my second year per se. Had that class been taken Junior year, I suspect that would have been my most challenging time. I don't think my daughter experienced a sophomore slump at all. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 We've seen it with all three of ours. And we've seen the cynical sophomore problem. My mother's comment was most comforting. She pointed out that this is what sophomore means lol. Knowing that made it seem more temporary. It is a dangerous spot, though. Cynicism leads to unmotivatedness, which leads to bad grades or depression. Maybe pointing out that it is normal to go through this and that it doesn't last might help? Nan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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