hey guys :) this rant might be a long one since these feelings have been bottled up inside me for months. it’s just that now i’m wanting to take proper action on it and actually figure out what’s best for me.

i started 1a eng this fall with fair academic expectations of myself. i was a constant 95+ student, did extracurriculars, projects, u name it, in high school. stem classes were my strength, i was a curious learner, and overall had a smooth high school journey with little to no setbacks.

however, this semester at uw has been an extremely difficult transition for me. I am aware that this is not an uncommon thing to face as a 1A eng student, but coming from a background of constant excelling and always seeing results of my hard work in high school and throughout childhood, I entered university genuinely motivated to continue to succeed and be committed to meeting the expectations of the program. I thought that surely this was attainable since I was admitted solely based on my merit and past achievements. 

the homesickness combined with the intense learning curve and improper study habit development had a serious impact on my mental health and my ability to work with my fullest capacity, which unfortunately affecting my academic performance despite my best intentions. i did seek peer help sessions and went to academic advisors countless times, but they can only do so much.

At this point of time, I can easily pinpoint the wrongdoings that eventually led to a sort of snowball effect. A bad assignment destroyed my morale a week into the term, failing midterm grades coming out and just simply not wanting to encounter my peers the next day, skipping lectures, intense burnout, etc. Surely it was the accumulation of these little everyday losses that, I think, led to the situation I am in right now.

i fell short of the required threshold of 50% by 0.8% with my cumulative average being 49.2%. This pinching difference ultimately determines whether I am required to leave waterloo entirely. Surely I can say that I had immense knowledge gaps so I am nothing but willing to repeat the term entirely by taking it this fall. But even this has not become a situation to consider anymore, making it question the opportunity to rebuild from my mistakes in this class and others.

i have started my petition process and talked to advisors. idk the decision yet but even if it were to be accepted, is it truly the right decision for me to continue at waterloo eng? granted 1st year is always a gong-show and performance dosent always continue later on, but in my scenario it got to a point of RTW. this makes me fear that even if i passed 1a in my second try, what about the next terms and years to come when the content actually gets hard? i have already lost the following by failing this semester: money, time, and self confidence. i don’t want to keep myself or my parents in an endless loop of failing a semester, losing that sem’s money, and delaying my grad everytime. it’s a huge setback.

i am someone who likes to push myself and try to reach beyond my limits, but also think practically and not confuse possibility with probability. this is why i have been thinking maybe a different university might be a better choice esp if i make the transfer early on. its always better to spot mistakes and take action early on, then to have misleading hope and convince yourself “ill figure it out.”

my ultimate goal is to become an engineer. whether from this uni, or a different one. and at this point in time, i really can’t decide if it’s worth giving myself another shot at uw by restarting (aka taking risk) or go on a safer, more promised path at a moderate university that is close to home.

if u made it till the end, thank you. i had a long convo about this with my parents last night and now wanted a uw student body’s perspective. any insight, good and bad, is appreciated

  • I'm just a random guy, but I think you should give yourself another shot, because: - You can pinpoint what went wrong. You have agency and it's not because of a lack of ability. - Taking another try at a term at UWaterloo doesn't have that much opportunity cost, but the reverse does IMO. - Personal anecdote, and contrary to a lot of opinions: 1A was the hardest term for me, both mentally and academically. Sure, the following terms are supposed to be technically harder, but I found that after 1A I was in a much better headspace and things just all became easier. Everyone's going to have their own difficulties though so don't put too much weight on this.

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  • a lot of people at waterloo have transitions like yours from school to university, in most cases it doesn’t really mean that you don’t have the raw ability to succeed here (at school that alone can get you very far), it’s just structured in a way that requires a lot of skills school doesn’t always equip you with for example organisation skills, dealing with fast paced classes/frequent deliverables or even simple resilience (for students like you who have never received a failing grade previously in their life). I also had a pretty bad first year but then gradually understood more about how to actually succeed at uni. at the end of the day it’s quite hard for anyone else to give advice based on a post but it would depend a lot on what exactly went wrong- if there are concrete reasons that you believe you can fix and most importantly are motivated to, then plenty have successfully bounced back from such terms previously. waterloo is definitely very rewarding but extremely demanding too. that being said it’s not for everyone and plenty of people from other unis have gone on to become some of the best engineers, and at the end of the day it’s really not a reflection of your worth and nothing, i mean nothing, is worth your mental well being. however, no matter where you go, remember that things like a bad midterm grade are often not a reflection of your ability but just a result of something tangible you need to change and not get discouraged too much. it’s easier said than done for sure but an essential skill at university. if you’re going to study in literally one of the toughest undergrad programs mistakes will happen and a lot of success literally just depends on how you actually respond to those setbacks.

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  • I was in a similar boat after 1a, 57% avg. But I was closer to lower 90s in HS, and did a few extracurricular but nothing exceptional tbh. I graduated in 2024 after having to repeat 1a.

    I also had 0 studying habits and poor work ethic Bcs in high school I never had to study. I usually only studied for finals a day or two before the actual final exam, but by then I had already secured high grades in the course. I just did homework and nothing else. So when I got to UW I expected similar, maybe not 90s automatically, but surely 75,80? I was wrong, I barely passed assignments, 70% was one of highest marks, and barley studied for midterms again thinking I was smart enough to not prepare properly and got 50s in most of them. After that I felt like a complete failure, in high school most of my identity was attached to me being smart, everyone called me smart. At Waterloo I felt like a complete idiot. So I gave up after midterms, stopped going to classes all together, and failed to reach the minimum to advance to 1b. I stopped seeing my friends and just played video games 10 hrs a day to forget about my horrible marks in classes an failures. I still showed up to finals but as you can guess those didn’t go much better either.

    I went home and thought about it for a week or two, but I decided to come back. Mainly because I knew I didn’t give it 100% effort. I could have studied more, worked harder on assignments, asked for more help. All I had to do was get rid of my ego that I built in high school that almost made it that good grades and being smart was my right, as opposed to something I had to earn and work for.

    So I came back and gave it my all, I took classes seriously, asked for help when I needed it, and allowed myself to to fail as long as it meant that I learned from it. I also became more social and talked to classmates, joined clubs on campus, these things made me feel like I belonged, that I should be at UW, even if I wasn’t the smartest or most talented in my class.

    I think you do have the capability to become an engineer at Waterloo, I hope you don’t give up on that objective in your life.

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  • I was at UW '76 to '82, and I know that the first year can be the hardest, because you go from being one of the smart kids at high school to average (or less). And the bright kids in the UW classes are insanely bright -- I remember one classmate who would always end up #7 in the rankings (in a class of 50-60), but he took few notes, and appeared to do almost no studying. He'd later crack the text book before the mid-terms and shuffle through the material, then easily score into the 80's. It doesn't make sense.

    Part of first and second year is being able to handle the volume of work. This prepares you for the real world, for when you get to a crunch on the project you have, and you really have to lean in to get through.

    It could be that you'd be better off taking a break and coming back in the Fall, with a new work ethic, ready to tackle the Beast that is first year. Good luck!

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