Logic and Perception

There was an instance when my perception of reality was far from the truth. Right out of high school I attended the University of Cincinnati. It was autumn of 1999 and I enrolled as a full time student in the Engineering School and was taking around 18 to 20 credit hours of classes. My perception of college was that it was going to be easy, just like high school was. I thought I could keep up with the course schedule and graduate in 5 years just like everyone else. Well I was wrong. I thought if I studied hard and went to every class I would get a B or C at the worst.

Quarter after quarter my grade point average dropped. After my freshman year I had a grade point average below a 2.0. That means the university would have to put me on academic probation. I had 1 year to bring my grade point average above a 2.0. I finally realized something was wrong with either my study habits or I was taking too many classes. At one point I was thinking it was the professors that made me fail. I felt that they were not teaching affectively and I had the grades to prove it. Of course, I figured out the professors was not the problem because almost every class I received the same grade. So I spoke to my academic counselor and she suggested I take fewer classes. So I signed up for fewer and easier classes.

After another year I still did not get my grade point average above a 2.0 and the university put me on academic suspension. I was suspended from the university for a full year. I wrote a letter to the dean of the university to appeal the suspension and the dean gave me another chance. Again, I had another year to get my grade point average above a 2.0. I thought I had changed my study habits, but I did not. I think what I needed was some help. I think I needed a tutor or a study group because class after class I was getting bad grades. I was attending every class and did every homework assignment but that did not help.

The way I was thinking was I could do all the work by myself and that I did not need any help. Back when I was in college I never asked for help because I thought I could figure everything out by myself. In reality I needed help but my perception towards everything was to figure things out my own way. I thought if I asked for help I was going to be weaker and not learn as much. My perception towards this was blocking the reality of the matter. I did not realize how important this is to me until it was