How screwed am I?

[math.py]

I'm doing poorly in my classes right now. I might fail two or three and they're all major courses. I've done pretty okay the rest of my undergraduate career. I have done summer research and presented at two undergraduate conferences. I'm going to present at another undergraduate conference and at another conference not usually intended for undergraduates.

I get some anxiety during these types of situations (big changes or potential big changes in life) and a I sort of panic, get scared and start procrastinating everywhere. A similar thing happened during high school. I got into two really good universities and some other okay schools but I panicked and I failed a couple of classes and could only keep my admission to a one school I applied to due to my poor grades in senior year of high school.

I'm not sure what to do. It doesn't seem like I have a very good reason for doing this poorly and all I can keep thinking is that if I panic this much over applying to grad school, admissions can only think that a PhD would cripple me.

I'm pretty sure my LOR writers have pretty good things to say. Two are from professors at outside schools who I've done research with and one is from a professor at my home institution.

My GPA will probably end up at a little over a 3.0 after this semester.

How bad does this sound? And what do you think I can do to fix it?

[LLajax]

I think that you should probably consider ways to relax- panicking like you're doing does not sound healthy. Find something that relaxes you- anything (I go with scented candles and copious amounts of hot chocolate). YOU CAN DO IT. Admissions doesn't know you're panicking if you don't tell them. Find strategies to help you get through the stressful times, like a schedule or checklist (try to put only the 2-3 biggest things you need to get done that day on the checklist to avoid adding anxiety). Set aside 45minutes to an hour of each day just for relaxing thing- during this time you may only do things that calm you down (music, candles, video games, tv, etc.) Viciously suppress all worries during that allotted time.

[math.py]

Okay. Sure I can (try to) relax. But I'm still doing bad in my classes. The Fall term is almost over and I'm still going to have to face my bad grades and I don't know what exactly this means for applications and what I should do.

Thanks for that advice anyways.

[dimanche0829]

Perhaps you can try to take an incomplete for one or two of the classes. If not, talk to your professors and see if they will allow you to turn in assignments late for reduced credit (better than zeros). Most professors I know are willing to work with struggling students, provided there is an open line of communication, a solid plan in place to get you caught up, and a complete willingness on your part to really work hard for the rest of the semester. Don't expect too much sympathy, however, if you keep quiet about your struggles. If they don't know there's a problem, they won't be able to help you. (And from the sounds of it, you aren't going to be able to pull out of this one alone.)

Edited to add: Good luck!

Edited November 14, 2011 by dimanche0829