ACADEMIC PROBLEMS

•  failing exams or classes?
•  getting nervous about your sliding GPA?
•  feeling overwhelmed?
•  experiencing severe test anxiety?
•  having trouble studying?
•  studying, but having trouble with tests?
•  thinking about quitting school or changing your major?

•  Motivation: Some students don't have a clear vision regarding their reason for being in college. Perhaps they are here at their parent's insistence while not feeling that they are doing what they really want to do with their life. Sometimes courses and majors are chosen to please others, but have little or no relationship to the student's true interests. Many students just aren't sure about what they really want to do in their future career. It takes a fairly clear purpose to motivate a student to successfully engage in the lengthy and difficult process of higher education.
  
  
•  Inadequate Time Management: The majority of U.C. students work at part-time jobs and/or are engaged in time consuming extra-curricular activities at the University. The demands of academic assignments almost require students to have the time management skills of a successful busy business executive. Unfortunately, not many students have had any formal training in this area.
  
  
•  Study Skills: Apart from time management skills, it is known that a large proportion of students entering college have not had much in the way of useful instruction or assistance with specific study methods.
  
  
•  Social Distractions: Love and friendship are the most important things in the lives of most people. It is often difficult to find the needed balance between socializing and studying.
  
  
•  Learning Disabilities: There are several disorders that are currently understood to be primarily neurological in origin that are frequently undiagnosed and treated, and which can be academically devastating. Capable students who may be interested in a topic and who spend a great deal of time studying can find themselves struggling or failing due to these problems.
  
  
•  Substance Abuse: While some college students bring with them serious problems of substance abuse or addiction from their pre-college years, it is know that the college years are those where alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse begin and become serious (sometimes life-long) problems. While not all addicted or substance abusing students flunk out of college, none do as well as they could. Some of these students are actually treating themselves chemically for a psychological problem that they may or may not be aware of.
  
  
•  Psychological Issues: A large number of U.C. students are struggling with the many demands of college life while also dealing unassisted with major emotional issues such as loss, depression, and anxiety. Undiagnosed and untreated, many of these kinds of problems lead to academic difficulties or failure.

Source: The University of Cincinnati Psychological Services Center, Evening Clinic, and the Division of Student Affairs and Human Resources
The University of Cincinnati Psychological Services Center, Evening Clinic, and the Division of Student Affairs and Human Resources provide this fact sheet as a service. This fact sheet isintended for individual use and cannot be replicated or otherwise published without our permission.
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