The Response

Here is the response from the academic advisor regarding my previous post.

R.
Hi, [Mighty]:

Thanks much for letting me know what is going on with your situation.

I am wondering if you are suffering from some kind of anxiety or depression and need to make an appointment with your primary care or family doctor to see if you could even be anemic. Maybe that is what is holding you back from retaining information, falling asleep in class and just in general not being very productive.

I do think it is a good idea to take some time off and evaluate your goals. Maybe engineering is not the right field for you if you are struggling with Math and Physics, because engineering is so very rooted in both those disciplines and engineers work with both the rest of their lives. If you can't get a good grasp on them now, then it worries me that you may have difficulty in struggling later on when it comes to finding a job or keeping one.

The time limit on classes doesn't really apply here for undergrads, but as I mentioned, if the curriculum changes during the time you are off, then there will be different classes to take and that may take more time for you to complete your degree at that point. This could cause more frustration on your part.

I am also worried that if all you take is one or two Humanities or Social Science classes and only get Cs or just about that, then the Probation and Suspension Committee may look at that as "not making progress towards his degree" and does have the authority to suspend a student for not making progress towards the degree. That Committee is looking to see if a student is taking the real ECE courses that apply towards the Bachelor of Science in EE degree, which constitutes making progress towards the degree, even if that student is only taking one class every semester, at least it is in engineering itself and is definitely making progress towards the degree.

One class a semester would not normally be anybody's concern, but since you are on Probation with the School of Engineering, then it may become a problem is that class is just a Humanities or Social Science, Fine Arts or Foreign Language class, even though those are definitely needed on the curriculum. If an A or B is achieved in those classes, then, of course, that constitutes "making progress towards the degree". But I have definitely seen in the past where if a student continues to take one class each semester and gets only Cs, then the Committee will either continued that student on SOE Probation or suspend for a semester.

I hope I have answered some of your questions and concerns; but I would start with a visit to a family doctor and get some blood work done to see if you are anemic and go from there.

Stop by if you want to discuss this more in person.

Take care, [Mighty], and get some rest and sleep - maybe you are not sleeping well either, with worry or anxiety or even breathing problems. If you have allergies or asthma, that will affect your sleeping patterns and of course, will make you drag around all day long -

Let me know what else you need -


[Mighty] (my response to her)
Thank you for the input. It is appreciated. In regards to the probability that my problems are the result of a medical issue, this is a very high possibility. After three months of various testing with Lovelace, I have been diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism. Diagnosis was initially conceived in February, and subsequent test have tested positive for this condition. There are many potential side effects of this condition. The most common being fatigue and tiredness. Other common side effects include problems with memory and concentration. It is difficult to know how much these conditions are truly having an affect on my academic performance verses the other potential that my brain just isn't wired for the EE program. I think it is obvious, though, that tiredness is affecting me. Obviously, I don't know how long I've had this condition, so it is difficult to know how many months (or years) my academic performance may have suffered as a result.

Any way's that's sort of a "health" update for you just to let you know. I've got an initial consultation appointment next week Thursday with the surgeon who specializes in this area (surgery is the only "cure" for this condition, especially at my "young" age).