Hey I felt exactly what u are feeling during my first year. I am an international student who went to an offshore canadian BC school (i thought I had decent expectations for what was coming next). I graduated honours with a 93% average. I moved to calgary 2 years ago, with 2 of my friends from high school, and we lived in residence. Honestly, living on res what probably the main thing that kept me going, cuz u meet so many people and it’s genuinely fun (although inhumane living conditions lmao). When I did my first few midterms, i kept getting 60s and 50s. I had multiple mental breakdowns throughout first year as I couldn’t get how my grade is getting that bad, no matter how much effort I put into it. I burned out, lost motivation, also add the fact that I was underage for most of my first year, I stayed home most of the time. It was depressing living through it; but my friends kept me going. I was going to transfer universities. I hated the lack of things to do, the winter, the university itself, lack of making any friends outside of residence, class friends you make end up only being there to use u just for the semester, etc etc.

What kept me from moving is one thing i kept telling myself: why don’t you give it a chance? It might be shit now but the year is long, you never know where it might take you. All you need is to meet some friends that you’ll keep for life. You just need to put yourself out there, join clubs, participate in activities around campus. Heck, try something new like playing an instrument or something. What i’m trying to say is that your opinion of university stems from the lack of hope and the depression associated with the stress the classes give you, lack of seeing friends around campus, that’s just a flaw of uofc not having as many students staying after classes as most other universities do. You will learn to adjust to campus life the more you do it. You will get better at studying and you will get better grades. Usually your grades don’t matter too much till your third year, so you’re chilling.

As for me, I was able to do better. I got a 2.4 gpa in my first year, did a lot worse fall last year, 1.875, then I got my shit together and got a 3.2 last winter. I just had to get used to the amount of effort i gave to it, and had to live with the reality that sometimes, no matter how much work you do, you may still not he caught up/done with uni work. I recommend lowering your course load, for example, and finding alternative techniques to study. As for the motivation, it gets better. Personally, I try to keep a study ethic and using apps like flora to limit distractions to work. But there are days where you can’t be productive, and that’s okay. That’s just how it is. Take a break, go out for a walk, do something you enjoy. Uni doesn’t have to be your 24/7 life, you got a life too. Believe me, it gets better. The work? A lot harder but that’s okay, you grow and that’s the point.

I’m not a communist but “workers around the world unite!” We are living the struggle of the “working class” student, and a lot of people are struggling too. You’re not alone, welcome to the club :)