What Causes Students to Fail Courses in College?

Underestimating Workload

• Some students go into college underestimating how much homework is involved. Each course has its own professor who will assign homework, give tests and quizzes, and assign projects. If students don't keep on top of their workload and stay organized, it's easy to fall behind rather quickly. Because each college course only lasts one semester, there is less time to recover from a bad start.

Extracurricular Activities

• Universities offer a wide range of extracurricular activities. There are sororities and fraternities, social clubs and dorm socials. For a young student, it can be hard to choose to be responsible and study instead of participate in more fun activities with friends.

Lack of Goals

• When a student has a specific career goal in mind, she has something to work toward while in school. When a student doesn't have that goal, she is living for the present and has a lack of motivation.

Bad Major Choice

• There are students who go into college knowing what field they want to work in and what major they want to go into. The problem, however, is some majors don't suit students the way they might expect. For example, a person might want to major in forensic science because he likes the idea of solving a case and using evidence to catch a criminal. The reality is that there are a lot of science classes required when majoring in forensic science, so if a student hates science, he has chosen the wrong major.

Lack of Independence Growing Up

• Throughout high school, there are students who have parents pushing them to study constantly and to work hard in school. When those same students go off to college, they no longer have that added pressure or motivation. The result can be a student who wants to enjoy his new-found freedom instead of studying or completing homework.

Lack of Preparation in High School

• Another cause for failing courses in college is a lack of proper preparation in high school. If a high school does not teach students the same amount of information as other high schools, then its students will be less prepared than other students in the same class. It can be hard to catch up when professors already assume all of their students are on the same level.