• Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group

University Survival

  • Student Success Skills
    • Picking a College
    • Financing Your Education
    • Choosing a Major
    • Preparing for College
    • Managing the Personal Side of the Transition to College
    • Developing Discipline to Do Well
    • Managing the Social Side of College
    • Being an Efficient Learner
    • Taking Tests
    • Ensuring You Receive The Grade You Want
    • Managing Group Projects
    • Becoming a Campus Leader
    • Student Athletes
    • Navigating College Practices
    • Succeeding on Internships and Co-ops
    • Making Critical Decisions
    • Overcoming Challenges for Specific Types of Students
    • Setting Goals
    • Being an International Student In The United States
    • Using Resources
    • Communication Skills for College Graduates
    • Building a Professional Network
    • Using LinkedIn to Develop Your Network
    • Preparing for a Career
    • Understanding Job Protocols
    • Developing Essential Career Skills
    • Becoming a Leader
    • Overcoming Career Challenges
    • Planning for your Financial Future
  • Parent Connections
    • Parent Topics
      • Being a Supportive Parent
      • Making Critical Decisions
      • Financing Your Student’s Education
    • Parent Emails
  • Teacher Resources
  • Resources
  • Community
  • About
You are here: Student Success Skills » Overcoming Challenges for Specific Types of Students » Dealing with a Personal Emergency

Student Success Skills

Dealing with a Personal Emergency

by jack
July 13, 2012

Sometime or other, every college student is likely to have a personal emergency that could impact their attendance or performance in classes. Typical examples include:

  • Death of a member of the family or close friend
  • A health issue requiring hospitalization
  • An injury restricting mobility or the ability to do academic work

Most universities have policies that support students through these tough times. Here’s what you should do when you are confronted with an emergency:

  1. Notify each of your teachers. Describe the emergency and ask for help. In most cases, your teachers will not count you absent. You may be given extra time on assignments. Whether you can make up a scheduled test is more problematic. Some faculty are very strict about missing tests.
  2. Inform your advisor or the campus student services office. In some cases, notes can be sent to your teachers to let them know of the situation. While this may be redundant with step (1) above, such notice generally is more accepted than your own notification.
  3. Identify a classmate in each course to get notes and assignments from. While faculty will generally be sympathetic to your emergency, they expect you to get caught up with the work.
  4. Develop a specific plan to get caught up. Put your plan on paper and share it with your teachers. This plan will help you stay focused, but it will also make it more likely that your teachers will support you.
  5. If you struggle with the emotional aftermath of the emergency, seek out help. Most campuses have grief counselors or others who can help you adjust.

The key to all of this is not to let one emergency lead to another: your failure in college..

← Dealing With Parents’ Divorce
Having a Family Member with a Severe Medical Problem →

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Rate This Topic

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Testimonials

  • I have changed and adopted some things.  First is my time management.  I learned how to manage my time by using simple things like the what-to-do list.  I never thought about using time between classes to do useful things.  I used to either go back to my apartment if the break was long or just using my phone to text.  However, I now realize how I can use that time.  I usually spend my time in the engineering lab, even if I have everything done, I just go and figure out what to do because it's better than going back to the apartment.  Additionally, I learned a very useful thing like the cheat sheet.  I think even if it's not permitted to be used in some classes, it benefits me in reviewing before a test or quiz since most of what is going to be covered is on there.  What I like here is that everything we learn can be used in real situations or study cases.  For instance, I learn some tips for studying, such as the flash cards, and when I try it, it works perfectly..

Sign Up For Student Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly student emails.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Sign Up For Parent Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly parent emails.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic
© Copyright - University Survival