Help needed please !

[u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS]

Struggling During My First Semester at UIUC — Desperately Need Advice and Help
I started my first semester at UIUC this fall as a Computer Science transfer student through the Engineering Pathways guaranteed admission program. I attended community college for my freshman and sophomore years, where I maintained straight A’s. I worked incredibly hard to get here, and I was so excited to finally be at UIUC.
The first few weeks were exciting and fun, but somewhere along the way, I allowed myself to fall behind. Now everything is catching up with me, and I’m struggling more than I ever imagined.
I recently got my first CS 361 (Statistics) exam back, and seeing a D absolutely crushed me. I’ve never experienced anything like this academically, and I’m honestly having a hard time coping with it. I feel like I’m on the verge of a complete breakdown.
I registered for 18 credit hours this semester, and I’m beginning to wonder if I took on more than I can handle. Maybe it’s the particular combination of classes I chose, but the workload feels absolutely relentless. No matter how many hours I spend studying or working on assignments, there never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.
I’m feeling completely overwhelmed, defeated, and mentally exhausted. I’ve gone from being a straight-A student who felt confident academically to someone who is questioning whether I’m even capable of succeeding here. It’s heartbreaking because I worked so hard to get into this program, and now I feel like I’m drowning.
I desperately need help.
I know I struggle with time management, organization, and procrastination. I constantly find myself scrambling to finish assignments at the last minute, and I don’t know how to break this cycle. I also think I could really benefit from tutoring in Statistics, because I’m clearly not understanding the material as well as I thought.
If anyone has been through something similar, especially other CS transfer students at UIUC, please share your advice. How did you get your grades back on track? How do you manage such a demanding workload without falling behind? Are there tutoring services, academic support programs, or resources that genuinely helped you?
I’m not looking for an easy way out. I’m willing to put in the work, but right now I feel completely lost and don’t know where to begin.
I’m genuinely scared of failing after working so hard to get here. I don’t want to give up on my dream of earning a CS degree, but I’m reaching a point where I’m afraid I might have to.
Any advice, guidance, encouragement, or offers of help would mean more than you know.
Please help me figure this out before I make the heartbreaking decision to drop out.

[u/IT_IS_I_THE_GREAT]

I think you should take no more than 15 credit hours. Even better if you drop to 12 until you can adjust. I had the same issue. Took me 2 semesters to get used to the courses here. Now I’m doing fine

[u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS → u/IT_IS_I_THE_GREAT]

Great advise ! Ty.

[u/IT_IS_I_THE_GREAT → u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS]

Also try to balance your courses. Don’t take all technical courses. Use a gened to balance out, since your transferred, I’m assuming you are a junior or at least a sophomore, so don’t take more than 3 CS tech courses, take at least one gened or a chill cs class to balance out

[u/jc8203437]

was this written by AI? I do miss trio student support services from my community college and generally the people there were nicer but it is what it is, seconded to take fewer credits and dont get sucked into spending infinite time studying with little marginal gains

[u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS → u/jc8203437]

Used AI to clarify what I wanted to emphasize. I’m not thinking clearly.

[u/jc8203437 → u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS]

sry i was not accusing you of making up a story with AI, im saying were not going to judge for shitty writing honestly i think you will have better time if you just put your actual thoughts. its understandable to have ai rewrite a email to a advisor or similar but i think it not necessary here

[u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS → u/jc8203437]

English is my second language so I was afraid of being judged. It is a very real and depressing story.

[u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS → u/jc8203437]

Pretty good advice. I guess I was overconfident.

[u/jc8203437 → u/BEYONDBEAUTYFINDS]

yeah its easy to get into a trap of spending every waking hour doing school it make it easy to burnout, i would say drop the class you are struggling most before the drop deadline today. then try to have better work life balance dont burnout. im at 16cr with one of the classes i already know the material in and im still pretty busy.