Students are put on AP if their GPA falls below what their school considers to be good academic standing.

Remember:

• AP isn’t a label that means your school wants to kick you out. In fact, you are on AP precisely because they want to keep you!
• It’s not a punishment! It’s very easy—and understandable—to imagine that academic probation is a punishment for bad grades. But academic probation is how your school identifies students who’d benefit from resources and support to bring their GPA up and succeed in college.

Make sure you find out how AP works at your school and what support you can get!

And finally, remember that it’s not just you! Academic struggle is normal.

Academic probation can change your life—in a good way. It’s transformative and helps you learn things about yourself that you wouldn’t have known otherwise. It really can make you stronger, if you let it.

But how do you let it?

The first step is processing your feelings about being on AP. That’s harder than it sounds—and more important than you might think.

Ask yourself these questions. Really consider them carefully and honestly. Take as much time as you need to think.

1. What emotion(s) have you been feeling since you found out you’re on AP?
2. How do those feelings affect your thoughts and behavior?

Instead of pushing feelings away, give yourself space to openly understand and express them.

It’s common for students placed on AP to feel like they’ve failed. If that’s how you’re feeling, there are generally 2 ways you can address that.

• One is to tell yourself you didn’t fail. (For the record, that’s true!)
• The other is to let yourself feel that you failed, and then ask yourself “so what?”

That second option is especially interesting. Confronting the idea that you did fail can be terrifying. But facing your fear is, in fact, the definition of courage.

Allowing yourself vulnerability to your feelings takes bravery and builds resilience.

As a very wise Beyond 12 coach once said, “vulnerability is the core of shame and fear and our struggle for worthiness, but it’s also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, of love.”

It can be super stressful to know you’re on AP, and examining your thoughts and feelings about it can leave you feeling raw, exhausted, anxious, or many other emotions.

Your feelings are valid. It’s okay to not be okay.

To emerge from this difficult space, it’s helpful to cultivate habits of self-compassion.

One powerful habit is to listen for when your internal voice is being critical and try to reframe that negative self-talk in kind and positive ways.

For example, if you catch yourself thinking that you’re being lazy:

• pause and ask yourself whether you need to rest
• remind yourself that everyone needs to take breaks sometimes
• ask yourself if you’d talk to a friend the way you’re talking to yourself

Keeping a journal is another healthy way to record and process your thoughts and ideas.

“If you were asked to list all the things you love, how long would it take you to name yourself?”

Many of us wouldn’t think to name ourselves at all!

But self-love is important for overcoming academic probation and the negative feelings you might have about it.

Self-care is one of the best ways to practice and express self-love. Self-care means making time in your day to care for your whole self: mind, body, and spirit.

Take 15 minutes to plan out how you’ll practice self-care. Think about these aspects of your life and your wellbeing:

• social
• physical
• spiritual
• mental
• emotional

Lead your journey through academic probation with self-love and self-compassion.