This is coming from the girl that graduated high school as Salutatorian with over a 4.0 GPA. This is coming from the girl that took countless dual-enrollment, Honors, and AP classes and was at the top of her class in all three. This is also coming from the girl that lost sleep due to the nerve-wracking feeling of not being prepared enough for her next exam. The same girl that would fight with teachers in hopes that they would give back half a point, making her grade change from a 98.1% to a 98.2%. The girl that would rather be studying or completing her assigned reading than hanging out with friends and making memories. The girl that, at 15 years old, cried in the bathroom after getting an A- in a 200-level college course.
There is such an increased pressure to do well academically that we, as a society, have ingrained in our brains that B’s are unacceptable and A’s are now average. In high school, you had to make the grade to get scholarships to a good college. In college, your grades determine where you attend grad school and essentially the future of your career. Now, however, doing well in the classroom has been standardized to such a degree that it is not nearly enough–sure, you bust your butt and have a 4.0, but what sets you apart from the student next to you that has a 4.0 as well? Or what about the one that has a 4.0 and is the president of the debate team, or does graduate-level research? Nothing less than going above and beyond is acceptable, which is only setting us up for meaningless involvement and exhaustion.
Grades were the bane of my existence in high school–that “final grade calculator” website was literally pinned to my desktop, telling me the lowest score I could get on my next exam to get that A. To be enough. Even when I was successful in getting my 4.0 for each semester, I wasn’t satisfied. I had fulfilled what I expected of myself and then set my sights on doing it again.
Now, two years into college, I no longer have that 4.0. I get B’s on my exams and could not care less. Some may see this as lazy, but if it’s something that won’t matter a great deal in 5 years, I don’t see the importance in caring about it and I’m not sorry.
Because of this, I’ve gotten involved in volunteering, something I’ve always wanted to do more of. I’ve made so many new friends by going out instead of studying for the next day’s exam, one of which who happens to be related to the Dean of the graduate program I’ve been looking at–how ironic. I now have two jobs, one of which in my field of study that just offered me a full-time summer position. I joined a sorority, something that I never thought I would have time for in high school.
Long story short, I don’t see the benefit in spending all my time learning how to be a well-oiled academic machine that only has the concern of making the grade. College is supposed to be a time of self-discovery, which in my opinion cannot be done through a 5 paragraph research paper. So, for those who were once like me, drop the mindset that you are your grades and nothing more. It is not worth it to miss out on the things you wish you could have done because you spent so much time worrying about the difference between a 3.0 and a 4.0.