It’s the thing that has college kids stressing out all the time, the thing that can make or break you depending on your preparation, the thing that professors take forever to submit. It’s your grades.

I know it’s not necessarily a laughing matter, but I think it’s funny that we worry ourselves so much over a number that pops up on Canvas summarizing our performance in a class.

I don’t want to get caught up in discussing whether or not grades are important, because I think grades are definitely a big deal to a certain extent, however, I also think it’s crucial for us to enjoy the college experience outside of classes.

The thing is, you are going to get a C in your time at college. Actually, let me rephrase that for you overachievers – you are going to get a B in one of your classes in this four-year span.

I thought that I was invincible myself and wouldn’t get a C in a class, until my first semester of sophomore year came and pledging happened. I was a busy man and Dr. Beck’s psychology class slapped me with a C after I bombed one of his four tests.

The truth of the matter is, a class will sneak up on you and hit you with an undesirable grade. Why? Because that’s college.

To the people who still have 4.00’s or graduate with them, hats off to you guys. That’s a big accomplishment, but you probably never sleep.

College isn’t fun if you only focus on your grades. Not only is it important to get involved outside of class, but it’s also good to make sure you are learning within class and not just focusing on your grade.

Yeah, sure, half the classes you take are requirements to graduate and you just care about the ones geared towards your major, but look for the positive in every class instead of checking it off your list and taking your grade.

I always like to find my friends in every class I take, communicate with them and experience the class with them no matter how awful it is.

It’s much better to learn something in a class then to just sit there and wish the semester away because you’re worried about a grade.

At the end of the day, the grades you make do not matter as long as you pass. With that being said, I don’t mean you should give less effort, but if you learn and give full effort that results in a C, then there’s nothing more you can do.

Two men by the name of Denzel Washington and George W. Bush had GPAs in college that were significantly lower than 3.00’s.

Bush didn’t get a single A in college and had an average grade of 77 percent in his classes, while Washington at one point was making 1.70 GPA, however, they’ve had major success in the real world.

I’m not saying that if you’re making bad grades you’re going to become famous and get rich, but I am saying that you have just as good of a chance to be successful with average grades as opposed to people that have straight A’s.

So to all of the students stressing about that C you made on your test, hang in there, because you can be successful if you’re passionate about your ultimate goal for the real world.