Let’s start with something a little obvious. College is hard.
It’s hard emotionally, it’s hard academically, it’s hard relationally. You’re coming to a new place you don’t know with people you don’t know and information you thought you knew, but you realized, you know a lot less.
But “C’s get degree’s” sounds a little too much like an excuse to stop trying.
I’m not going to discount anyone’s hard work. I have a C in a class right now that I read four hours a night for, and I’m confident that I’ve complained more in this semester about how “busy” I am than the past two years combined.
Let me make one thing clear – your GPA isn’t about how much you have going on. I have four jobs to support myself and I’m pledging. Every semester since Spring 2016, I have taken 18 hours on top of work.
As much as I’d hate to break the stereotype, I still sleep just as much as everyone else (thanks FitBit for being proof that I average 7 hours of sleep a night during the school year). I still have a social life and maintain a healthy relationship with the people I love. I still go to the movies, go out to eat, attend sporting events, and all of the other so-called exciting events that make up “college life.”
It’s unfair to generalize “straight-A students” as these sleepless zombies roaming campus at 2 a.m. preying on every coffee maker they can find. I’ve definitely been in that position before, no doubt about it, but I don’t think I’m invincible. I know I will fail and I recognize how I have already failed and used those times to learn how I can improve myself.
The biggest issue a college student can have is complacency. To fail, and not care nor learn about why you did, is the reason you will continue to fail. But don’t excuse yourself from the lessons that failure has to offer just because you will get a degree regardless.
Am I stressed that I have a C in Communication Law? Absolutely. But that doesn’t take away how much I’m learning. I’ve made two very good friends in that class and learned more than I ever thought I could.
But its frustrating, and seems a bit off to me that celebrating my 4.0 GPA is considered boasting, but its okay to celebrate and laugh at a failing GPA? It’s unacceptable to retweet complaints and desires to have a 4.0, but decide not to put in the hard work it takes to achieve it.
Putting that I have straight A’s on my resume isn’t my attempt to be better than anyone else, its used as a testament to the unruly hard nights I’ve been through, alongside my dedication to do and be the best I can.
To all of my 4.0 friends, don’t fret. It’s okay to have high academic goals and stress about school. It’s okay to spend hours studying. Your hard work does not go unnoticed.
