This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Chatham chapter.
Grades will be posted soon or perhaps yours have been posted already. Regardless, once those grades are posted and you view them, they could cause you to rejoice with pride or send you into an existential crisis where you start reevaluating your entire life. Here are some things to consider when looking at your grades.
1. Your hard work matters.
No matter what your final grade is, only you know the true amount of effort you put in. As long as you are happy with that effort, that is what matters most. It is likely that that your professors or peers also noticed how hard you worked to get the grade you did, and even if your peers would like to see you fail, your professors do not. Seriously. Professors want to share their knowledge with other people who are interested, and they want you to understand what they are teaching you. Your professors will give you back what you put into their course. If you go to their office and recitations for more clarity, they will remember that. Answering questions posed by the professor in class and asking your own are equally important, and your professor will appreciate both. Whether you are the student that can easily grasp the material as you complete the coursework or the one that is working your hardest to, your professor will help you when you need it and be glad that you care enough to ask for help at all.
2. Truly understanding the material is most important.
Grades are important, but a high grade in a course alone will not help you once you have a job in your field. Once you are in working in your field, you will need to apply the knowledge your employer expects you to know based on your degree and past coursework – your grades will not save you. The main goal of college is to receive your degree, but college also gives you the opportunity to learn from experts in your field and gain more knowledge than you could on your own – take advantage of this. Also, remember that not everyone is good at tests, but struggling with high-pressure, timed tests does not mean you do not understand the subject you are studying.
3. Your mental state can affect your grades.
So many things can affect your ability to focus on classes – from drastic events in your life to something much smaller but bothersome. Your courses will continue whether you are ready for them to or not. One of the more prevalent and ongoing issues for students is mental illness – whether it is a lifelong struggle or something that the pressures of college has brought about. No matter what the cause, having different struggles mentally than other people can make understanding course material and working through your classes harder. While doing your best to get the help you may need is necessary, it is also important to keep in mind that you may have different needs to be successful in your classes than other students, and that doesn’t make you less than them whatsoever.
4. You can retake courses.
If you are completely unhappy with your grade, you can take the course again – and you’re likely to do much better the second time because it’ll be the second time you’ve seen the material. You may end up taking the course in a similar situation as you did the first time, or a different way. If you take the course again with the same professor, you now have the added benefit of knowing their teaching style, what their tests generally look like, and how they grade students. If you take the course with a new professor, you will encounter a different teaching style but will always have your past knowledge to apply to the new, but related information you are learning. It is also possible that you could take the course in the summer when you can focus on solely that course, or online, which will allow you to study in a different manner than you had a chance to before. Other courses that you take at a later point may also assist your understanding when you go back and retake a course.
5. Your grades do not define you.
Yes, certain programs past your undergraduate degree will require you to have a high GPA, but one bad grade will not completely ruin your chances. Even a few bad grades will likely not stand in the way of you achieving your goals; many graduate school and Ph.D. programs’ applications will give you a place to explain a few bad grades if you would need to. More so, you are a person with many different skills, interests and abilities. School is important, but it is not everything. Most of all, you are trying and you care – and that says more about you as a person than your GPA ever could.
Overall, grades are not everything – give yourself a break and just always make sure to do your best.