If you’re a STEM major, you are no stranger to “weed out” classes. You know, the classes that are made to be more difficult than necessary just to discourage a portion of people from continuing on in the major. Science classes and engineering classes, just to name a few, try to weed out the weak links so that only the most studious and determined students can make it all the way to their degree. I can see where they’re coming from, but I frankly think the whole ideal is a bit elitist. The fact of the matter is, some of the best professionals are not the ones who entered their jobs with the highest GPA. A person’s success is measured by much more than grades and whether or not they graduate in 4 years.
These weed out classes also tend to discourage the wrong population. For example, I am currently a Nursing Pending major, meaning I have not yet been accepted to my school’s nursing program. Right now, I am taking the appropriate prerequisites to apply to the program, one of which being anatomy. You may have heard of the legendary anatomy class at UCF before. There is about a 15% curve every semester, and even the highest of achievers become friends with F’s. People actually buy tee shirts for surviving this class. The reason is because this class is designed to create the best doctors in America. The professor, who is brilliant and very accomplished, is making sure his students are more than prepared for medical school. The only problem is, not all of his students want to be surgeons. Some of them want to be nurses.
So the question is, what do you do when you feel yourself falling behind in these difficult classes? The typical response is to cower and fall into a spiral of believing you will never achieve your goals. That is exactly the response we want to avoid.
The first thing to think about when you feel the self doubt coming on is whether or not you have really been giving all your effort to the class. Do you have room for improvement? If the answer is yes, start making a plan to go the extra mile and put forth the effort. If the answer is no, professor’s office hours are a great way to get extra insight and the boost you might need.
If you are starting to bomb early on, you might want to consider withdrawing from the class. Thankfully, withdrawal deadlines are usually after midterms to allow students to gauge how successful they will be in the class. It doesn’t matter if it sets you back or throws off your academic plan. There is no shame in retaking a class. Odds are, you’ll have a much better understanding of the material the second time around. Ultimately, the most important thing is your sanity. It’s much better to graduate a little late knowing you put your best foot forward than to graduate on time completely burned out.
The most important thing to do when you feel yourself being defeated by classes is to think about why you picked your major in the first place. For me, I want to help people. I want to work with kids in hospitals, and I want to make unfortunate situations a little bit better for them. Anatomy will help me do that job well. Even though I don’t need or agree with the difficulty of the course, I am going to be a darn good nurse because of it.
So ask yourself, what is your real goal? What difference do you want to make in the world? Are these classes going to help you get there, or should you think about alternate routes?
Things rarely go according to plan when you’re figuring out the rest of your life, so the best thing to do is roll with the punches and keep adapting. Don’t necessarily think about the titles and degrees you want to have in the end, think about the kind of person you want to be. For some people, college is all about preparing for a job. I admire the discipline of those people, because I am not somebody who can devote all of their time to studying. For me, college is more about the experience. I try to space out my difficult classes to leave room for activities and on-campus involvement. College is a little different for everyone, and there are always multiple paths to any goal. Pick the path that will make you the person you want to be later on.
Remember, these college classes do not determine your overall success. GPA does not determine your ability to impact someone’s life. Those things are more so determined by your ability to try again and learn from your mistakes. I know I am going to be a great nurse not because of my education, but because of my persistence and willingness to keep pursuing my goal in spite of the difficulties. So when you’re feeling like you’re getting weeded out, keep your goal in mind and find your roots.