As you learn after graduating high school, college is hard. Everything you have heard about it you soon learn to be…
In this post, you can find tips to get you through a semester in college.
If you are in college or will soon be enrolled, you may be worried about becoming an ‘adult’, along with everything that entails. Whether that be moving away, having to pay your own bills, living on your own, the list goes on and on. I can assure you that living the college life is what you make it. If you worry about all the student debt you acquire, struggle with financial stability, stress about your grades, then you are doing pretty good in college. Remember that you worked hard to get where you are/going to be and that the only real worries you should have in college is making it to graduation.
College is in a sense ‘hard’ for almost everyone enrolled. That doesn’t mean it will be impossible or that you will exhaust yourself every waking hour in college. If I were to give advice to incoming freshman and even to students already enrolled in college, I’d say, “Find a healthy balance when it comes to studying/assignments and personal life.” If you can manage to find a balance between these two aspects in life it will make your semester immensely better!
For me personally, it took half-way through my first semester to find a healthy balance. My problem with studying and assignments was that I was trying to do work in ALL my classes everyday. Pretty soon, I exhausted myself, and my grades started reflecting this. I now know that working on assignments and studying everyday (for me personally) is not a way to maintain a good GPA. I found that at most, I should only work on assignments/study for two to three classes each day. Working the same amount of time but narrowing my focus on less subjects has really boosted my GPA.
Maintaining a good GPA, just thinking about this induces stress in most college students. (especially those with academic scholarships) It is normal to stress about your GPA constantly throughout college. If you find your GPA plunging lower than the funds in your bank account, DON’T PANIC. I promise that you aren’t the only one with poor grade averages in your classes. First, if you haven’t already, now is a good time to read/re-read your syllabus in whatever class you are doing poor in. Syllabi have all the information you need to know about your assignments and tests. This helps when figuring out how your final grade will be determined. Next, figure out the time frame you have to boost your GPA. (If you are coming up to finals week, know that failing a course is not the end of the world) Once you have dealt with the stress of the unknown, now you can really focus on getting your GPA up.
Before I get into boosting your GPA, I’d like to first talk about an option you may not have thought of before. If it isn’t too late, and you are failing a class right before midterm, dropping a course IS ALWAYS an option to consider when thinking about maintaining a good GPA. My motto is “Taketh that ‘W’ friend”. Taking a ‘W’ is better having a D, or F grade average in a class. If you drop a course before the final drop date then a ‘W’ won’t even affect your GPA. (now onto GPA boosting tips)
Okay, I know this is obvious but the only way you can accomplish raising your GPA is to work harder. If you are working harder and still are sinking, reach out for help. Find someone who can help you. Fortunately for me, tutoring at my university is ‘free’ (its an extra fee tacked on to tuition). If your college has this, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT. If you don’t feel comfortable meeting face to face with a tutor, that’s okay! There are online tutors as well! Basically, if you really want to get the grade, there is PLENTY of resources that are waiting for you to be used.
If you take anything from this post at all, remember the following:
College is hard, but it is not impossibe!
Don’t let problems with no immediate solution stress you out. Remember you enrolled because you worked hard to get where you are and plan on working hard to get where you are going. Just remember your number one goal in college is to graduate.
College is what you make of it. Do what makes you happy, but at the same time remember you are responsible to keep up with what you are enrolled to do!
GPA, pfft, more like… actually you should take this average seriously. (especially if you plan on doing graduate school) Remember though, failing a class is not the end of the world. Just dust yourself off and keep pushing forward. However, if you struggle in a course at the beginning of a semester and are still failing at midterm, if you can drop the class, TAKE THAT W. W’s look so much better on transcripts than D’s and F’s. They don’t even affect your GPA if you drop soon enough.
I just want to say that you are doing amazing! Keep pushing through and one day soon WE WILL GET OUR COLLEGE DEGREES!
Living the College Life 