4.0 BAC vs. 4.0 GPA, What's More Important?

4.0 BAC vs. 4.0 GPA, What's More Important?

We all have a vision of what we want our college experience to be like
Erin Sweeney
Erin Sweeney Jan 15, 2017
34
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We all hold certain expectations when entering college. Some are from the stereotypical portrayals we get from movies and TV shows and others we set for ourselves and then, of course, we have those few expectations set by our parents. No matter where they come from or what they are we all have a vision of what we want our college experience to be like and we can set the bar pretty high or low for ourselves.

1. Classroom Expectations

We all like to think that classes are going to be easier than expected and our high school study methods and habits are gonna help us breeze by these next four years just like they helped us skate by the last four.

We'll nail that 4.0 in no time without any struggle. We'll be able to share our Dean's list accomplishments on Facebook for the parents to see and be proud of. Still be able to go out and have a good time so all our friends can see we're living it up. Basically living the college dream.

Reality

Yeah well for science majors, it's not so easy and for those that do get that 4.0 and make Dean's list without any struggle and still maintain a perfectly balanced social life, workout, and have time to decompress, my hat goes off to you.

But for those whose college reality hits hard, it's not the end of the world that you don't start off your first semester perfectly because no one does. You're still figuring it out and that's okay. We all are.

2. Social Expectations

Frat houses, sports team parties, clubs, bars, hot bodysuits and heels. Crowds of friends hung around you with that perfect half dazed smile in order to share the perfect party pic on Insta so everyone can know just how cool you are. Going to Project X type parties with people jumping from stairs onto tables with the 40 second keg stands and all. You are living the college life and you want everyone to know it.

You want to be best friends with every frat, every sports team, have the biggest group of friends on campus, you want everyone to know your name. You want the comfort and size of your high school friend group within the time period of three months.

Reality

I may be the bearer of bad news but you're not going to have the perfect social life within your first semester. College is not always like the movies with you swinging from a chandelier in a frat house with everyone chanting your name. I've never seen that happen in real life, just saying.

It's okay to stay in a few weekends and have some time to yourself. It's okay to remember the night before and not have any funny or hot pictures to post just to make it look like you have an ideal social life. Forget social media and the need to have a friend group the size of Texas because you will find your truest friends in groups of 4's, 5's, 6's, even 2's.

It doesn't matter the size, surround yourself with quality people and your college experience will be the best you can imagine. Go out and have the time of your life with your new friends for life, dance on tables, shotgun a few, but don't feel the need to post your every move to make yourself feel like you have it all.

3. Workout Expectations

We all want to beat the freshman 15. We all make it our goal for college to be the time of a new "us." We're gonna basically be pro body builders by the time we finish first semester complete with a set of abs and quads and glutes of steel.

Reality

Then we realize all the amazing food at Linda's at 1 a.m. and suddenly that goal seems further and further away and the muffin top becomes more real and real. We all do it. We all get caught up in the good food and good times with our friends. And it's 100 percent okay.

That's why there are spin classes and kickboxing to work off those mac n cheese bites with your girls. Take the funny memories and the bad ones and use them as motivation to get those buns of steel and never feel bad for treating yourself.

4. Parent Expectations

I don't know about a lot of you, but my parents tell me all the time the only thing they expect is for me to "do my best." It's pretty simple if you ask me, but for some reason in my little mind I feel like I have the entire world on my shoulders and I have to do everything in my power to prove to them that I'm the best thing to ever happen to them.

Get involved in every club, hold a position in everything I do, have professors tell me how amazing I am and to pass it on to my parents, get the best grades possible, etc. Make sure I have encouraging Facebook posts so they know I'm doing okay.

Reality

But honestly the only thing most parents want for their college kid is to not get arrested, not fail out, and just do the best they can. So you may be freaking out about your parents wanting to kill you, but as long as you're putting in some effort they're not gonna be mad.

We're all on our own for the first time without them basically swimming in the open ocean without a life preserver so they'll be happy if, in the wise words of Dori, we just keep swimming.

So don't stress buttercup. Your life doesn't need to be a movie. Wake up in the morning and be thankful for the people in your life, your health, and the good things you're surrounded by whether you notice them or not. You got it pretty good even if you may not always feel like it.

College doesn't need to be like a hit reality TV show for you to be happy and enjoy yourself. Be you and be awesome.

Cover Image Credit: http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/174811/How-To-Host-Your-First-College-Party-In-Your-Apartment
Erin Sweeney
Erin Sweeney Jan 15, 2017
At Sacred Heart University

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You May Have Worn The Prom Dress With Him, But I Get To Wear The Wedding Dress

You had him in high school, but I get him for the rest of my life.
Victoria Higgins
Victoria Higgins Mar 28, 2018
1099278
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High school seems like the best time of your life when you are in it. You think that all of your friends will be with you until the end, and that you will end up with whoever you are dating your senior year. For very few, that might just be the case. For all others, that is far from true.

You thought that you would marry your boyfriend and you thought that everything would work out how you had always imagined. I don't blame you though. He's great. You wanted everything with him, but you were just not right for him.

I wish I could say that I am sorry it didn't work out for you, but I can't. I can't because he is mine now, and I get to cherish him forever. You didn't do that right, and you were not meant to be together. You will find someone too, but I am happy that you were not the one for him.

Sometimes I have issues with jealousy, and I hate that you got all of the high school stuff with him. You got to go to games and support him. It kills me that I couldn't be there for him because I know I would have actually been there wholeheartedly. I would have done it out of love, not as a popularity appearance.

I hate that you got to go to all of the school dances with him. He got to see you all dressed up and probably told you how great you looked. I'm sure you did look great. Prom dresses were always fun to pick out and so colorful. It was exciting to match colors with your date. I am sure you had fun choosing his matching tux to your dress.

I find myself getting jealous, but then I stop. I am getting to match his tux with our wedding colors. I got to go dress shopping in a sea of white, and he doesn't get to know one detail about that dress yet. He will get to see me walk down the aisle and then every day forever. I get to love him forever.

I try to not get jealous of all of the things you got with him because it is all in the past. You had your time, and now I get the wedding. You got to dress up in high school, but I get to dress up for my wedding with him. He may have put a corsage on your wrist, but he will be putting the wedding ring on my finger.

Cover Image Credit: Jessy Scott
Victoria Higgins
Victoria Higgins Mar 28, 2018
At Missouri State University

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Even When You Don't Have It In You

For the struggling college student at the start of a new semester.

Emilee Day
Emilee Day Jan 17, 2019
85
views

The above picture represents a stage in my life that I thought I would never get through. I had just finished final exams and was terrified of the outcome of my last semester as a Junior. I had experienced so many mental breakdowns and anxiety attacks from a series of events and low places that I found myself in throughout the semester, so much that my mom had to stay with me during final exams. I needed encouragement, and I needed it bad.

Kind of like right now, and I'm sure that some of you might find yourself in the same place.

While the start of a new semester looks shiny and promising, there is always that point when reality begins to settle in, and you realize that responsibilities are resurfacing just as fast as they left at the onset of Christmas break.

You show up to the first day of classes, all of your professors throw a syllabus at you, as well as your final exam date, and you begin to feel your forehead break out in sweat. We've all been there, and that is precisely the place that I found myself at while sitting in my first ever 8 AM of my college career.

Not only do we attend classes, but nightly meetings as well, all while attempting to retain a social life and keep up with our mental health.

It's A LOT. I know it. I've been there.

There have been days when I wanted to simply throw in the towel, and quit school altogether.

I have been at the point when I couldn't find even a sliver of motivation to get me through the meetings, the extra credit seminars, work, or even to church.

The feeling of defeat is nothing new to me, but what I have learned is something that will forever be a constant even though my motivation level is not always.

The Lord doesn't love you because you do everything right, or you attend every meeting and aren't a second late... The Lord loves you because of you are His, and that will never change.

See, regardless of our level of perfection in a certain class or at a meeting, he is always constant, always.

Regardless of our inability to give ourselves creditor to take time to breathe, his loves you fully, with no prerequisites.

That is what had gotten me through the majority of my sleepless night when a responsibility or test kept me awake at night with anxious thoughts.

Regardless of our performance, or how good we look to the people of this Earth, our worth is found in God, and we must not let performance or standards of society fog up our sight of that.

Emilee Day
Emilee Day Jan 17, 2019
At College of Charleston

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