Chances are, if you are anything like me, you have lived your whole life being "above average". Your grades were always A's and B's, your test scores were always high, and on those national exams, you scored in the "Exceeds Expectations" category. We were the kids who were gifted and never felt challenged enough in school, We were smart enough that we barely had to study, homework was a breeze, and often, we were bored out of our minds.
If you're also like me, you probably walked into college thinking, "Oh. This will be hard, but I'm smart. I can handle it". You weren't worried at all, I mean, you'd made it through how many years of school. How much harder could this really be? And then it hit you. You were struggling. You didn't know how to really study, you didn't know how to ask for help, and when those final grades came out and you saw a C and a C- around all those other grades, you panicked. Throughout all of high school, you'd kept a 3.5 or higher GPA and held straight A's, now here you are, with a 3.12 GPA and those two C's. Those two letters that you've never seen before. The letters that you've always associated with failing, or being "average", or not being good enough. Your heart starts to thud, your breathing gets heavy and you feel the tears start to build just behind your eyes. You're panicking and you have no idea what to do. Does this mean you aren't smart? Does this mean you won't succeed?
Absolutely not.
Coming from someone who is there, who knows how you feels, and who spent thirty minutes crying the other day because of a 3.0 GPA in college, I know exactly how you're feeling. Take it from me, you're going to be alright. Use this experience, this bad semester, or maybe a bad year, to grow and learn how to handle your school work better in this new environment. The only reason you're struggling isn't because you're stupid or unable to perform at the college level. It's because for years you were left unchallenged and bored in classrooms where the teachers had to teach a class, not just you, so you were left to your own devices. Here in college, you're given harder material, more material, and less guidance. You're expected to know how to study, where to get help, how to go into office hours, and you had better pass those quizzes because this degree is just the start to your career. It's scary and intimidating, and believe me, it's hard. It's unbelievably hard to teach yourself how to study, especially when everyone around you doesn't seem to be having trouble. It's hard to suck up your pride and ask for help because you never had to in the past. You feel like asking for help, or going to the writing center is the equivalent of being weak. It isn't.
Getting help. Talking to Professors. Finding a study group.
All of these things are resources for you to use so that you can succeed and you can do well in everything that you do. There's nothing wrong with needing guidance, there's nothing shameful about asking for help. What's shameful is refusing help and then failing despite all the options open to you. You have all these chances and opportunities for aid and if you don't take it, you have no one but yourself to blame.
Accepting this reality can come as a shock, I know it did for me. When those first semester grades came in my jaw hit the floor and I cried for about an hour. I couldn't believe that I had done so poorly. And the funny thing was, I didn't even do that bad. My GPA was a 3.175 and I had only gotten two C's, everything else was an A. I had simply been so conditioned to believe that C's are bad, that I believed it and proceeded to tear myself apart because of it. Did that help me do better in the Spring? Absolutely not. If anything, the fear of failing and being less than I expected, made me perform worse. I was so caught up in grades, GPA's, and scores that I was more nervous that anything and I did worse than before. I inhibited myself from succeeded because I was stuck in the past. I couldn't suck up my pride and grab for one of those lifelines. No, I wouldn't. A part of me knew I should, but I was just so caught up in everything that I refused, saying "Of well I can do it myself. I'm smart". Yeah well, smart doesn't cut it. Part of accepting the difference between college and high school is realizing that you can't just be book smart. You have to be street smart too. Go to your professors, use quizlet, and take advantage of every opportunity to better yourself. It'll pay off in the long run.
Don't be too discouraged by C's and low GPA's. You're still young, you're still learning, and you're going to make it. Never stop believing in yourself.
