A lot of students who succeeded in high school expect to do the same once they get to college. It's a rude awakening once they start getting into their courses and realizing that success is measured differently at a higher level.

As a straight "A" high school student, I constantly measured my success by this same standard. But in college, acing a class became a lot harder.

The expectation that if I worked hard, like I did in high school, I would be guaranteed A's in my college classes was not fulfilled. And this disappointment was almost too much for me to even understand.

If I was studying during every free hour of my every day, why wasn't I "succeeding"? If I was meeting with professors, asking what more I can do for a good grade, why wasn't this showing in the highest letter grade?

Well, it's simply because college is different than high school, so we need to measure our success differently.

College professors and high school teachers grade using other ways. There have been times that after an exam, my professor will explain how well the class did, being that our average was a "C". This statement wouldn't make me feel any better about the exam; on the contrary, the average would frighten me that I too got this score.

The material taught in college is obviously a lot more challenging than what students are used to in high school, even if students were in Honors or AP classes. In general, there is a larger quantity of material taught. But college professors also demand students to apply their knowledge to more analytic questioning, not just memorization.

Thus, students need to reevaluate their study habits, and therefore advance the way they learn.

In addition to the differences in the classroom, being in college adds other things that individuals devote time and energy to. There are a lot of students who come to college with the anticipation of a 4.0 because that's what they have always known, not factoring in the million and one other things going on at this stage of life.

Between balancing work, clubs, relationships and a social life, you realize that maintaining straight A's isn't always feasible.

I'm not saying that college is too hard and you should just slack off because you won't get the grade you want either ways. Some college courses are easy to get a good letter grade as long as you put in the work.

Instead, you should ask yourself: "Did I give it my best effort?" Measuring your success by your surplus, or on the other hand, lack, of hard work will help to decrease our self deprecation.