76.5%.
As the number stared back at me on Blackboard, I couldn't believe it. That's all I had gotten on my accounting exam? I had been waiting patiently two weeks for a score––and I'd gotten a C?
And worse than that, it had brought my overall grade down to an A-.
Oh, that dreaded grade. I've maintained a 3.85 GPA throughout high school and college, so grades are pretty important to me. Even now that I've been certified in my major, I'm still always, always worried about grades.
And a 'C?' A 'C' simply will not cut it.
Immediately after I saw that grade, I got to work. I thought about what went wrong, what I need to do better. Should I cut back on my leisure activities and study more? Spend more time on homework and coursework and less time with my friends?
If this was two years ago ––even six months ago–- I would've done both of those things without any hesitation. But now...
I took a deep breath, reassured myself that the sky wasn't actually falling. I reassessed the situation.
One bad grade on a test––ok. It happens. But it doesn't mean I have to punish myself or stop doing things that I genuinely enjoy.
College is hard. Really hard. And one of the things that I'm slowly but surely learning is that you're gonna get hit with grades that you don't like or didn't expect.
Even though I studied and felt pretty good about that accounting test, I'd still gotten a C.
But I'd also gotten A's on all my accounting homework. I'd read a couple of books I'd been wanting to read for a while. I'd gotten a ton of writing done I'd hung out with my friends, watched movies, and caught up with them. I'd addressed some conflict I'd been having with one of my friends, and we're in a much better place now. I'd gotten some great compliments from my bosses at my internship. I'd been doing great on my radio show, and putting out some pretty great Odyssey articles.
I had done all of that––and that made that C a bit more bearable. Is it something I'm looking to repeat? Definitely not. But if it means that I get to accomplish that whole list of things, then I'm ok with that A-. Because ––and even though I can feel 15-year-old Hannah somewhere inside of me, yelling and kicking and screaming–– grades aren't everything.
As a few of my friends keep reminding me, college is such a small chunk of your life. Enjoy it while it lasts and don't sweat the small stuff––learn to be okay with that A-.
