Dear Lost College Student,
College can be a very confusing and terrifying time, especially when academics are much more difficult than expected. You go in as a confident go-getter, only to get hit very hard with exams, curves, and an enormous amount of homework. It leaves you exhausted at the end of the night. Some can handle this and succeed right off the bat. Others, like me, go in and realize that it's much harder than you thought. You struggle through the semester and, when you see your GPA at the end, your confidence drops. You think, "Am I cut out for this? Am I really this stupid?"
Your GPA does not define you. It does not define your personality, your intelligence, or your career path.
I believed this as a freshman. I thought that I was a terrible student and my self-esteem was broken into pieces. I am here to tell you that you aren't alone. There are many college students among you who feel lost and who have no idea what to do with the path that they thought they were heading down. You may feel like you do not know what you are doing, but you will adapt and learn from your mistakes. Failure is the only way to learn and to become a stronger student. With tears in your eyes, you think that you have let everyone who you know down, including yourself. Little do you know, you are making them prouder than you think.
It gets better. You learn how to avoid the mistake of not doing your homework and how to effectively study for your test. You will value the classes that help you shape the knowledge that you need for your career. You will find yourself going back to those thoughts of, "I am not good at this. I want to quit." Don't give up, your hard work and determination will do wonders for you. College is the time when you learn a lot about yourself and how far you can go to achieve the dreams that you have always wanted to achieve.
There are always going to be thoughts in your head. "What if I fail?" "What if I'm not good enough?" You are good enough. You are more than good enough. As you go through college, you will see the miraculous changes that happen to you as an individual. You will grow and learn how to make your dream become a reality. Your GPA doesn't mean that you're a failure, it means that you've realized what you need to do to strengthen your academic skills as a student. College is a time for a lot of mistakes, firsts, and "re-dos." One mistake does not make you a failure as a person, mistakes are what make you great.
With love,
The student who has been there
