After five months of pure hell, the time has come to see how you performed in the game called college. Every test, essay, and exam are finally compiled into a single letter: A, B, C, D, or F.

All of your sleepless nights, energy drinks, and stomach quenching stress has been measured into a grade that tells you whether or not you have wasted thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, you received F's across the board.

You are not defined by your grades, nor should you start to define yourself by your grades.

Your mind is racing as you try to figure out what to do. Do you drop out of college? How do you fix your GPA? How do you explain the loss of money or the repurchasing of textbooks to your family? You may resort to never telling them, or telling them in a charade of tears and defeat, but one thing is for sure: everything is going to work out.

College is not easy.

I will yell this at you time and time again. College is nothing close to high school. Some people are never taught the realities of college and are thrust into a system that they are unfamiliar with. You are not the only one to be overwhelmed: you are a victim of the system.

People may be upset with you, and they may blame your work ethic and priorities, but how can they understand when they aren't you? Everyone learns differently, and sometimes it takes time to realize this. You need to stand up and proclaim that you are not like everyone else. You aren't fragile, either. You just needed more time and knowledge in adjusting to college.

Finally, I want you to look at your resources. You need to talk to your adviser and tutors to help get your grades up. Be aware of what your GPA needs to be to keep financial aid, and use GPA calculators to see what your grades need to be in the future.

Also be aware that if you need to retake classes, consider getting a new professor or changing the time that class meets if it previously did not work for you. One bad semester will not make it impossible for you to graduate in years to come.

The first semester of college is the hardest one, and with diligence, this is a lesson that you can learn from.

You are not alone in the struggle. You can do this. Just remember to not tread on the past, and always look forward.