This past week, I did something that I never expected to do during my college career. I withdrew from one my college classes — international economics, to be exact. Junior year of college has truly been the hardest year for me so far. As a full-time student taking a heavy course load of five courses equaling to 15 credit hours, as well as attending evening rehearsals for the fall musical, juggling everything was difficult has become a challenge. When midterm season came along, things became even more difficult to keep up. I was doing fine in all of my courses, except international economics, which kept me up late at night with no luck in comprehension. Economics has never been a strong subject for me since high school, and not much has changed when it comes to college economics.
International economics was the opposite of a walk in the park, starting from day one. The graphs meant to explain certain economic laws made no sense, and the textbook was no help either. I was in a bit of a predicament, because I wasn't even sure what my grade was in the class at that point. I had failed the first exam, and the second exam was coming up in two weeks for midterms. I decided that I was going to pull through and do my best, but there was no progress as the course became harder as the next unit rolled on.
By midterm, I was forced to make a decision. I could either push through with the midterm exam and hope for the best, or I could withdraw from the course without affecting my GPA. The drop date, on the other hand, was only a matter of two days, and in the event that I decided to drop the course after the drop date, I would automatically fail the course. After several long nights of studying for my other midterms and memorizing musical lines, I realized that continuing with the course would hurt my GPA significantly.I also knew I was not going to make an A or B no matter how hard I studied. The information was simply not clicking.
I decided to drop the course.
The Monday before the midterm, 15 minutes before class started, I went online and withdrew from the course.
At first, I felt guilty about my decision. I believed that I was more than capable of trying harder to do well in the course. I thought to myself that if other people could do it, then why couldn't I?
Then I realized there were some things I had to come to terms with:
- I am still smart; one class does not define my intelligence.
- Everyone has their strong subject and their weak subjects.
- Having a full load of courses during the semester does not make me smarter.
- I can take four classes each semester and still be able to graduate on time.
- My physical, mental and spiritual well-being is more important than my grades in the end.
And a week later, I feel more relieved than ever about my decision. I know that I would rather have good grades in four classes than have mediocre grades in five classes. It's completely OK to drop a college course, and I'm happy with my decision. It truly isn't the end of the world.
