Let me rephrase that before you skim this entire article, looking for proper justification: Why Your GPA Isn’t the Only Thing That Matters. I’m a clickbaiter, I know. It’s a filthy habit.

As of this semester, my GPA is 3.39somethingsomething. (Does it really matter what comes after the first two numbers, anyhow?) I won’t lie, that’s less than I would have liked to have. I’ve been on the Dean’s List every semester for the past five semesters (with possibly one exception), improved my work ethic and managed to balance work and school. (It took me a year and a half to find employment in my college town.) When I found out what my GPA was, I was embarrassed to have worked so hard on something below 3.5. I was scared that it would hurt my chance of getting into any graduate program. (I’m still a little worried about that, I won’t lie.) So, I did what any responsible college student should do, and brought it up to my advisor. She told me it was dirt off my shoulder and that MFA Programs really don’t care, especially if you’ve improved over the course of your college term. (She explained it much better than this, of course, so imagine that all being said much more eloquently and helpfully.)

So, it seems like my GPA is a pretty big deal to me from the story so far. Yeah, I guess it can be, but it’s not important in the scheme of things. I know that my education is more than a number. GPAs don’t account for the fact that I’ve had some really sh*tty professors (Sorry, not sorry, name redacted.), borderline impossible circumstances, sleepless nights studying for tests and preparing projects, and had a nervous breakdown or two along the way. My GPA doesn’t say that I was working closer to 40 hours a week than the recommended 10 hours students work in the Utopian land of Should. It doesn’t talk about your struggles, how much you’ve improved yourself since those first three lackadaisical semesters or any other factor of circumstance. It’s broken down to a unit, a consensus agreed upon by faculty, which sums up your value as a student. I’ve had some great professors and I have some that use tenure to cripple opportunity for those they don’t approve of. It’s just the truth. I’ve seen firsthand and heard of secondhand sexist professors, countless biases, favoritism of all sorts. That sh*t’s real.

There’s a lot of good in the education system, for sure, and we’d be in denial to deny the existence of corruption, but it all shows that the education system is a complex organism assembled from many different components. Students shouldn’t be evaluated any differently. Your education isn’t a number, it’s an experience. Those hung-over mornings in class are part of the curriculum, as are the arguments with financial aid, relationships established and severed, and the person you’re grooming yourself to become. Seriously, if you’re going to be paying out the butt for the next 40 years of your life, do your best to ace that sh*t, but don’t let the grades define you. One of the best things a professor ever said in class was to write essays we’re so proud of that if we fail, we feel it’s unfair. (Once again, that was muddled in paraphrasing.) The classes I worked the hardest for often paid off in my lowest grades. Haven’t you guys seen that classic Simpsons episode “Bart Gets an F?” Be proud of the work you put in for that low C in some Gen Ed Bio class. Grades don’t define you, and don’t let some teacher try to convince you otherwise.