For college and uni students, grades are an important part of the academic process. They aren't as important as we think, which is something one realizes as she goes along, but I'll get to that later. Grades are an important part really just for the sake of passing the program you are in. Really and truly, and as time goes on, a student will realize that passing in college/uni is one hell of an accomplishment. In high-school, good grades come easy for some, and I was one of those people. I was damn well hardworking back then (probably a little too much but we'll discuss that in another blog) and I was passionate about always being better and looking for ways to improve not only my grades, but I applied what I had learned academically to myself on a whole. Yeah, pretty Oprah Winfrey inspired.
Now however, although the drive and determination is still there, my grades these days are less then peachy and sometimes it can get discouraging. I'm a Professional Writing major at York University as I mentioned before and that program in itself is quite unique, compelling, intense, challenging, and because some of the courses are boring, it feels like more effort has to be exerted in order to do well. There's really nothing worse than when the professor of one of your classes begins handing out the grades for students and when he comes across yours, is left with an expression of confusion on his face as to why you did so bad. LOL.
Yeah, this happened to me recently. My grades overall aren't horrible but they have dropped in certain places and when I begin to see other students around me with better grades it can really feel like I'm drowning. It feels this way not only because I feel I did bad, but also because I often struggle to find my place in my degree. I ask questions such as, "What will I even do with this degree?" "Why am I in writing?" "Can I even write that well?" and finally, "Is this my passion?" These are questions countless students ask themselves as they continue to pursue their degrees and go on in their quest to find their passions.
I think it's great that some people know from day one what the f*ck they want to do with their lives and degrees. Fantastic. But for some, however, it's a little bit more confusing down the line and doubts and bad grades only intensify that feeling. What I am learning now however, is that I need to embrace the "bad" grades I have gotten because that shows I have something I can learn from and these grades can motivate me to do better and be better. Which it has by the way. Getting the results we don't desire actually means that we are accepting imperfection which is a part of life. So, I'm going to try to embrace failure, even though it will be hard considering my type A nature, but I will start with where I am and what I have learned thus far. Bottom line, with whatever happens, I know I was destined to be great.
