This post isn’t exactly to deter you from trying to keep a 4.0 GPA, but rather to be careful while you do it.
I graduated this past May, and I successfully kept the 4.0 until the end. Throughout undergrad, I would stay up until the job was done–until my homework was to my standards of perfection. However, the massive amount of stress that I put my body under caught up with me. I worked 20 hours a week and went to school full-time as well. I battled depression and anxiety the entire time as well, which probably contributed to the problem significantly. Oftentimes I’d be pulling all-nighters left and right just to get stuff done (because homework would take forever to do since I’d accept no less in quality than perfect). One week I even pulled 4 all-nighters in a row, which was horrendous. I did all this without any kind of help such as caffeine; I stayed awake on pure willpower alone (for health reasons).
A few months ago (during the heat of the semester), I stayed awake for 2 days straight after my work schedule and exams hit me like a ton of bricks. I had an exam to study for, homework for all of my classes, and a double shift 2 days in a row, which caused me to stay awake for so long. At the end of the 2 days awake, I was at the point where I’d been awake so long that I didn’t feel tired anymore. Going to sleep just felt like any other time.
I woke up the next day, unfortunately not managing to sleep a full 8 hours (more like 5). But when I woke up, something seemed “off” so to speak. The moment I opened my eyes that morning, it looked like I’d just stared into a bright light. There was a purple-y spot in my left eye’s vision. I thought, “Oh, maybe I just accidentally glanced at the sun when I opened my eyes.” However, in my effort to go to sleep, the spot never faded like you’d expect it to after glancing at a bright light. When I woke up hours later, it was still there. I wondered what might be the problem.
And it continued to grow. And grow. As it grew larger, it started developing into a blind spot in my vision. Other splotches started developing, to the point where half my vision in my left eye was gone. The only eye doctor who could see me couldn’t find anything wrong, and no other ophthalmology clinic wanted to see me due to the fact that the eye doctor couldn’t find anything wrong (because they all required referrals, and the eye doctor I saw went on vacation immediately after and didn’t recommend me anywhere else). Numerous people kept telling me it was probably just a migraine aura, but I didn’t think a migraine aura should be lasting so long. I didn’t know what to do exactly.
I went back home and managed to see a retinologist maybe two months later, and I found out I’d had central serous chorioretinopathy, which the risk factors all lined up for me: I was a 20-50 year old male under tons of stress, “workaholic”, suspected stomach ulcer which may be caused by H. Pylori. What happened was the amount of stress likely caused fluid build up behind my retina.
Most of the blind spots had cleared up after about 3 weeks, but not being able to see out of my left eye for that long was scary. Unfortunately, I have some retina scars in places where the pressure from fluid build up was too high, and unfortunately as a result I cannot see out of those spots in my left eye.
So again, I leave this as a small cautionary tale to people who are 4.0 die-hards. I’m not telling you to not shoot for a 4.0, but I’m just saying to take care of yourself. Don’t be like me neglecting your well-being and health just to get it.