Advice regarding a crappy freshman year GPA

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>So this is going to be a combination of butthurt and a lot of other stuff, and I don't really have anyone to talk about it to, so I apologize in advance. I just finished my freshman year with a GPA of 3.37. I'm not premed or anything, but *****… I've never felt so insecure about my own intelligence before. I'm at an Ivy that is known for grade inflation, although I guarantee you that I didn't take throwaway classes or anything.</p>

<p>Anyways, I'm not sure what to make of all of this. It wasn't even as though I completely bombed one course or something. Rather, I got 2 A-'s, a slew of B+'s, and a B. In other words, I consistently did very… meh. </p>

<p>I mean, I <em>guess</em> I know what caused this… I didn't go to the classes very often at all. The 3 (out of 8) essay oriented classes I took, I somehow never came around doing anything constructive for them until a day before my papers were due/I had an exam. I consistently got B's and B+'s on my papers. But, I wonder if spending more time would have actually helped. Sure, my high school teachers gave me A's on essays all the time, but I really do think I'm a pretty unremarkable writer. </p>

<p>As for my more technical classes, would going to class have <em>actually</em> helped? Don't you benefit more from practice anyways in most of these things? In these, I did pretty well up until a certain point, then got B's on the finals. Perhaps I am actually just not very smart, which obviously bothers me… other than my smartness, I don't even know what value I actually bring to the world. :-/ </p>

<p>I'm trying to be optimistic right now and perhaps look ahead at some material for my courses this semester, but I keep feeling super, super depressed and dumb. How do you folks who do super well in college manage to do so? I guess most people would advice me to take easy classes next semester to boost my GPA, but I'd feel bad doing that. Any tips on time management/how to study for exams/how to score well on super annoying problem sets?</p>

2

<p>That is still a solid GPA. You can bring it up easily in the next three years. Take some easy classes with some friends or somehow get your hands on some past exams to study from. </p>

<p>I am a firm believer in that you learn most of what you need on the job than in school. The only thing school matters for is the degree and the GPA for your first job. After that you are golden especially if you attend an Ivy. </p>

<p>If I could get over a 3.2 without attending classes I would be extremely satisfied.</p>

3

<p>Why the heck would you not attend classes? Why did you work so hard to get into an Ivy, then blow off the academic portion of your freshman year? You may have some re-evaluating to do.</p>

<p>That said, a 3.37 isn’t all that shabby. Don’t worry about it. But for the love of god, start attending lectures!</p>

4

<p>Thanks guys… yeah, that was pretty stupid of me to not to go to class. I went to lecture somewhat more the previous semester at the wee beginning, but for one of my tougher classes, my psets started taking longer. Instead of doing the normal thing and working with a bud or going to office hours, I’d grind on them for SUPER long, and sometimes just decide that I didn’t want to go to lecture.</p>

<p>Also, I feel like it’s my first time having friends I feel this strongly about. Sounds pretty awful-- it’s not that there was anything wrong with my friendships in high school, but that I’ve met some fabulous people (including my boyfriend last semester… my first one). :-)</p>

<p>Would looking over course materials for classes I plan on taking next year over the summer be worth it, or is it silly? I don’t know if I’ll actually make next semester <em>easy</em>; I’m not sure that it’d actually help, since my lowest grade was in an “easy” course… :stuck_out_tongue: I think I still just fail at being a college student and taking responsibility.</p>