Hey, guys.
I am a freshman in the College. After failing all of my midterms, I don’t know what to do, what to feel. Right now I’m really depressed. I just lost all of my hope. I am in the median in math class, and below the median in econ class, which are like both supposed to be super easy. I was actually aiming for a high GPA. i just feel lost now.
If you guys know, what is the average GPA? Do many people get high GPAs like 3.7+?
@pennguiny Happens to a lot of people at Penn. Most students are valedictorians, salutatorians or at least amongst the top 5-10 in their high schools, and suddenly they come to Penn and have to compete with some of the best students from around the country and the world. The worst thing you can do is lose hope because you will enter a vicious cycle. You are depressed because you didn’t do well, and this feeling of depression will lead to further bad performance which will lead to even more depression and so on and so forth. Take a realistic look at your study habits. Are you really concentrating, managing your time, are you going to class (very important), office hours? Seek help from professor and TAs etc. Lastly you need to come to terms with the fact that most probably you will not be able to be at the top of the class at Penn like you were in high school. It is a completely different level of competition, and a lot of people have a really hard time digesting that they are no longer the big fish.
Also Penn does not have the grade inflation of say Harvard or Yale. People do get Bs and Cs a lot, especially in engineering, sciences and some econ and wharton classes. The average GPA at penn is around 3.2+. the engineering average is lower than this, the wharton average is around there and the college average a bit higher (due to the humanities which inflate the grades). if a had to take a guess i d say that about the top 10% of each class has a GPA of 3.7 or higher.
@Penn95 Thank you for your comments. It really truly means a lot to me. And average is around 3.2? isn’t like 3.2 considered to be a really low gpa? Because i though average would be aroun 3.5 3.6
@penguiny At Penn the average is around there, between 3.2 and 3.3. Yes, if you want to work at an elite investment bank, consulting firm, hedge fund, go to a top medical school or law school or even business school, 3.2-3.3 is rather low and will hurt your chances. However, you can still find a good job in the business world with a 3.2, but prob not a huge brand name firm. Penn is very competitive and the fact that there is no grade inflation has a lot to do with it. So your intro math and econ classes (guessing math-104 and econ-001, will be prob curved to a B, meaning the median will be around a B, which is a 3.0 on the 4.0 scale). intro classes have harsh curves at Penn.
I understand your test results may not be what you hoped for, but those results are very, very far from “failing all of my midterms.” You have to remember that you are now in the major leagues. Being in the middle of the class is nothing to be ashamed of at all. That says that you definitely belong.
Consider the fact that Penn has several Valedictorian applicants for every single spot in its class. Every student is competitive. There are many Cs given on these midterms and, a few Ds and a hand full of Fs. You may be disappointed, but consider the Valedictorian who just received their first D or F. They are all around you. Their heads are really spinning. Especially if their self-identity and self-worth are tied up in their academic achievements. In some courses you may notice a few fewer students than there were before that midterm.
If I were you, I would work to try to improve your results, leverage what you just learned from this, and be thankful that you are not in the bottom of any class, it was a cheap lesson on where the bar is set.
To improve, try to attend every class and recitation, do all of the homework, and keep up with the reading. Do not be shy about asking questions and recitation and office hours. Before tests be sure to obtain copies of the last several tests and practice the problems.
Having disappointing midterms will have very little impact on how you do at Penn. How you respond to that disappointment will have a huge impact. If you believe in yourself and put in the effort, you can do it.
Your study habits should improve as you learn to cope with the incredible workload. You wouldn’t the at Penn if you didn’t belong so don’t let self-doubt creep into the equation.