<p>I was a straight A girl all throughout HS, and first quarter of college went pretty well for me. I got 2 As, 1 A- and 1 B+.</p>
<p>However, second quarter I got caught up in Rush (which not only took up a lot of time, but also emotionally drained me. Anybody who's been through the process should know what I'm talking about :/ even though it ended up fine, the whole process was just so...demoralizing, I guess). I also got a lot more involved in several student groups and was elected to be on the Exec board for all of them. All my groups in HS never really did anything, but the ones I got into were so much more different. We regularly put on events which take months of planning, booking rooms, decorating, making sure everything was in order, not to mention I'm the Publicity Chair for most of them and had to make posters like there was no tomorrow.</p>
<p>Somewhere in the midst of everything, I guess I slacked a little bit on work and now I'm going through the Finals Week from Hell. I might get 3 Bs and 1 C and I was wondering, first and foremost, how will that impact my application if I'm going to grad school? Or if I'm looking to apply for a job or internship? People are always saying grades don't matter that much, but really, how true is that?</p>
<p>Secondly, HOW DO YOU MANAGE YOUR TIME :/ Between my social life and academic life, I feel like there's no balance.</p>
<p>So yeah, I'd appreciate some advice because it really is a pretty rough time for me right now. Thanks for taking the time to read this!</p>
<p>First, you need to make a detailed schedule of what you need to accomplish and when. Complete any papers, projects, lab reports. You can’t worry about your gpa for grad school. Worry about the finals coming at you like a freight train. Organize your notes. Review your notes. Complete your readings. If you have time, do the supplemental readings. Get off CC. Go study. It will be over soon. Good Luck.</p>
<p>1) What is your major (i.e. what degree will you graduate with)?
2) What uni do you go to? If you don’t want to give exact names, just tell us how prestigious it is.
3) What type of graduate degree were you thinking of pursuing, and where?</p>
<p>Batllo – Thank you. I know I shouldn’t worry about grad school GPA, but I feel like everything is already a lost cause. I don’t think the final will determine much because they are worth 20% at most and everything is pretty much locked in (which is also why I’m having a hard time focusing on studies without freaking out on CC). Thanks so much for reading my panic rant though.</p>
<p>collegeboss – the video was hilarious (although I don’t think it was meant to be…) It had good tips though! Thanks.</p>
<p>NewStudent–
I’m undecided
Tier one which is why I’m panicking
I was thinking about going to a business school at a tier one school as well
Hey, I really appreciate you taking the time to ask me questions and trying to help me. It means a lot. Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how you can be elected to exec board of organizations you join a couple months ago. What do the sophs and juniors in those organizations do?</p>
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<p>school time is school time. fun time is fun time. Balance them however you want… there is a wide range from all school / no fun to all fun / no school.</p>
<p>Don’t panic because at the end of your freshman year you will have at least a 3.0 gpa and officially be a sister in your sorority - you won’t have to go through the whole grueling process of rushing again. I know a straight A girl like you aren’t may think that I’m crazy to think a 3.0 is good but let’s face it… you got 3 more years to bring it up; everytime one gets involved in stuff like greek life and other organizations one’s bound to give up some of his/her grades. So what I suggest is stay optimistic, try to learn from whatever this experience has taught you, and use that experience to learn from your mistakes and missteps. </p>
<p>I think it’s rly good you broke out of your shell and went from not getting involved much in HS to getting so involved in college. Good for you; keep up the great work; and as long as you keep up the effort all the pieces will fall into place…</p>
<p>@soccerguy-- I’m sorry, I should have clarified. I’m technically on the exec board for spring quarter, but during winter quarter the members usually step it up and show the execs what they are capable of. For me, it was especially intense because I was the only one who knew how to make crazy posters (hurray for photoshop skills). Then, near the end of winter quarter, the new exec board is chosen and we officially take over spring quarter. The sophomores also become execs, but juniors typically retire because they will be looking for jobs, etc, next year as seniors so they won’t have as much time to devote to the club. Besides, you don’t have to be on the Exec board to contribute a lot to the club.</p>
<p>@FutureCFO – THANK YOU SO MUCH. I really hope things will too. I have learned so much in leadership, etc, through my experience on the clubs, but it’s just so weird that that doesn’t necessarily transfer onto the resume I guess I mainly wanted to find out if it’s true that grad schools look at grades more than extracurricular activities. Thanks again though! Your words have made me feel so much better!</p>
<p>1) Get decided. That’s your first step. Declaring your major will focus you – and pick a good “businessy” one.
2) Don’t panic! That’s a good thing. While medical schools look more for well-rounded candidates (and don’t care so much about undergrad university prestige), business schools are NOTORIOUS for loving Tier-I grads. So this is working in your favor. “She got a C in an economic course at Yale/Harvard/Princeton,” sounds a lot better than, “She got a C at East Minnesota Junior Technical College.”
3) You may be aiming too high in this respect, if your grades continue on in the path they are taking. While the majority of business schools LOVE getting kids from Ivies, the majority of Ivies want “diverse populations,” i.e. not all Tier I kids. That’s not to say that they <em>won’t</em> accept you, but be sure to expect that you may get into a Tier II or III instead. . . .</p>
<p>On a whole, you need to clear out your schedule and focus on academics.</p>
<p>There’s definitely still time to get back on track. It’s still pretty early, and while GPA is important for grad school, just like for college admissions, upward trajectory is key. One of the hardest transitions when you attend a top-tier school is realizing that while you were one of the best or the best or at least a straight-A student in high school, that will almost never be the case in college. Try not to put so much pressure on yourself. </p>
<p>I had a lot of time management issues in college. I’m just naturally a procrastinator and also naturally a “joiner” so I would end up with a million club committments and no time for school, rushing to get assignments done. </p>
<p>A few things that really helped me were:
Finding the right study environment. I was hopeless when studying in my room. Between my friends next door, my TV, the ever present lure of the internet, lack of decent space for books and notes, I never got going. I learned that if I wanted to work, I needed to go to the library, and I needed to listen to music, preferably classical music. You have to find your own zen space that lets you focus your energies on your work. So if you always try to work in one place, like your room, or the library, try someplace else. Try using music, or different kinds of music (I find music with words to be very distracting to my writing). </p>
<p>2) Using my weekends effectively. In high school, weekends were a time to goof off, or go to my job, but I didn’t put a lot of effort into schoolwork on the weekends unless I had a project due. In college it should be the opposite. Weekends are prime study time, use them wisely. Doesn’t mean you can’t party and go out, but make that your reward for spending the day with your books. </p>
<p>3) Mentoring. Have you tried making friends with any older students in the major you’re interested in? Getting advice from older students in my major (Government) was so useful in guiding me towards good courses and away from bad ones, in advising me what was needed to get the internships and jobs I wanted, guiding me towards tutoring resources, and in generally giving me much need perspective. It doesn’t have to be a formal thing, but having a few older students I could talk to and turn to for guidance helped me quite a bit.</p>
<p>I’d say you might want to stop spreading yourself so thin. I had friends that were in tons of different organizations and heavily involved in each. They wound up not fulfilling their duties in any of them and never had time for anything. Pick a few clubs/activities you really enjoy and stick with them. Grad schools don’t care about you being in 20 EC activities, they care about you having done your school work and excelling in what you’ve applied yourself to.</p>
<p>Definitely don’t spread yourself too thin. Prioritize your responsibilities, then add in the things that you want to do. You’re probably going to have to give up a bunch of clubs or activities that you want to do, but that you don’t have time or energy for. Make sure that school is on the top of that list of priorities though, without that, you can’t really enjoy anything else.</p>
<p>Here’s what I suggest… get involved in clubs/organizations because you want to, not because you feel that you have to (to make your resumes look appealing and such) If you’re not happy and feel that you dont fit, the organization may not be for you</p>
