Wishing For Worse Grades in College: Confessions of a Recovering Over-Achiever

I would have been fine, better even (sometimes), if I had gotten worse grades in college. Just take it from me, a girl who graduated college debt-free with honors in both of my degrees, and a "recovering over-achiever."

The summer semesters were coming to an end, and I had received A's in both Statistics and Anthropology!

Yeah, so, Anthro was easy. The content was interesting, and the assignments were simple.

Stats, however, needed a lot of studying. BUT once I knew I was almost getting an A in Stats (basically because homework was extra credit O:), I switched and just studied Anthro.

Sometimes you gotta (or get to) do that in college.

Put the effort in to learn, grow, and get good grades. Also work smarter and not harder, and be strategic.

Are you already getting a great grade in one class and struggling in another? Switch your focus to that harder class.

BONUS if you KNOW you will get a good grade in a class, and the semester isn't even over yet. What a rush!

TO ALL MY HIGH ACHIEVERS OUT THERE.

I understand. However...

This may go against conventional college advise, but there might be a time for you to back off of school, and get more sleep, and have more life and less pressure and more joy, and maybe even get B's.

GASP.

I know the old adage is C's and D's get degrees. I wouldn't suggest going for D's all the time (except that's how several guys in my many math classes got through school).

But, believe it or not, B's are okay, and even great, and sometimes even better than A's if it helps your overall life balance.

Like NF (top Billboard rapper) says in his song The Search, "The sales can rise, doesn't mean much though when your health declines."

I seriously started to understand and embrace this when I continued to take math classes at MCCC while going to EMU (more on that in later blogs). They only transferred my credits, not my grades.

TURNS OUT, all my community college classes transferred to Eastern Michigan Univerity as only credits, with no grades. I am happy I almost had a 4.0 for my Associate's degree at MCCC, but if I would have only transferred with no degree, I wouldn't have had to keep my grades up.

I just needed to pass.

Maybe that's you. Check to see if the school you will be transferring to actually needs your grades, or for you to just pass.

Now I am NOT saying to NOT learn. Don't be lazy. This is not me giving you permission to waste the money you, or perhaps your parents, have put into your education.

But as a recovering over-achiever, so to speak, I found that when I was less nit-picky about the small details (I do love details lol), I FELT FREE TO FOCUS ON ENJOYING LEARNING.

Give yourself some slack. Pray more, worry less.

Easier said than done, I know.

I'm not telling you to not shoot for A's. I am telling you that if the high-achieving pressure is too toxic, you CAN take a step back.

A breath.

Just take it from me, a girl who graduated college debt-free with honors in my both of my degrees.

I might have had more peace if I had just let gooooooo.

I would have been fine, better even (sometimes), if I had gotten worse grades in college.

(:

In my next blog, I tell a time of when being am over-achiever was a good, healthy, and not toxic thing for me. In my last summer class that year, Macroeconomics, I finished a 14-week class in 3 weeks. Let's goooooooooo!