Though finals officially finished on Friday, and I’ve been home for 3 days, our grades came out today and I was very pleased with the results. I’ve always been one to say that GPA isn’t everything (which I do still believe), but it’s always nice to surpass any standards you set for yourself. This was my best semester at Cornell thus far. I thought about a Tweet—too arrogant. Thought about telling my friends, but for the ones who struggled this semester, that’d just be rude to rub in. So why not blog about it? For once, I earned straight A’s and had a GPA of 3.87! Definitely must’ve been a miracle. Or a mistake. Haha, no, in all seriousness, I attribute this semester’s success to a few things:
1) Enjoying all my classes. I took 3 comm classes and marketing, all of which interest me. In addition to strategically taking my required science elective pass/fail. (It’s not that I worked less at the class, it just made it that much less stressful for me to do well. But it was still a struggle nonetheless)
2) Learning time management. This semester I think I had it down to a science. Between research in the lab, studying for classes and extracurriculars, I learned how to allot my time pretty effectively. Instead of coming back to my sorority house around 2:30 when classes finished, I would go straight to the library until dinner time. No distractions = effective use of my time.
3) Still making time to have fun. Sometimes, I think that people forget extracurriculars aren’t simply “extra.” They should be things that you love doing. Things that teach you more about the world in a way that classes won’t. Things like writing for the magazine, or networking with other girls who want to enter the business world (btw that’s SWIB I’m talking about and they held a really useful resume critique one day). Things like going to Chipotle with the other girls in your sorority or going out on a Thursday night because you finished that term paper.
& 4)…last but not least… Being able to pat yourself on the back. I’ve always treaded on the side of modesty. No one likes a bragger. But lately I’ve realized that good things should be rewarded. Or at least recognized. I think creating this blog helped me see that I’ve been accomplishing so much at Cornell. I’ve done so many things here and taken advantage of this institution in ways that may not have been possible at a small university, or if I didn’t have that drive. So while I kid around about my GPA being a “mistake” it really is something I worked hard for. And you can too!
If I don’t write again soon, happy holidays to all. Here’s one of my favorite quotes to sum up this post:
A World of Curiosity 