With work piling up and the semester coming to an end, students may be feeling overwhelmed. We spend hours in libraries; meals become a hassle and a waste of our precious time; sleep is a luxury. Students here at the University, like those at other top schools, work hard, and it pays off. But when we begin sacrificing necessities such as food and sleep, and when we start giving up other aspects of University life to get a high GPA, we are hurting ourselves more than we are helping.
By focusing too much on GPAs we increase our stress levels. So we need to manage our priorities. It is not that grades need to become less important to us, but that we need to view grades as one important aspect of our lives among many other priorities.
We all have ambitions. Some of us want to get into our desired majors and others want to be accepted to graduate school. Earning good grades is key to achieving those goals. But grades are only one aspect of our lives at the University. They measure how well we take what we learn and apply it in exams and other assignments. But our identities are made up of much more than our GPA, and there are other aspects of University life that are equally or more important than the grades on our transcripts.
For example, we should focus on how we absorb knowledge, how much we actually learn and how we use that knowledge in our lives outside the classroom. GPA is an imperfect proxy for assessing learning. But in a real-world context, what matters most is not the number on our transcript but what we actually know. In class, we tend to memorize as much as we can and then discard that information after the final exam. This might be a successful tactic for getting a good grade, but this method does not increase knowledge or help us to apply what we learn. Therefore, putting our GPAs above all else can be counterproductive and can decrease our enjoyment of the educational process.
Then there is our character, also not quantifiable, but rather based in large part on our ethical reasoning skills. How amiable and approachable we are is important, and learning interpersonal skills is an essential part of our time here at the University because those skills play a large role after we graduate and beyond.
Extracurricular involvement is another important aspect of our time at the University that does not get reflected in GPA. Activities outside the classroom are a great way to discover what we are passionate about and provide us with outlets to our busy, academic days.
Finally, spending hours studying is inevitable in college, but time needs to be put aside for food and sleep. There is no way we can maintain a good GPA if we don’t take care of our bodies. Our health should always come first.
Our ability to absorb and maintain knowledge, the manner in which we speak with others and the ways in which we participate outside of the classroom are all important aspects of life here at the University. However, there seems to be a huge emphasis on grades in society today, which sometimes makes these other things seem less important. Our education is essential, and students should work hard and take school seriously. But if grades become the center of a student’s world, and if that student begins to eliminate all other aspects of his or her University experience in an attempt to chase a high GPA, that is a problem. Worrying too much about grades leads to high levels of stress, which can be detrimental to a student’s health.
A 2012 study by the American College Counseling Association found that 37.4 percent of college students seeking help had severe psychological problems, including various forms of anxiety. That study only accounts for the students seeking help, and there are an unknown amount who internalize their stress without seeking help. These high levels of stress could potentially be mitigated by better eating and sleeping habits and by participation in extracurricular activities that a student enjoys. Students should stop making their GPA the focus of their worlds.
Grades are only one indicator of success. Students should know that though grades have their place, so do many other important features of University life. As much as it seems our GPA is our identity, it is not. Students cannot continue to let grades define them. Let’s work on deflating the hype about grades and start balancing out our lives.
Meredith Berger is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. Her columns run Mondays.
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