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My GPA Sucks: The LI$T Editors’ GPA Stories

CKB & I have decided to do something unusual to demonstrate a concept that most people dread about the college experience. Some try to hide this aspect of their college careers, others try to forget it ever existed.

We’re putting our actual college GPA’s out there to demonstrate to anyone who is still in undergraduate school just how crucial it is to have an excellent GPA in your early years because it is so hard to resurrect a low GPA and its important to have a solid cushion in order to get an internship, a job, or attend graduate school in the future.

Let’s start with CKB (Internships reflect the gaps in semesters):

Fall 2004 – Spring 2007: Member of the Mens Track Team

Fall 2007 – Spring 2009: Member of Greek Organization

Fall 2008 – Spring 2009: Freshman Mentor

Overall: Starting out strong academically and remaining consistent were my biggest focus and it paid off in the end.

Now here’s mine (Co-Op terms reflect the gaps in semesters):

Spring 2005: Joined 5 extracurricular activities (great leadership experience and scholarships but affected my GPA)

Fall 2006: Took 3 hard major classes at once

Fall 2007/Spring 2008: Vice President of an organization; With a 3.0 Cumulative GPA (resurrected from a 4.0 GPA during Summer 2007 when I studied abroad) I qualified for several large scale scholarships

Fall 2008/Spring 2009: Completed the last of the difficult major classes; Senior Design

Fall 2009: Best Term GPA of my college career – 3.6; however it was too little too late, still graduated with below a 3.0 GPA

Overall: As I became more and more active, I focused more on my extra curricular activities than studying. My classes became harder (as they will with any major) and I did become more strategic with attending office hours for professors and TA’s but put less time into studying per class. By the end, I had figured out exactly what to do to be successful in my coursework but it was too late to make a significant impact in my overall GPA.
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What’s the solution to the GPA problem? We think its important for undergraduate students to focus on their grades from the beginning, join clubs/groups/teams later on in your college career, and seek out HELP when you need it to remain consistent with your GPA.

We will continue to talk about GPA’s this month. For now, let us know what you’re having trouble with in regards to your GPA. We want to help you all get the best GPA’s you can!


Jessica Ebony