Getting a midterm handed back with a big red “C” on it is not something most students are used to. At least not before they get to Northwestern. The transition from the perfect 4.0s we had in high school to the more-average grades we may be getting now is certainly a rough one. But now that we have faced our first round of midterms, know that you’re not the only one worried about academic expectations.
The problem that many students have is that they have the same definition of success now that they had in high school: grades, grades and more grades. Lindsey Schott, a Communication junior, thinks Northwestern students are especially nervous about fulfilling their own academic expectations.
“Kids that go to a school like Northwestern are used to getting straight A’s — it’s harder to maintain that ‘academic self esteem’ when you used to be at the top,” she said.
But knowing that Northwestern is a “cutthroat” school, we should know from the beginning that we should not have the same definition of success that we used to. The kind of student you were in high school isn’t going to be the kind of student you are here — not everyone can be Valedictorian. So if you’re disappointed with your first midterm grades, don’t stress out. You are just in the process of turning into the Northwestern version of your high school self.
According to McCormick sophomore Nicky Mahan, this is a process in which you change your expectations and definitions of success.
“When I was a freshman I didn’t get the grades I wanted initially. Engineering analysis was completely new to me, it wasn’t what I expected. I also expected everyone to have A’s, but then I learned that the average GPA in McCormick is about 2.5,” she said
After midterm round one, many of us were forced to realize that standards of success are different here. Dr. Wei-Jen Huang of the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) said that one of freshmen’s greatest challenges is “expectation management,” or setting realistic expectations and learning to deal with that sometimes increasing distance between goals and achievement.
The truth is we should have changed our quantitative definition of success into a more qualitative one from the moment we started applying to college. It may sound like a cliché, but in a globalized world, making connections and gaining experience is crucial to making it in the real world. Hence, our level of involvement and with getting things done is much more important than having perfect grades. We might have fooled college admissions officers with brilliant grades, but employers are concerned with our other skills, like coping with the stress of balancing activities and academics.
Dr. Huang said that “to do better and feel better about your life, you have to know that there are multiple different areas of life in which you can succeed.” In other words, we need to think about success holistically, rather than living or dying by test scores. If we think only in black in white, A+ or bust, “a failure in a test become[s] total failure,” said Huang.
Mahan said that she eventually found the way to fulfill her expectations.
“It took some adjusting, but since I figured out how I can study best, and how to structure my time, my grades improved,” she said.
She is now a different type of student, adjusting not only her study habits, but also her perception of the academic atmosphere at Northwestern. You don’t have to lower your expectations, just re-evaluate the importance of grades in your future.
The stress of adjustment freshman year is not only necessary, but can also be positive. Andrew Thompson, a Weinberg senior, has good memories of late nights studying.
“Part of the college experience is the all-nighters where you bond with people at the library. You sort of find ad hoc support because it can get pretty lonely there,” he said.
Don’t measure your own success with your grades – here in college, it’s wiser (and more sane) to evaluate your entire experience. Ask upperclassmen like Thompson and you’ll learn to put things in perspective eventually.
“Everyone has a time in which they freak out over a [grade]. The truth is that you can flunk, but there will always be another [opportunity] to repair the damage,” he said.
That C doesn’t mean you’re doing poorly in college. While it may be the end of your perfect GPA, it’s just the beginning of a new education.