The idea of cracking open a textbook has always, oddly enough, pleased me. Whenever I look at a page that has been higlighted, with notes tucked away in the margins, I feel satisfied. Which is why, although I dread starting school and would much rather sleep till noon instead of making a mad dash to the lecture hall, I’m excited to go back to school. And, moreso than ever mefore. I think it’s because I have a chance to start over and prove myself.
All my life, I’ve been told by everyone – teachers, peers, parents – that I’m intelligent and bright, yet, embarrassingly enough, all I have to show for it is an incredibly low GPA. Something like 2.7 by the time graduation rolled around. Of course, no one ever believed me when I told them since all my fellow classmates were absolutely convinced that I was dangerously close to a 4.0, and was just being overly modest about it all.
Everyone I would look, there were ditzy blondes whos top priorities were who was dating who and what was the best way to max out daddy’s credit card, and yet, they were getting much better grades than me. They could barely speak proper English, yet they made the honor roll each year. Nevermind having the brains to do it – how did they have the time? They must have snuck the English essays in between shots. It completely baffled me.
Anyway, as I was walking out of the college the other morning, dragging my textbooks behind me, I saw a wall near the entrance with plaques of students names on them – all students who had achieved high honors and had outshone the rest. The second I saw it, my mind was already made up: I will get my name on that wall, or at least very close. I will be invited to join the honor society.
I need to do this because I know that once I transfer to UW-Madison, my chances of outshining anyone else is absolutely zero.
My goals for the 2007-2008 school year:
- Get above a 3.5 GPA, for starters. 3.75+ is preferable, while anything below a 3.0 is grounds for suicide. (Joking, maybe.)
- Get in better shape
- Become more responsible with everything – especially time and money, which means I need to save money for a car and refrain from blowing all my money on my sweet 40% employee discount.
Oh yeah, that reminds me – I got the job.
I was the exact, same way when I was in school. I was told by absolutely everyone that I was so bright and intelligent; people had always said that I was going to have a tremendous future. The way life panned out, however, was a little different. I was intelligent, I knew that and apparently everyone I knew and talked to knew that, but my grades were a steady B- average and when it came to my class being the first No Child Left Behind class and the tests being too much to take, I gave up. I dropped out and while I own my own business now, the road wasn’t easy.
Good for you for making the commitment to get better grades, it will pay off if you stick to it. Good luck.