This final installment, concerning Things the Professor Cannot Actually Say regarding The Dreaded Grade series is a doozy. Forget about the grade. Not only have I never declared this to a student, I have never even said it to my own daughter. It kinda goes against every fiber of my being, which I am loathe to admit has been shaped by the competitive culture of achievement in which we all live. Indeed, I suspect some of us are not really certain what education is about apart from the earning of grades.

That acknowledged, I want to share a secret with you. Beyond the realm of grad school applications, no one has ever asked me what my college GPA was. Not a prospective employer, not anyone. In my personal experience, no one gives a rip. Because in the grand scheme of things, a college GPA just doesn’t really matter. So here is the Thing I Cannot Actually Say but am instead going to shout across the internet…

Forget about what grade you are earning. Just let it go. Seriously.

Remember, as I have said elsewhere in this blog, to embrace the process of learning for its own sake. Personal transformation is the ultimate goal here. And you are not your grades. What really matters, while you are pursuing higher education is… What are you learning? How are you incorporating what you are learning into your life? Who are you becoming? If at all possible, (meaning your GPA is not tied to a scholarship, etc…see my previous blog post on “But I Need a Good Grade”), shift your focus to your personal, integrative meaning and purpose in pursuing this educational opportunity. If you can manage to do that, then whatever your grades happen to be, your education will truly become a worthwhile achievement.

However, if you find that you cannot let go of your concerns over grades, or you discover that you have sincere difficulty distinguishing between your worth as a human being and the marks you receive…

If you know that grades stress you out, or cause you to obsess, or will require the consumption of more chocolate, or other substances, than is perhaps strictly wise, in order to face them…

If worry, fear, or anxiety about grades leads you to a place of diminished self esteem or perhaps to thoughts of self harm…

If focusing intensely on grades leads you into ways of being that are not expressive of your best self, then I implore you to do the following:  

*Name it. Acknowledge that truth of that challenge. To yourself and others.

*Create an emotional support network of family, friends, peers, professors, advisors, administrators, care animals, or counselors to help keep you on an even keel, while you are in college.

*Be vigilant in engaging in healthy self care and allowing yourself time and space for personally enjoyable, enriching, or nourishing activities.

*Take breaks, and step away from the pressure of higher education, in order to prioritize your overall well being.

*Lastly, be empowered the liberating knowledge that colleges exist that do not employ letter grades. Very fine schools at that. Investigate those educational options online, and give yourself the gift of applying initially, or transferring later, to a university that relies upon narrative evaluations. Indeed, narrative feedback is designed to highlight your gifts, while also encouraging you to develop, simultaneously fostering your academic learning and contributing to your personal growth. It might be just the right fit for you!

I dearly wish that I could say that, in all my years of teaching, I have never encountered plagiarism. Sadly, that is not the case. Rather, I have seen everything from whole cloth submission of published academic articles to more sophisticated efforts to utilize quotes without proper attribution, and on down the line to rather lame, cut and paste from Wikipedia. My sense is that it is usually a matter of desperation, born from stress, work overload, or performance anxiety. Whatever the cause, however strong the temptation… please don’t do it. A good grade is not worth the cost of your soul.

That may sound dramatic, and perhaps even unnecessary to mention, if you yourself have never been thus tempted. As an academic who believes in integrity, I feel compelled to discuss it this once, and to prevail upon you to consider, if you have not done so already, that to present someone else’s work as your own is, at its core, dishonest. The adage that “imitation is the highest form of flattery” loses its relevance within academia. One of the guiding principles in academic discourse is that copying someone else’s words, without giving them proper credit for their ideas, is actually a form of theft. Intellectual property, if you will, is to be respected.

Some people get this basic premise, while falling victim to the siren call of capitalism. These days, one can apparently buy academic papers, written specifically for a given classroom assignment. Perhaps you might think: If I didn’t copy someone else’s published work, and if I paid someone fair and square to write a fresh paper for me, that’s legit, right? Uh… no. That remains a form of misrepresentation, of dishonesty, by submitting work in your name which you did not actually complete. It fails to live up to the standards of academic integrity.

In whatever form, plagiarism seems pretty nonsensical to me. Why pay for an education that you are not actually getting? If one is using someone else’s work, or paying someone else to the homework for them, then they are missing out on the opportunity to learn that material. In crass commercial terms, they are forking over big piles of cash, tuition… for no actual personal return on their educational investment. No real learning. Just a scrap of paper that says they received a degree… which they didn’t actually earn.

And if the appeals to honesty, integrity, ethics, or just plain common sense fail to move you… consider saving your own hide. Plagiarism is a short term strategy that may ruin your entire academic career. Breaching the standards of academic integrity can get you chucked out of college. That’s not a risk worth taking, in my book.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not suggesting “just say ‘no’ to plagiarism” without any acknowledgment of the real pressure students live under during college. Rather, I am encouraging you to acknowledge if and when the pressure is too intense. See it. Be mindful of its impact on you. And if it is starting to get the better of you, own up to that… and reach out for help. If you are so stressed that you find yourself contemplating cutting corners academically… instead, talk to your professors about your situation, exploring creative ways to address your assignments and deadlines. Work with advisors, counselors, mentors, or friends to seek concrete ways to handle stress more productively. Perhaps get a tutor. Maybe lessen your work or course load. Take positive action that will allow to navigate the difficulties you are experiencing… successfully, and with honor.

After the end of one academic term, I had a student write to me, complaining about his final grade. In the email, he accused me of all manner of capricious and downright nefarious grading practices. I confess that I was taken aback, not only by the vehemence of his note, but with his utter inability to even contemplate the possibility that perhaps he might have written a final paper that was lacking, either in form or content. Sadly, it was both.

The central topic of the last blog post was Embracing Mistakes, and with this entry in The Dreaded Grade series, I share my insight that doing so involves developing the ability to accept responsibility for making them. Whether it involves acknowledging what we have done or what we have left undone, owning errors is an essential element of the learning process and crucial to our ongoing development as human beings. The simple truth is that I can’t learn from my mistakes if I refuse to admit that I have made one… or if I spend my time looking for something or someone else to blame.

To be sure, sometimes circumstances beyond the entirety of your control may be impacting you. Perhaps the stress of navigating school during a global pandemic, which is hardly your fault, is presently overwhelming. Maybe your professor does kind of suck and plays favorites. Perhaps your room or house mate is way too loud, rude, and so on, making it hard to focus. You may have so many responsibilities, between work, relationships, and school, that it is challenging to juggle them. External factors do gets in our way sometimes, and we ought to notice and address issues that inhibit our progress. Then, we may choose to enact whatever power we do possess to decide how we will respond to such potential roadblocks.

Yet with this post, I am primarily concerned with encouraging you to identify challenges within yourself. To embark along the path of self-reflection and discovery. Whenever you may happen to fail to arrive at your desired destination, when you do not achieve the grade you anticipated, pause and ask yourself… where did it go wrong? What could I have done differently? What action or approach might produce an outcome more in keeping with what I had in mind?

Remember, folks, you are in the process of learning, and thus you are expected to make mistakes. When you do, taking responsibility for it does not require medieval self-flagellation, however, it does invite you into honest self-evaluation. Maybe you got off-track somewhere? Own that when that has happened. If and when you drop the ball, apologize. Then consider whether the event was a one-shot, identifiable error, from which you can then learn? Or was it reflective of a larger pattern in your life or academic work that may require adjustment and reorientation?

When facing the latter, think like a creative artist, scientist, or entrepreneur— use your imagination. What can you shift? Study habits? Your approach to solving problems? Your work/life/school balance? On the exterior impacts front, can you change that terrible professor or roommate, and if not, how might you work with or around them? Can you contact a therapist or counselor to address your feelings around the pandemic? What if you made an appointment with the learning center or with the writing lab to explore your areas of academic challenge? What if you consider that perhaps your experiences of failure thus far are not because you have done anything “wrong,” per se, but simply because you might have an undiagnosed learning disability? Whatever potential issues you identify, explore how might you benefit from reaching out to gain another perspective and significant support from your peers, advisors, mentors, tutors, or campus professionals. Once you face your previous mis-steps and take ownership of your next ones, Dear Reader, you will be freer to regroup and reconfigure, decide upon a new learning strategy, and then try again.

Yes, you read that right. In this installment of The Dreaded Grade series, I am encouraging you to embrace the idea, and the reality, of making mistakes. Some of you are freaking out right now, as you read these words, which are anathema for high achievers, I know! Still… embrace your missteps. You may as well become accustomed to the fact that you are going to make them, but I am not creating this blog post simply because we are all human and thus, by definition, all of us err. Rather, I am encouraging you to embrace errors precisely because mistakes are valuable.

Furthermore, I don’t mean just the little mistakes, like getting the answer to exam question #14 wrong, even though you know you studied that stuff. (But I hope you will learn to let that little stuff go, especially during a global pandemic, when the tiny little things are just not worth getting into a tizzy over, by comparison. Please give yourself a break, Dear Reader). What I mean to say is, go ahead and embrace the colossal, whomping, big fat failures. The kind of screw ups that embarrass us, or cause us to question what we are about. Why? Because failure is instructional.

Take my experience as a graduate student, for example. One quarter, I signed up for five grad courses, officially over the recommended limit for one term. It was a mistake, because I got sick at the end of the quarter and was unable to complete the final requirements for one of the classes. I ended up taking an Incomplete, which I was unable to finish the next term because I also had a full schedule. As a result, I now have an “F” on my grad school transcript. I was initially mortified by my failure, but have come to regard it as a meaningful, transformational experience, because that error in judgment caused me to commit to myself to never “bite off more than I can chew.” That’s a lesson well learned.

Mistakes provide us with cautionary tales for future behavior, but they also invite us to wonder about and visualize different ways of going about things. Embracing failure allows us to embrace the power of the imagination. The imagination offers us new ways to move forward, both personally and intellectually. Therefore, it is imperative to learn to accept failure as a normal, and even as a welcome part, of your whole educational process, as well as your life.

Great, in theory. What does that mean in practice?

Consider each mistake an iteration. A sample effort. Well, hmmm, that clearly did not work, so how about if I do this instead? As a student, take a leaf out of the book of many successful leaders and companies, which have discovered the fiscal and societal benefits of leaning into the process of trial and error. Research also identifies the willingness to embrace failure as a standard practice employed by scientists and artists. So allow yourself to experiment, explore, ponder, try, fail, experiment some more. Do it all over again. Trial and error. That’s precisely how people discover new patterns and possibilities, create, figure out what works, make changes, and get things done! It’s also how we learn.

As a student, be gentle with yourself. Recognize that you will not get everything right the first time out of the gate, academically or personally. You will make mistakes, as you figure out how things work and feel your way along in this life. Honor that process. Allow yourself to mess up on occasion, brilliantly and boldly, and then to learn from it. That’s the key, like in my own example above, to demonstrate that you can change and grow, as a result of learning from your mistakes.

For some of you, this may be undeniably true. I have had students plead for a different grade than what their work product merited, because they were beholden to a variety of expectations. Scholarships sometimes require the maintenance of a certain GPA. As does athletic eligibility. Grades may also be of import when petitioning for entrance into certain disciplines or degree programs within some universities, or for applying to graduate school. Once, I even had a student weeping in my office, because of how her father would react to her grades. I understand that pressure abounds, from many quarters and in the pursuit of certain goals, when confronting the realities of The Dreaded Grade.

If maintaining a certain GPA does matter critically to you, then my advice is to be proactive. Read the syllabus carefully and ask clarifying questions about the academic expectations for your course, at the start of the term. Check in with your professors before individual assignments are due, as needed or even as a matter of habit, to make certain that you have correctly understand what the grading rubrics entail. Complete the readings and homework assignments diligently. If you cannot meet a deadline for some reason, reach out to your professor in advance, to see whether and what accommodations may be made. Remember that partial credit is better than no credit, if you are up against a wall. Take advantage of opportunities for extra credit, if it will make a difference for you. And with the reality of the pandemic, when many of us are feeling frazzled, build additional time into your schedule if you can, not only to complete assignments but to allow yourself healthy self care practices, to sustain your efforts. With each academic task, do the best that you can do, in the given moment and circumstance.

Then, cultivate a support network for yourself, so that you need not work alone, even and perhaps especially if you consider yourself to be highly capable. Notice that your student fees give you access to resources to empower you develop your current abilities. Make use of university learning centers, tutors, writing labs, research librarians, and advisors. They can enhance your success as a student, and you are already paying for their assistance! In addition, consider pulling together a group of to establish a system of peer review, in order to enable of each of you to produce high quality products, as well as establish good connections. If after all that, things do not go as hoped, have conversations with mentors and professors to see what you can do concretely to improve your grade next time.

Lastly, remind yourself, as was the theme of the most recent blog post, that you are not your grades. Still. Neither does your worth as a human being rely solely upon achieving that “X” stated goal. You are more than X. If by chance, X does not come to fruition, consider alternative possibilities and heretofore untapped riches… Y or Z might turn out to be just what you need. Indeed, I’ve heard students share that they did not qualify for an original, hoped for degree program, and that finding something else turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to them. All of which is to encourage you to give your academic work your all, and to be gracious with yourself, as need be.

Truly. It’s not about you. Your product earns the grade, not you.

This fifth installment of The Dreaded Grade series makes this significant distinction for two reasons.

First, it might allow you to notice that the grade that your work is designated is also ideally not about me, the professor. Eschewing the old cliché that “It’s not you, it’s me,”when it comes to grading, ideally, it’s not about either of us. It ought not be personal, even if the task may be unavoidably subjective, within some academic disciplines. While I must undertake the task of grading, ultimately the locus of your grade is not in something that I do, rather it resides in the merit or quality of your work product. In other words, I don’t “give” the grade, and I don’t “dock” you points. Your product earns the grade. That subtle acknowledgment grants your work power and a certain agency.

Secondly, I am not grading you. Please hear that. A lower grade is not a personal attack or judgment. When you, as students, put so much effort into what you are doing, it can be easy to mistakenly associate those efforts with your person, or your being. While I must admit that there are research studies that suggest that teachers may be more likely to grade your work higher if they think well of you (which is why, pragmatically, it behooves you to behave cordially at all times), professors with integrity are mindful of those tendencies and striving intentionally to grade your academic work alone. A product. Not you personally.

Every single person has before them in life the opportunity, and the challenge, to learn to differentiate themselves, and their identity, from their work, or their given roles. Take up that insight now; absorb it well. Give yourself the gift of consciously separating your sense self-worth from your grades. Even make that a mantra:

“My value does not reside in my GPA.”

For the perfectionists among us, reciting and believing that phrase may be particularly difficult. Dear Reader, whatever your experience heretofore within academia, I hope you will find that affirmation liberating. Sometimes grades may not be what you hoped, or may not reflect what you expect yourself capable of earning in college. That happens… especially when the world feels upside down, as it may right now. Whatever the context, remember that grades are simply a systematic assessment tool, imperfect by nature, and they never reflect who you are. You are so much more.

If you are not satisfied with your grade, instead of railing against the Universe or your professor, consider approaching your instructor and asking them how you might have earned a different grade on that particular assignment. Seek to understand what a successful iteration, or trial effort, would look like in that context. If for some reason you are uncomfortable with your professor, or you have found them lacking in their feedback capacity, then check in with an advisor, a mentor, or your school’s tutoring center to ask how to improve.

I encourage you to take this proactive approach for dealing with The Dreaded Grade, rather than say, assuming you are fabulous as you are and the professor is simply an idiot. Who has no proper grading rubric and simply plays favorites. Who probably graded those papers in the midst of a drunken stupor. Or by tossing them down the stairs to see which step they landed on. And who clearly does not recognize the glory of your natural awesomeness. Who act out of sheer malice. Or prejudice.*

*Caveat: If you believe that your grade is the result of actual prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc… then you should have recourse through a formal administrative process for petitioning your grade. See your university’s academic handbook for policies and procedures regarding grade petitions. Don’t let the bastards get away with that. Ahem…

That shared, there is wisdom in enacting a proactive learning strategy of reaching out and asking, “What might I do differently?” The truth is, professors appreciate students who take initiative. And even the “idiots” will happily work with you to help you do better, if for no other reason than it flatters their vanity to be asked. A good proportion of our time spent in professional office hours involves just waiting around for someone to contact us. Think what a kind deed you are performing, by giving us something useful to do with that time, especially if we are sitting alone in some virtual Zoom room! All kidding aside, that is precisely why we are there. To serve and help you.

In the end, if perhaps, just maybe, your professor does not embody the potential, grievous character flaws listed above, then it might be that you actually have some potential room to grow. When you take a moment and acknowledge that fact, then you can begin to make changes in your work. You can direct your attention and energies to cultivating your awesome natural abilities, which just might need some tweaking and honing. You can choose to open yourself up to learn, which is the point of being in college, and thus enhance your performance.

With respect to The Dreaded Grade, this feedback is a heart-breaker for me. A number of students over the years have shared with me that they believed that they deserved a better grade for a deeper reason than mere vanity or a sense of entitlement. This post, then, carefully strikes at the heart of a popular adage: if you work hard, you will succeed!

To be sure, the odds of doing well are in your favor if you are striving wholeheartedly to achieve your goals. Countless research sources promote the potential of human agency and industry. We see examples all around us of folks who have worked tirelessly to achieve their goals. What those stories sometimes leave out is all of the ways that people have failed along their way to eventual success. That is part and parcel of the process. Especially when we are still learning a skill, we will naturally fall short of the mark, through no lack of effort on our part. Do you recall when you were learning how to play sports, or how to play a musical instrument, or how to… fill in the blank however you like, you yourself can attest to the validity of the assertion that hard labor accompanies the process of trial and error, when we are learning.

While there may potentially be categories of human experience where the amount of time and effort one spends doing something may actually determine its worth, academia is not necessarily one of them. In some fields, it may be possible to grade upon demonstrated development of craft. In other disciplines, there may be wiggle room for interpretation, creativity, or even allowances for divergent approaches. Yet in some areas, the answer or the technique is either correct or incorrect. Even when interpretation varies, you may simply not have adequately demonstrated that you are currently able to apply your learning in a way that meets the profession’s standards. In other words, while you may have worked very diligently on a given assignment, that does not, in and of itself, guarantee that you have produced the highest quality possible result.

As an educator, I trust that all of my students are working diligently.  At the very least, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt that they have put forth their best effort, in any given circumstance. Including a pandemic. Please understand, then, that much of the time, professors do not, and cannot, grade based upon effort. We can only grade based upon performance. As such, our task is to assess the quality of your product as it is presented in a given moment in time. Despite your best efforts, your results may not quite be up to snuff… Yet.

That’s the key. Yet. Engaging in higher education is meant to develop your abilities. Over the course of time, by being resilient and continuing to exert effort, through repeated practice and incorporation of feedback from your professors, you will hone your skills and draw closer to hitting the mark. By all means, then, celebrate your hard work… and keep at it. Even if your grade does not yet reflect all that you have done and are learning along the way.

“I deserve a better grade.“

As a professor, I have heard this exact line before. Perhaps you’ve felt like that before… and maybe a few of you have even ventured to express that feeling. From the other side of the grading divide, I am going to let you in on an important secret to navigating the system… it does not behoove you to come off as “disgruntled,” “confrontational,” or worse, which according to every faculty meeting and water cooler conversation that I have ever been in on regarding this topic, is exactly what students who say things like this sound like to professors. So what do you do, if you have not earned the grade you desired?

Let’s begin by addressing what not to do, if you want to succeed in college and arguably to flourish in life. The first step is to check your expectations about the grading process. I hate to be the one to break it to you, dear reader, but academia is not an open air market… grades are not subject to haggling. Unless a professor has made an error in calculation or missed something critical, grades are not meant to be open to negotiation. Whether through an attempted exercise of charm, a resort to pleading, or through the exertion of will, I am here to let you know that, unfortunately, you will make an unfavorable impression, if you try to move the needle of your grades. In academic literature, professors have written lengthy articles about students who come to college possessing a sense of entitlement… even identifying students who argue that “I am paying for this education, and so I should get my money’s worth!“

Don’t be that student.

Education is not a commercial transaction, like buying a car. Even if private tuition does cost more than a Tesla. You are not purchasing a degree and certainly not a given GPA. What you are actually paying for is the privilege of learning from scholars and experienced professionals. Honor that privilege… by working hard to develop your intellectual abilities, expand your technical skills, and earn your grades. Remember that as you partake of this academic journey, you are not owed anything.

Secondly, check your attitude about your abilities. Cultivating a healthy sense of self esteem is essential…. just avoid over-juicing. The Draco Malfoys of this world, or the District 1 Tributes to employ a different story framework, tend to believe they are somehow superior. For example, I have had students come up to me and declare that their work was “obviously better” than someone else’s in the room, and that therefore they should have gotten a higher grade. Before class. In front of other students. Just. Wow. Dear readers, try to avoid sounding like an arrogant, judgmental… ahem.

Even in this blog about Things the Professor Cannot Actually Say, I can not actually say that word.

Sadly, such a human desire to have the product of our labor be deemed the same or better than our peers is apparently as old as the writing of the Cain and Abel story. If and when jealousy, pettiness, or a sibling-like rivalry rears its ugly head, enabling us to presume ourselves more worthy than a neighbor, we might do well to pause and ponder: How does that help me on the journey?

That caution set forth, I will share that more often, I see earnest students struggle with the opposite temptation… not thinking enough of themselves and their abilities. When it comes to grades, you likewise do yourself a grave disservice if you choose to measure your work against others and then decide that you fall short. What good does it do you to compare your journey with the person at the next desk? Does it motivate you, or does it serve to hinder you in your work? I fear the latter. So place your focus entirely upon you and your own growth.

All of which is to suggest that measuring yourself in comparison with others is fundamentally unhelpful. As is trying to measure yourself against a yardstick, a given letter grade. Grades are not, in fact, a measure of your personal worth. Indeed, in a very fundamental way we are all of us “deserving.” In order to flourish in college, I therefore encourage you to direct your energy toward doing your best work, in this given moment and at this given time. Then endeavor to let go of any inclination to associate your value, positively or negatively, with your grades.

Indignant Student: Do you really think that is worth three points off my grade on my paper?

Professor (In head): Obviously I do, because that is the grade I gave you; and unfortunately for you, dude, you don’t get to be the judge…

Professor (Out loud): I would be happy to sit down and go over your paper with you, if you like, to explain the grade you received.

Professors cannot actually say so many of the things they may be thinking when it comes to conversations about academic grades. So, I am going to bring you into the loop, with a ten-part blog series on The Dreaded Grade. To start, let’s just name it upfront: grading is an unfortunate business. To own the truth, I am not entirely convinced that it is a productive phenomenon. In my experience, it tends to distract people from The Big Picture, with respect to what matters in getting an education. Some universities have instead embraced a narrative approach to student evaluation, rather than using letter grades, which is designed to more thoroughly respond to how the student is developing in their skills, which I imagine is more fruitful in the end. However, most of us live and dwell in a system that is based upon grades. So how to get the most out of that system?

By this I mean, how does one approach learning, and learn well, within a graded environment?

Hint number one for navigating the system— Breathe.

For many students, competition to get into college is intense. It may be that your guidance counselors, teachers, and parents impressed upon you the value of getting good grades so as to position yourself well and to stand out in the sea of college applicants. While this may be a useful strategy for navigating the challenging college admissions process… it may also have the unfortunate side effect of contributing to high stress levels.

So, perhaps contrary to whatever popular advice you have heretofore received, I am going to suggest that instead of obsessing, worrying, and otherwise freaking out about your grades… now that you are actually in college, I recommend, as the old song says… Just Breathe. Seriously. Take three deep breaths any time you find yourself getting antsy over your grades. Research clearly demonstrates this small action helps to reduce stress levels, and anything that helps to lower anxiety these days is an excellent place to start.

After taking those breaths, remind yourself that focusing upon grades may actually get in your way in college. Granted, some of you may feel motivated to achieve by the letter grade system, and as such, it may serve as a necessary jolt of caffeine for you. However, I suspect that for many others, an emphasis upon grades may prevent you from enjoying the process of learning. Because despite what you may have been told heretofore along your academic journey, your grades are not the point of getting an education. In the best of all possible worlds, expanding your horizons is at the heart of an learning. Remind yourself of that often. Whenever stress over letter grades surfaces, breathe and allow your focus to gently shift toward zeroing on the essentials… to what extent is my learning shaping who I and am becoming, in a productive way?

Especially now. In light of the incredibly intense pressure of navigating a pandemic, some universities are beginning to realize that distinction. Indeed, acknowledging that personal development is at the core, the institution where I was teaching relaxed their system to allow more options for pass/fail grading. If you haven’t already, check out whether your school is allowing for similar grace, and what you might need to do to sign up. If not, grant that grace to yourself. If you are getting through the day, if you are completing your tasks (or most of them), if you can at least pass the course, and if you are learning something fruitful along the way, then for now count that as an academic victory. Because it is!

So keep breathing, friends. And stay tuned for more specific blog exhortations surrounding how not to allow a concern for grades to define and direct the whole of your college experience.