Life Post-Graduation

So you are in college right now and it's  hard. You stay up late working on assignments, writing papers and studying until you can't hold your eyelids open any longer. Why do you do this to yourself?? Well, to GRADUATE of course! That is the goal of college isn't it..to pass your classes and get a degree!

Well, if you are a type A, perfectionist personality like me..passing  your classes wasn't the only objective. Your goal was to have that perfect, shiny, beautiful GPA: the highly sought after 4.0. Well needless to say, I spent my entire college career putting fun aside to focus on my grades. Don't get me wrong I still had plenty of friends and I still had fun, but schoolwork always took priority.

So you want to know, did all of my hard work pay off? Did I get my perfect 4.0 GPA? Did I conquer the world? The answer is No. But I did get pretty close. I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.95 GPA. I was highly decorated during my graduation ceremony and I had done what I set out to do: I graduated with the highest of honors I could have.

So now what?

That was all fine and great and I made my parents proud and all of that ..but now what?

I immediately took an internship the summer after graduation in a new state where I knew nobody. I was a lowly, nothing, bottom of the totem-pole intern. Nobody gave a crap what my college GPA was. Not to mention having a close-to-perfect GPA is not a good conversation piece because more than likely those people are few and far between. And normal people have better, more interesting things to talk about than grades..you will learn this.

My point is this: your GPA does not define you or determine whether or not you will be successful in your career or in the workplace. It honestly doesn't have an impact on it whatsoever. I ended up not being so successful in that internship and learning that research wasn't what I wanted to do.

My advice to you: do more than just study in college. Go on adventures! Meet new people, learn new life skills and figure out what you like to do for fun. If you don't do it in college, you will have a more difficult time doing it once you are in "the real world". That has been my experience anyway.

I regret not spending more time having fun and taking advantage of the awesome trips my college had to offer. They took students white-water rafting once and I didn't go because I.. "needed to catch up on...something".. see I don't even remember what it was but I bet I would have remembered every minute of that white-water rafting trip. Life is short, so take advantage of every opportunity God lays in your path!

Have a blessed week!