The Day a Student Steps into College

What to do with a bad GPA? The day a student steps into the college, he is told by everyone to maintain a good GPA. That is it. For the next four years, the poor soul toils away his /her life to achieve good grades. He attends almost every class, spends free hours in the library and burns the midnight oil. These four years of a student’s life are a constant drill to grab the best possible grades. But in real life, is the GPA as important as we deem it to be? Do employers really care about our grade or are there other aspects that matter? A good Grade Point Average could definitely boost your academic success. If you are aiming towards Harvard Medical School, Yale Law School or Stanford Business School, an illustrious GPA is all that you need. Pulling all-nighters and make tireless effort is worth it. But thankfully, employers are not that strict! They care about other things as well. For most employers, GPA is NOT the primary factor to decide whether to hire a candidate or not, however it could be one of the many deciding factors. As a person progresses further, grades become less and less important. Their significance fades away with time and experience. The real story The college GPA is a combination of many factors during the long four year tenure. But it is not an indicator for how you would perform in the real world. Being book smart and being street smart are two different stories with considerably different endings. However it does not mean that you take your academics for granted! Pay attention to the studies but do not moan about grades and GPA all the time. The Grade Point Average with which you leave your college won’t matter much in the real life. There are more important things to learn than conventional Calculus and Physics during the college.

How you learn: Every person has a distinct style of learning new things. Some learn better through visual aids, others are good with sound and audios and still others need to practice a lot before they could retain information in their minds. Through the course of your studies, identify how you learn with better results. As you step into your professional life, you would need to learn new ideas and new systems every now and then. Managing real life situations: The studies at college are only a trailer of the real life movie that lies ahead. The problems and scenarios in real life are much complicated and intricate as compared to the lab assignments and home works that drive us crazy at college. The most important ability is to be able to manage such situations and solve them applying the techniques and theories that we have learnt at college. University life prepares you for almost nothing that lies ahead.

Effective Time Management: Analyze your time management habits. See how much time you need to research a topic, to write a paper, finish an assignment, code a program etc. In the office, you would need to work promptly. There would be deadlines to meet and unfathomable to-do lists to tackle. If you have bad habits of slackness, try to fix them before you step in to the office. Maintain proper schedule for your daily life and don’t forget to have a time slot for socializing because employers do not like book worms and geeks. They want standard and healthy people!

Relevant Prior Experience: There is more to student life than studies and exams. A resume embellished with work experience and internships would tell the employer that you are good enough to work with a team. Work parallel to studies is a sought after quality; only a multitasker and an efficient professional can manage that. A future employer would deem your experience as a solid sign for your potential. A graduate with relatively low GPA but a resume embellished with extracurricular activities would be in competition with a graduate who has nothing more to offer than a perfect 3.8 GPA.

A Portfolio of your Work Samples: Don’t forget to chronicle the activities that you have been doing during your undergraduate studies. Keep a track record for all the term projects, press releases, design publications, research summaries and other activities that could increase your worth and prove you to be a gem at work. As fresh graduates have little experience of the professional environment, employers generally observe the portfolio in place of professional experience.

Writing Skills: Polish your writing skills. You would need to be a good writer in most of the fields today as this quality is deployed in making reports, pitches and emails. This does not mean that you should be a prolific blogger, just take care of your writing expression and strengthen your weak areas. Good cover letters and job application could get you a good job and effective reports and summaries can help you climb the ladder in your professional career.

Build Connections: It is rightly said that “who you know is more important than what you know”. Get in the habit of meeting new people and forming connections with them. Build a network of acquaintances before you need them because you never know who turns out to be an angel in the hour of need. Meet people warmly and never refrain from helping people out when they ask for assistance. You might get the reward someday when you really need it. Managing a not-so-cool GPA The felicitous life at campus is over. You have left with a bundle of happy memories, a considerable amount of experience on personal and professional level and a not-so-cool GPA. Whether the GPA matters or not, fresh graduates fret about it. A bad GPA does not break anyone. You might need some extra care and effort while you are searching for a job.

Mention Your GPA: Going in for your maiden interview, do not make the mistake of NOT mentioning your GPA. Most people would assume that your GPA must be below 3.0 if your resume remains silent about it. Mention it anyway. It is understandable that students learn how to perform better as they navigate through the 4 years course. Employers would also keep in consideration the fact that you paid your way to the college and your involvement in extracurricular activities. These facts affect the GPA. Be prepared to tell your story during the interview.

Be Honest: Always be honest to a teacher, a doctor and an employer because they will eventually find out the truth. Never round up the GPA, 2.98 is not 3.0. Be a conversationalist and explain your performance.

Mentioning a real poor GPA: If you feel that your GPA is so bad that it would fright away all the employers, then you are left with this strategy. Do not mention your Cumulative Grade Point Average. Mention the GPA of your last academic year (which must be decent!). This will justify that you have worked your way up. Be prepared to tell your story convincingly during interviews. Mention the grades of the courses that matter the most and are relevant to the job you are applying to. For example, do not mention a D grade in chemistry if you are pursuing a major in Journalism. Put your strengths in limelight so that the weaknesses are overshadowed. Mention your Education after other credentials on the CV. The memory fades away After your first job, rip off the GPA from your CV because no one really cares about it anymore.

Your experience will advocate your worth. Employers pay no heed about how good you did at your degree, but they certainly keep in mind that how good you did at your last job. After all, they do not want you to solve quadratic equations! As you go further in the professional life, GPA becomes less and less important until its importance is completely null. Then you will realize that there is more to life that a bunch of grades!

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"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
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