Living the College Life: What Adjustments Should I Consider After Receiving My Grades?

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Are you a numbers person? If so, you know you can spend hours calculating how your grades might turn out. You know that an A and C is the equivalent of 2 B's, for example. Or that two B's and two A's will give you a strong 3.5 grade-point average.

All the guessing and projecting comes to a halt when first-semester grades are posted. And you don't have to be a numbers person to know if the letters spell good news or bad news. Those first-semester grades set the tone for how you'll approach subsequent semesters you'll either work to maintain good grades, or you'll be in catch-up mode.

Catch-up mode is no fun.

"I had a friend who ended his first year with a GPA around a 1.0," says Adam Ritton (Creighton University). "It took him until the second semester of his junior year to bring it up over a 3.0." One lesson to be learned, Adam says, is that it's not impossible to raise a lousy GPA. Indeed, with a GPA that low, a student must show immediate improvement or face dismissal at most colleges.

"It is not impossible to raise your GPA a few points, but it does require you to act early," Adam Ritton says. "On the other hand, sustaining a good GPA gets easier with time." He points out that those who maintain strong GPAs can actually "afford" the impact of an occasional lower-than-hoped-for grade.

How? A single C, for example, barely registers on the transcript of a first-semester junior with a 3.2 cumulative GPA"it would drop her index to about a 3.15. All those other good grades over the previous years insulated her from a more precipitous drop. But a freshman, just starting out, hasn't built any consistency. So a C combined with three B's results in a 2.75 GPA, whereas straight B's would have netted a 3.0 GPA.

While no student aspires to straight Cs, there are worse grades, namely D and F. Nothing devastates a GPA like an F, since it's figured into the cumulative index like a zero. At many schools, students have the option of retaking a failed course"but there's frequently a catch. Policies vary, but they often allow students to either count the new grade instead of the F, or average the F with the new grade. In either case, the F usually stays on the transcript, and you'll always have to make up the credits to graduate.

It seems freshmen are more likely to get F's than upperclassmen, because experienced students are more mindful of a failing grade's impact. Sean Galusha remembers partying a lot his freshman year at the Community College of Southern Nevada, and getting a couple of F's. "I wasn't taking it seriously," he recalls. He took two years off to work, and"confronted with the possibility of working low-income jobs the rest of his life"changed his ways. He earned acceptance into the University of Nevada"Las Vegas, where he's a member of the class of 2005 and earning better grades. How did he turn it around? "I just grew up."

Whether it's an A student who receives a C, or a B student who receives an F, Adam Abelkop (Wake Forest University) suggests quickly learning from your blunder, because it's not coming off your transcript. "Everyone has some bad grading experience at one point or another in his or her college career. . . . You're not the only one," says Adam. "Accept the grade and move on. Figure out what went wrong, and work to prevent that from happening again."

When considering what went wrong, Adam has a few ideas: "If you chose a tough professor, be more informed before you select classes next time. If you failed because you didn't study, then study for the next test. If you made warrantless claims in your argumentative paper, find out how to warrant your arguments in the next paper."

If you feel you were graded unfairly, Lauren Hardgrove of Ohio University recommends appealing. "You can always petition to a particular teacher for a better grade, or at least for a chance to make it up," she says.

But such appeals aren't likely to be successful. The process may not necessarily be antagonistic, but face it: You're trying to tell an esteemed faculty member that she made a mistake. She'll likely listen to you carefully and politely, then offer a firm rebuttal. The good news: If she honestly made a mistake, she'll likely correct it. The not-so-good news: If you deserved the grade you received, especially if it's a low one, you may receive a painstaking analysis of your shortcomings.

Whether you do well or not so well your first semester at school, it's a good time to assess what went right and what didn't. Since many students continue with the academic approach that got them to college in the first place, first-semester grades indicate whether that strategy is viable for the future.

Rosanne Boyle did very well in her studies her first semester at Fairfield University, easing the way for a transfer to Providence College, which was much closer to her Massachusetts home. She was thrilled to be at Providence, and plunged into campus life there, including involvement in the Board of Programmers, a group she would lead in her senior year. "At that point in time I figured I could just continue with what I was doing and end up graduating with a great GPA and be proud of the work I did," she says. "I didn't spend as much time studying as I should've and I ended up disappointing myself, grade-wise. So the next semester I paid more attention to my schoolwork and got better grades. I've done well ever since."