My high school years consisted
of cutting every corner
possible without sacrificing my
grades. By my senior year I was
taking six classes, only attended
four regularly, but still getting
credit in the two I was not
present for – quite an accomplishment.College is not like this.

Last semester – my first semester
of college – I worked
harder than in high school. At
first, I was not doing badly.
From there, however, I must
have slacked off. By the end of
last semester, I beat academic
probation by seven hundredths
of a point – a difference comparable
to the thickness of the skin
on my teeth.

I am not alone in the condition
of my grades. Half of the
first-year students who left
Guilford after the fall semester
left because of poor grades.

I, and apparently numerous
others, treated college the same
way I treated high school. I went
higher standards
to most of my classes and completed
most of my work, but
most, it seems, was not enough.

Confronted with the realities
of college, I decided to make
a move towards making better
grades, both for myself and for
the heated pressure my parents
put on me. I am now attempting
to go to all of my classes, read
all I am assigned to read, and
finish – on time – all of my assignments.

This will be a change for me,
but life is full of changes, and
change is good, right?

Lee Soroko, one of my
teachers, said in the first class
this semester, “If you always do
what you always do, you will get
what you always get.” This is
good advice to ponder, especially
when concerning substandard
grades.

I guess I have no advice to
offer on the subject of making
better grades, since I am still experimenting
with how to myself,
but only an observation.

College is not high school,
and if you treat it like high
school, your grades will reflect
it.