By Kelly Martin, Toppel Peer Advisor
Finals… probably the bane of every student’s existence. The one thing that stands between you and winter or summer break and sweet freedom. Getting through finals involves a lot of stress: about the material you’re learning, how you’ve done in the class so far, how you hope to do on the exam in order to get that final grade you’re aiming for. Often it seems we spend more time calculating the exam grade we need than we do actually studying. And sometimes the amount of stress and pressure we put on ourselves actually prevents us from doing well; can’t focus while you study, freak yourself out while taking the exam, even sleeping through an exam after staying up too late studying. And not to mention all the health problems associated with pulling all nighters or getting minimal amounts of sleep.
When you’re writing a resume, your GPA gets one line, if you even include it at all! But what takes up the most space? Your experience section. Rather than spending all your time in the library studying to get those perfect grades, consider the fact that you could be putting some of that time into doing things you really love, and that will come through on your resume. Join a club on campus and get involved with their events; get an internship in your field that you’re really excited about; volunteer with a local organization to get more experience. All of these things will have so much more meaning to a potential employer than your GPA will. And after your first job, or even six months after graduation, you take the GPA off your resume!
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