Don’t look at my transcript

By Lauren Belcher | cbelcher@flagler.edu

I’ll admit it: I should have tried harder in my college classes. But, should the nine Cs that I accumulated in six semesters of college really play a role in my obtaining a job? Do they accurately reflect my abilities to perform in society? No. They do not.

I still have two semesters left before I graduate. And thanks to those Cs, it really does not matter how I perform from here on out.

Those nine Cs cover up the 12 As and nine Bs I have received. They cloud the list of extra-curricular ‘activities’ I pursue. Activities which play the biggest role in my inability to obtain perfect grades. But, you do not stand out as a decent applicant without these ‘activities.’ You need them.

The second biggest role: I have to work throughout college. Every semester I come back to my college town early and spend a week or two searching for a part-time job. This is around the same time I shop for back-to-school supplies.

Because, realistically, unless your parents are loaded or you are an heir, it is quite impossible to pay for college and/or living expenses without working or taking out loans. That requires that I work part-time while being a full-time student.

Have the jobs I have chosen helped at all towards my future career? No! And they do not look very impressive on a resume.

Nothing on my transcript tells you who I am. Nor does it speak for what I can do or who I could be.

Freshman year looks like six As and four Bs. Very impressive, right? But my freshman year was horrible. It was filled with adjusting to a new place and taking basic humanities courses just to make it through the year. I am not proud of freshman year. I took easy math courses even though I am great at math. I knew if I did so I would ace the two mandatory credits.

Sophomore year you begin to see the Cs pop up. But this was the year that I decided I did not want a Business minor. I changed my path and paid for it with four Cs.

Junior year I became engrossed in the student newspaper. You cannot track that effort on my transcript. It is not even there.

This is also the time when I realized I wanted to be an Environmental Science minor. Unfortunately, the teaching style of these classes was much different from my journalism courses and I had trouble adjusting. The result? A C in each of the science classes I took. But these classes changed my point of view and my career choice, so to me, they were achievements.

Now I am a senior finishing up my seventh semester. I am not sure what my grades are going to be come December, but I already know they will not matter. What matters is preparing for the real world.

After all, Cs get degrees. But I will get a job.