As the back-to-school season rolls around, many students are filled with a mix of excitement and anxiety. There’s the anticipation of new beginnings, fresh notebooks, and reconnecting with friends. But for many, this time of year also brings back the looming pressure of grades and academic performance. Reflecting on my own college experience, I realize the immense energy I spent worrying about my GPA. In hindsight, it’s clear that my obsession with grades was my biggest college regret. It wasn’t about wishing I had studied harder; it was about wishing I had stressed less about my Grade Point Average.
I attended Northwestern University, a well-regarded institution known for its rigorous academic environment. Like many ambitious high schoolers, I had my sights set on Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, fueled by a lifelong dream of becoming a writer and editor. Despite warnings that Northwestern, with its competitive acceptance rate, might be a long shot, I was determined. Getting into my dream school should have been a moment of pure joy, but instead, a wave of anxiety washed over me. It was as if my body sensed the imposter syndrome that would soon take hold, even before my mind fully grasped it. Since I had defied expectations by getting into Northwestern, I felt an intense need to prove my place there, and in my mind, academic excellence, measured by GPA, was the primary way to do it.
Student stressed about grades in college library
The Trap of Academic Burnout and the GPA Obsession
Once classes began, the pressure I put on myself was immense. Anything less than an A- felt like a failure, fueling a fear that admissions would realize they had made a mistake in accepting me. At 18, I mistakenly wore stress like a badge of honor, equating it with hard work and intellectual dedication. My friends jokingly said the library would be the first place they’d look if I ever disappeared, a joke that soon lost its humor. During a particularly intense period of burnout, I impulsively booked a flight home to escape to the comfort of my childhood bedroom and my mom’s comforting presence for a much-needed 12-hour sleep.
Research increasingly highlights the detrimental effects of this relentless academic pressure. Studies have shown that the intense focus on grades and GPA can significantly contribute to sleep deprivation, anxiety, and depression among students. An alarming statistic from an August 2023 Handshake report revealed that over 80% of 2024 college graduates experienced burnout symptoms at some point during their undergraduate years. Driven by this self-imposed pressure, I pushed myself beyond healthy limits during my initial years of college. I found myself falling asleep in lectures, skipping meals, and isolating myself from friends. Ironically, despite this unhealthy lifestyle, my grades were soaring. I even achieved a perfect GPA one semester, but I was too exhausted to truly celebrate. By my sophomore year, the idea of transferring away from Northwestern became a serious consideration.
To cope with the mounting academic burnout, I started incorporating self-care practices – journaling and taking calming walks by Lake Michigan became regular habits. However, it proved incredibly difficult to separate my self-worth from my academic performance. Returning for my junior year, I made a conscious decision to change my mindset. I promised myself that as long as I gave my best effort, I wouldn’t punish myself for a less-than-perfect grade. It took time, but by senior year, the constant academic stress had significantly lessened.
Graduating from Northwestern with honors in 2019 felt like a validation of all the sacrifices I had made for those near-perfect grades. Proudly, I placed my 3.82 GPA at the top of my resume, believing it would give me a significant advantage in the job market, a clear indicator of my strong work ethic. However, in the numerous job interviews leading up to graduation, a surprising thing happened: not a single interviewer asked about my GPA. Instead, potential employers were far more interested in my internship projects, the skills I gained from extracurricular activities, how I spent my free time, and my career aspirations. Within six months of graduating, as my first post-grad internship was ending, I made a liberating decision – I removed my GPA from my resume. It felt both freeing and a little anticlimactic.
The Real World Perspective: Employers and GPA
The reality is, for most job seekers, especially beyond entry-level positions, employers place less emphasis on GPA than many students believe. Chelsea Jay, a career and leadership coach, confirmed this in an interview with CNBC Make It, stating that most employers only check GPA for entry-level roles where candidates might lack extensive work experience.
The hiring landscape is evolving. Companies are increasingly adopting a holistic approach to evaluating recent graduates. Soft skills, practical internship experiences, volunteer work, extracurricular involvement, and tangible work samples are now often considered as important, or even more so, than academic grades.
Jay advises students to aim for a GPA of 3.0 or higher, not as a strict requirement for all employers, but as a demonstration of motivation and the ability to learn diverse subjects without succumbing to burnout. While maintaining a good GPA shows a baseline level of competence and commitment, it’s not the defining factor for most employers.
It’s important to acknowledge that certain industries, particularly competitive or technically focused fields like education, finance, healthcare, law, and technology, may still place greater importance on GPA, especially for initial screenings. Furthermore, if you plan to pursue postgraduate studies, such as law or medical school, your GPA will be a crucial component of your application.
However, for the vast majority of career paths, your GPA will not be the deciding factor in your professional success. As Jay emphasizes, “Your energy is better spent gaining relevant work experience and building relationships with people working in your field. Those are better predictors of success… your GPA doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.”
The takeaway is encouraging: getting a few B’s or even C’s on your transcript won’t derail your career aspirations. Even an occasional academic stumble, like sleeping through an exam, doesn’t preclude you from getting into your dream law school. If I could offer my 18-year-old self some advice, it would be to not tie my self-worth to a letter grade. In the grand scheme of things, those minor academic setbacks fade into insignificance. What truly remains are the meaningful connections forged with friends, the inspiring professors who ignited new passions, and the experiences that made you feel truly engaged and alive. These, I believe, contribute far more to your career prospects and overall fulfillment than a perfect 4.0 GPA ever could.
