Kelsey Sutton / Managing editor

Kelsey Sutton can be reached at [email protected].

I feel that students, myself included, often get way too caught up in a small detail of the learning process: the dreaded grade point average (GPA).

While it is definitely important to work hard and strive for the best possible grade, it isn’t worth panicking about.

It is something that has taken me a long time to realize and accept. In high school, a GPA was incredibly important to getting scholarships and getting into college.

But now that we’re in college, it’s really about passing our classes and learning.

I’ve often stressed myself out about my cumulative GPA, thinking that it determines what kind of student I am or how smart I am.

This is simply not true for anyone.

Many professors have told me that employers hardly ever, if at all, look at an applicant’s grades or transcripts.

It’s about the experience and the knowledge you have, which can come in many forms aside from a letter grade.

Especially at a college like Linfield, the goal is to learn and expand your personal horizons.

Unless you’re applying for graduate school, which in that case GPA’s may be a large factor, try to remember this.

It is hard to get a 4.0, or even a 3.5, in college. I still haven’t quite figured out why it’s so difficult, especially when it feels like I’m doing really well in a class, but it’s something I’ve had to come to terms with.

And I think we all should.

It doesn’t matter what kind of student you are. GPA’s do not determine your worth as a student or thinker.

It is simply a combination of letter grades that are generated by numbers. Your GPA doesn’t show how much you loved a class or how much hard work you put into a project.

And it definitely doesn’t take into account life’s unpredictable events.

Some people are naturally good at taking tests and memorizing small details and concepts.

I happen to not be good at that, and sometimes it shows in my grades.

However, I am an active participant in all my classes, and I still gain a lot of insight and knowledge from each course. I am a hard worker, and often that is what matters.

You could get constant As on everything, but leave college without growing as a human being.

So next time you are drowning in homework, trying to prioritize your classes and beginning to have a meltdown, try to relax.

Continue to work hard, but remember that no one in the real world cares if you got a C+ on that test or an A.

They just care if you could actually pass the class.

In the end, it’s really the degree you earn that matters.

And earning a degree entails much, much more than acing every exam.