I watched the rapid-fire round in the IBA Today podcast themed at GPA and IBA professors. While watching the episode, I imagined myself answering “GPA” as “it’s tricky” and “Dean’s list” as a rat race. However, the students present in the podcast began to state their own CGPA, when asked to answer the word, “GPA”. The answers of the students given to these questions tell you a lot about the GPA-obsessed culture at IBA. Maybe I would have done the same if I was there.
The truth behind the Deans List
GPA is tricky because it doesn’t require you to just have academic smarts but street smarts too. It took me two years to understand how some students I admired just because of their presence in the dean’s list were in fact not so much interesting to talk to or anything close to being admirable. So, then I realized most of them maintain their position on the dean’s list not necessarily out of motivation or the love for learning but because now they are on the dean’s list- they are trapped in the middle of the rat race.
What happens after this race, they have no clue. They’re running because, after a few semesters, it kind of becomes a part of you, it begins to define your personality. If you get out of it now, you wouldn’t know how else to define yourself. In fact, you’ll get a new embarrassing identity. Oh look, that’s the person who got OUT of the dean’s list in their xth semester, poor thing. You don’t want that to be your introduction so you’ll burn that midnight oil, cry a little, then suck it up and study.
Higher the GPA, the Better the Strategy
However, notice I didn’t call GPA a rat race, I called it “ it’s tricky “. It’s because it allows you to outshine your peers simply by having a more sensible strategy. I am ignoring the cheating factor here or conning an innocent teacher if that’s what you have in mind. But apart from that, it took me a while to understand that I don’t have time to delve deeper into a course even if I like it because I must focus on cracking the way to the miser professor’s heart who seems to enjoy showering Bs and Cs to students.
How I adapted to the game of GPA
At first, I couldn’t help but think this living is not a living, why must I work EXTRA hard for a subject just because the grading scheme is a pain? It’s not fair! However, it took a change in perspective to understand that doing this can be fun too! I started looking at it as a game of chess. Cracking a difficult course or the way to a moody professor’s heart by understanding their style of teaching and their expectations of students’ performance, helps you read people. I mean you get to read 5 new professors every semester and crack their new codes, how exciting? Even more so if you’re successful. (and let me add a disclaimer here: God do I suck at reading people)
Understanding the given dynamics of a subject: Step #1 to adapting to the game
I don’t know about other courses because I strictly speak for the economics and mathematics (EM) students here. Furthermore, I feel we don’t have many BBA-style courses in EM where a few chosen individuals can get away with the subject just by sniffing through it with full attendance, class participation, and a cordial relationship with the teacher. Not unless you already have command on the subject like speech com for example. It will be a zero-course load for someone who is a natural speaker. However, it will be a big deal for someone who has had stage fright since kindergarten.
You can’t do the same with courses like Multivariable Calculus or Discrete Math, right? Although the online semester helped a lot of us to get through using unfair means but that’s a topic for another article.
Understanding your teachers: Step #2 to adapting to the game
A lot of people complain that professors are biased. Well, human beings are biased, the whole world out here is biased. YOU are biased. So deal with it, or learn how to deal with it. Furthermore, it is our biases that make us readable too! So if you regularly attend all classes and pay attention you can detect these biases. You can know what has a higher probability of showing up on the exam. All human beings are readable unless they show up like Irene Adler aka The Woman from Sherlock, but don’t worry that won’t ever happen… not in IBA at least.
Conclusion
You might be wondering she started the article by calling the dean’s list a rat race and got my attention, I thought someone understood my pain but look at her now. She’s comparing it to a game of chess, <insert angry emojis> , what are these mind games, man?
Well, I’m only telling you that it could be both a chess game and a rat race. That depends on you. We all are masters of our destiny and get to determine our outcome. If you run the race just for the sake of running then you’re a rat, my friend. But if you want to survive and also make the most out of it, then you have my respect and I admire your chess strategy so keep soaring high up that ladder!
Oh, and best of luck for exams, regardless of whether you’re a rat or not (wink).
