How to Move on from Mistakes in College

Rather than share a blog post about something fashion related today, I wanted to be real with you guys and vent about something that has been on my mind these past few days. This is going to be a long post, so prepare yourself :)

It took me a few weeks to realize it, but college can be really cruel sometimes. There are many aspects of college that this can apply to, but recently I've suffered from it in an academic way. I've always been a very conscientious student, never missing a homework assignment and studying as hard as I can for every assessment with which I'm presented. Of course there are those few occasions where I slip up, but in the past, my teachers have seen that I'm a hard worker and usually give me the benefit of the doubt if I mess up on one assignment. In college, however, there really is no room for error. Late work is very rarely accepted, and it's usually quite hard to recover from a bad exam or even quiz because they count so much for your overall grade. I constantly feel like I'm playing a game of operation, tip-toeing around different traps that will set off an alarm if I accidentally touch them. 

Everything was going really well the first few weeks of classes. I had a good handle on my homework, I developed a routine of when I did what homework, and my grades were right where I wanted them to be. Then, course loads really started to pick up. I'm in a couple "weed out" classes (which are basically difficult entry level courses that determine if you're able to handle certain majors or not) that I knew would be difficult, but that I guess I underestimated. In high school, I was used to going to my teachers a few times if I was having trouble understanding a concept, then practicing them and ultimately figuring it all out. In college, though, a lot of my classes deal with things I've never even heard of, much less understand right away (ex. Access queries, Finite intersections and unions, etc). A lot of people who were once in my shoes told me that everyone has trouble in these classes, but I just assumed that with my motivation to do well, I would be fine. Now that these classes have significantly picked up, I have discovered that it takes a lot more than a desire to do well to actually receive good grades. In college, you have to put 100% of your effort into most classes, constantly doing practice problems, going to office hours for help and going above and beyond to complete your assignments. With everything going on from academics to clubs to social events all while trying to get a decent amount of sleep, I thought I was doing a good enough job of balancing it all. 

Out of no where, I realized I completely forgot to submit a normal Spanish assignment online. We're expected to complete the homework, submit it online and bring a printed out copy of it to class to go over. I went through the homework thoroughly, printed it out to bring to class, reviewed for my Finite quiz and went to bed thinking I had done everything on my to do list for the day. A few days later, I got my grade back for the homework and saw that I received a 0/10 on it. I was shocked thinking it had to be a mistake since I always did my Spanish homework at a certain time each day, and remembered doing it too. Then it occurred to me that I never clicked submit on it. Knowing the policy that late work is not accepted, I still went to my professor and explained the situation to him. Deep down I knew he wouldn't give me credit, but I thought it was worth a shot because I tried super hard in his class. Unlike high school, rules are rules and he said that there was nothing that could be done about it. I was so upset not only because it isn't like me to not turn in homework, but because it dropped my overall grade that I worked so hard to earn, all over a tiny mistake. 

That was a pretty long rant to share a simple point, but I thought I would share it with you because I always want to be honest with you guys about things I've learned at every point of my life. As frustrated as I was after making a little mistake here and there, I've come to realize that even though it's hard not to get worked up about these sort of things, I just have to accept them and move on. Things are going to happen and you really can't do anything about them but try harder the next time. This applies to college, but also life in general. Don't sweat the small stuff because you can't go back and change them, but you can make a stronger effort to do better in the future. 

With that said, I hope you all have a great week! 

Have you ever been in a similar situation in high school or college?

xoxo