26A- Celebrating Failure
This is my first semester at UF, I’m a transfer from UCF and my entire academic career has been a bore to me. I was bored at UCF because it wasn’t rigorous enough, I wanted to be challenged and get the most out of my education, so I dedicated myself to the transfer process. I frankly wasn’t ready for the academic adjustment between here and UCF, and I’ve been struggling in my calculus class all semester. I’m sure this is just an adjustment thing, but I’ve never got anything less than an A in a course and I think I’ll end up with a B in this calculus class, which is really disappointing. It feels like effort alone wasn’t able to cut it. I don’t know what I’ve learned from it yet. I haven’t hit a ceiling like this in my life before, and I came here to find my ceiling, so I guess this is what I wanted, but Its not like I’ve got a solution yet. I think if there has to be a moral to this story, it’s to know your limits. (nice calculus pun hehehe). I'm learning to pace myself in a way I haven’t had to do before, so I suppose that’s useful. To handle failure, I had to break my norms. I bought a bunch of old textbooks, got on youtube, went to study groups—whatever it takes to learn the material I did that. I think I'm less likely to take a risk now. I wanna dial it back a little bit and find my footing with this whole online class thing, I’ve found what could be my ceiling, which is what I wanted. A real challenge for me intellectually.
Hi Ty,
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to me how different classes here can be for students who transfer from other universities. I can relate to your feeling of disappointment in getting a grade you are unhappy with, as that has happened to me quite a few times in my time in college. Like you, I didn't feel challenged at all in high school, so coming here right after was a huge shock. I think that this semester will help you to be more prepared for future semesters, so I think that although you are disappointed with your grade, it might be a good thing in the long run.
Hello Ty,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you wanted to challenge yourself. I think a lot of people would have been happy with the easy, boring classes. But challenging yourself and allowing yourself for fail a bit is a good way to see what you are capable of and it will help you in your future career. Unfortunately, I think we are likely to fail more in our careers than we did in school, so the failure we have experienced here will help us handle the failure we experience after college. (Also, I appreciated the pun).
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI'm really sorry to hear what you're going through. Honestly I relate so much because getting A's in my classes is, and always has been, a big deal to me and to my family. It really is a huge let down when you're so close to hitting the mark but just get pulled away. I'm glad to hear that you challenged yourself though by coming to UF! You are doing all the right things, but sometimes things just don't work out how we want them to. Remember, everything happens for a reason!