Grading System - Self Report

As I approach the last blog post of the semester, I just want to self-grade myself on my college balance as hopefully you can take a few pointers out of my junior year experience. 



Every semester I have had at USC has had a different theme to it. My fall semester was all about work. As I stated in my “hello world” blog post I struggled my time management as I was working 30+ hours a week and trying to maintain a full course load. With that it was hard to keep my social
life as other activities were prioritized.

It took me some deep thinking over that winter break to

realize that college should be both a fun experience and a time to learn
responsibility. Well I certainly put myself to the test during my spring
semester… 

So without further ado here is my college balance grading…

(Feel free to try this yourself!) Grades are scaled 1-5



Class Attendance: 4

            For the first eight weeks on the semester I managed to not miss one class! Not only did that help me retain the course information, but also I felt more active and busy walking around campus and going to class. Towards the end of the semester I started to sporadically miss a few classes which is why I give myself a 4/5. My philosophy has always been, if you’re paying tuition, might as well attend class.



Social Life: 5

            Yes and I know, 5 seems like an awesome grade to give to yourself for a social life, but compared to last semester, any sort of human interaction was an improvement. Since my classes end at 3pm everyday I was able to successfully get my work done in order to have free time a night. I stayed in contact with friends more often and even explored LA with them to go hiking, dinner, movies, etc. A good social life also keeps your mental state at ease and takes your mind off the struggles of school. 



Exercise: 4

            I am known to be an exercise fanatic so a 4 may sound good to most people but for me this is a little of a drop off. I managed to exercise at least five days a week, but I usually enjoy some sort of physical activity 6-7 days a week. The reason for this drop off is that my weekends got busier do to social life activities and traveling. It’s not like a gained weight or anything, it’s just that I would’ve liked to workout more. My fall semester schedule will allow me to workout in the morning rather then the afternoon when I’m tired after class. 



Studying:  3

            My ability to study took a slight dive in the spring semester, partly due to my course load. A lot of my classes required more written assignments rather then study memorization. Therefore there were fewer nights I spent scrambling lecture notes to retain in my head. However I still maintained my decent grades so all is good! Next semester will be more studying that’s for sure! 



Family Time: 5

            I know we are away at college but that doesn’t mean you can’t get good quality family time! My dad lives close by in Santa Monica so I got a few opportunities to visit over the weekends; it always feels great to be home every now and then. I also managed my time walking to campus by occasionally giving me relatives back east a phone call, it’s a great way to catch with the fam, and it makes the walk go quicker. 





Overall my grade results in a B. This is considered a success for me, as I am very happy with my college balance. IF you really think about it, it’s very difficult to maintain straight fives. Try out your own grading system and see where you stand on the balance spectrum for this semester!