Being in college, I’m sure that many individuals on campus have suffered with academic validation in one way or another. For those who don’t know, academic validation is a form of validation that individuals seek based on their grades, GPA, or intelligence. It can be incredibly detrimental to have, as it can put this idea in your head that you need to have good grades to be a good human being. Here, I have listed some tips below to help you curb academic validation.

1. View grades as progress, not perfection

I know it can be easy to view grades from a perfection standpoint, but you want to quickly rid this thought from your mind. Grades are meant to show progress. For example, how far you have come since the beginning of the semester. You don’t come to class in the beginning of the year knowing everything about it, or else you wouldn’t even be taking the class. You are learning from this class, learning new things you never knew about. The thing is, you are still learning no matter how far in the semester you are in the course. So never beat yourself up because you didn’t get such a good score on a quiz, test, or exam. That simply means you have so much more to learn, which is never a bad thing. It just means you have to work harder to study content or reach out to your professor for some additional help. You are not incompetent, you are simply just learning something new. 

1. Find and accept your weaknesses

There is not a single person in the world that is good at everything. Being well rounded DOES NOT EXIST. There are people who are good at certain subjects whereas other subjects they struggle in. For example, I am very good at English but I struggle with math so much. It doesn’t make me incompetent in math; it just means that I have to study math a bit harder in that subject versus English. The best thing about humans is that we all have different strengths and weaknesses. My strengths allow me to read someone’s writing and suggest edits that need to be made whereas that person can help me understand math concepts that I struggle with. Never take your weaknesses and blame them in your academic validation, accept that you struggle with this certain subject and take necessary action to improve. 

1. Always seek improvement 

  Once you accept that you struggle with this certain subject, you can take action. There are so many different resources that CNU has to offer that can help you in subjects that you are struggling with. You can visit the tutoring center, go to a professor’s office hours, or even ask a classmate for clarification on a certain topic. Do not just sit there and struggle alone, there are so many individuals who are on the same boat as you. While improving in academics is one way to help curb academic validation, another part of this aspect has to do with self esteem. You have to understand that your academics do not define your intelligence or your personality. You are a shining star regardless of your grades, gpa, or scores. Make sure you are giving yourself the positive reinforcement that you need. College is meant to be challenging and  your goal is to positively power through with as much effort as you can. 

I hope these tips can help you curb your academic validation for good. One of the biggest tips that I can possibly give is making sure you take care of yourself. Give yourself some positive reinforcement because at the end of the day, you are doing great. Remember to power through the week and stay safe!