CARUSO | Success Has Many Interpretations. The Only One That Counts Is Yours.

I have had enough of being told that I’m more than my grades. Every semester, final exams bring a painful end to an already-difficult 15 weeks and the outcome is still the same: a numerical or letter grade. That outcome could be good or bad news, but the classic reassurance we consistently hear that we are more than this valuation isn’t doing us any better. The solution is to change how we think about success. 

Last year, Professor Jan Burzlaff wrote that he thought exams were structurally unfair by classifying students by the type of grade they received. Based on his interpretation, what matters is your learning and the effort that contextualized the grade you received. I find that advice incorrect not because it is wrong, but because it is too basic. 

The problem is not just that academia is structured to reward good grades through Latin Honors and national honor societies. There are two issues. First, certain opportunities, like scholarships, merit aid and internships, lean heavily on grade point averages. Second, there are few ways to recognize leadership, collaboration and other competencies developed through student organizations and experiential learning.

In order to pitch oneself to an employer, graduate school or scholarship administrator, a student must demonstrate competence and potential. The question then becomes, ‘how do I show that?’  The answer is simple: do something noteworthy where you learn something important. The problem, again, is that the most accessible form of ‘noteworthy’ is a good GPA, since individual learning or the effort it took to learn isn’t as easily communicated. However, I suggest there is another way.

Getting Experience

The first step we can take to change this is to get hands-on with something besides class. Most students at Cornell will engage in some type of extracurricular activity or employment. Through these avenues, students have an opportunity to show what they’re made of. But despite this dedication, students often are not rewarded for any extraordinary effort, craft or wit in these arenas. It’s left entirely to the individual to figure out how to communicate their abilities.

Over the summer, many of us engage in summer internships or start our professional careers. Many of us do not. Those of us with internships and jobs may feel we just took what we could get, and regardless of your situation you likely feel anxiety and uncertainty. The pressure to perform is greater than ever. 

I have felt those same feelings across both of my degrees. I’m not going to tell you that you’re ‘enough,’ either, because you’ve already heard that and it hasn’t changed your mindset. Instead, you need to reframe your position. Did you get a job at a firm that doesn’t impress you? Become the big fish in a small pond. You didn’t get a summer internship? Develop your own summer project and publish your work. Did you get a job at the perfect firm, but they don’t give you much to do? Use the extra time to learn everything about the organization.

Opportunity lies wherever you think it does not. 

Telling Your Story

Next, we need to communicate our experiences. I worked in the career office of The Brooks School of Public Policy. What I’ve learned there is that a GPA is simply a stand-in statistic when an employer lacks the full picture of your academic career. Instead of letting a GPA speak for itself, you must become better at telling your own story. 

Focus on what you learned during the experience you had. Even if it was an independent summer study, think about what you gained from your time. Track your hours, create deliverables and quantify your tasks. Building something out of nothing is far more impressive than doing the bare minimum when you’ve been given all the right cards. 

However, this can still not be enough for our stress, anxiety and fear. The pressure to perform amidst a bad job market, a rise in international conflict, and chaos in D.C. is a weight you will not shake unless you change philosophies. To this end, I reflect on generational knowledge.

How to Do It

My grandmother Cecilia offers a solution, nearly a decade on from her passing. She was the best of us and ‘successful’ in many ways. She raised a family, advanced in her career, volunteered to preserve Florida’s environment and fulfilled a personal passion by documenting much of the genealogical history of our family. 

She was a beacon of light and wisdom throughout her long and difficult battle with cancer. I am reminded of her words in this search for answers:

“Relax. Be serious about your goals, but enjoy life. Success has many interpretations. The only one that counts is yours.” - Cecelia C. Caruso

Our story is self-defined and that is enough. We must unlearn other peoples’ definitions of ‘success:’ grades, internships, graduating with a job, etc. The only thing that matters is your definition of success, and whether you’ve made incremental steps towards your own goals.

If good grades is your interpretation of success, go for it. If the right internship is your interpretation of success, go for it. But I’m willing to bet that other things matter to you too, like the community you build, the topics you research, how hard you work, expressing yourself accurately and your contribution to others. No matter what your interpretation of success is, I hope it is, to you, an adventure worth embarking.

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