Unlike High School, with its rampant grade inflation and the ability to get an A letter without trying, Cornell was harder for me. My first semester, as an eager new student, I had nothing better to do than study. Later, socializing, this website I run, and other activities diverted my focus from academics to a mix. And, as a result, my grades dipped. Here’s an example chart:

The blue line represents GPA, and the purple line is a fit line approximation I hand-drew using Excel’s interpolation feature.

At various stages of my student career I was involved in some way with the following Cornell organizations:

• Seven Spirits Kung Fu
• ACSU
• Chorale
• CVA
• The Cornell Daily Sun
• Engineering AI Board

Once you make friends, have things to do, and start participating in various Cornell activities, you can be sure your grades will take some kind of a hit.  You can’t be up pulling all-nighters with friends, partying, studying, and get it all done.  Either your body will collapse from exhaustion or your grades will dip and you’ll get your sleep.

So what makes grades fall?  Is it the courseload?  A quick glance at a graph of my GPA v.s. credits seems to indicate no correlation (R^2 < .14):

I took between 14 and 21 credits a semester; that wasn’t usually what made the difference.  Rather, it was my desire to get good grades.

When I noticed my grades beginning to dip through apathy towards getting them in classes, I tried a little harder.  You have to learn to recognize what professors want.  For example, in an English class, going into their office hours and talking to them about the course will help you understand how their minds approach questions in literature.  In Math and Engineering, working in groups or talking to TAs will accomplish the same thing.  You need more than passing mastery of material.  You need to know the quirky corners of it that will give an overal impression of perfection.

Certainly, this was a lot different than High School.