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1. Check your grades
I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but regardless of how well you think you did, you need to know exactly how you did. What’s your semester GPA? What’s your cumulative GPA? Will you be able to keep your financial aid (including all scholarships)? Another reason you want to check is because professors are human and sometimes make mistakes. Maybe you were expecting an A, but got a B.Or you were expecting a D and failed. If there was a difference, you need to have proof. Make sure you’ve calculated everything accurately. That’s why it’s also a good idea to keep copies of all your assignments and keep track of all your grades. If you don’t think you did well, just rip the bandaid off. No matter how bad you did. It’s not the end of the world. Better to know than not know.
2. Talk with your financial aid counselor
You need to double check that your financial aid is still in good order. If it is, great! You should ask them about more opportunities for scholarships and grants. There’s usually institutional aid for every classification. If not, they’ll be able to guide you to other resources and opportunities like work study or on campus jobs. If you’ve lost financial aid, it means you probably haven’t met Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). That means you have less than 2.0 cumulative GPA, you’ve earned less than 75% of your attempted credits*, and/or you’ve exceeded pace for total credits for your program. Talk with your financial aid counselor about the SAP appeal process. All SAP appeals aren’t approved, so you need to have a contingency plan just in case (i.e. taking a semester off, attending a community college, etc).
*This can be different based on your school and classification. Check your school’s website for their SAP policy.
3. Talk with your academic advisor
If you don't yet have your class schedule, get is ASAP! Your academic advisor can let you know which classes you need to take. Before you go, find a copy of your curriculum sheet/guide and try to fill it in before meeting with your advisor (if you don’t know how, Google it!). Also, familiarize yourself with it enough to anticipate what classes you should take next and your advisor can confirm if you’re right or off track. If you’re close to graduating, you should have your advisor perform a degree audit. Now, advisors make mistakes too, so you’ll want to double and triple check your transcript to ensure that the audit is correct. Nothing’s worse than having to stay an extra semester excuse if your advisor missed something.
4. Take time to reflect
It’s been a long semester. Have your woo-sah moment. Breath and take some time to think about how this semester went. Did you hit your goals? If so, why? If not, why not? What were some of your biggest wins? Where do you need to continue to grow most? How will you grow next semester? Be brutally honest with yourself and don’t make excuses. It can be easy to allow the semester to come and go and not spend any time thinking about it. Maybe it was a tough semester and you want a fresh start. Maybe it was a great semester and you’re already on to the next one. Being intentional with your growth and sustaining success is how you build momentum.
Comment below with the step you're taking right after finals.
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