As the fall semester finishes up and us students are studying and working hard for our finals, it’s essential to remember that your grades aren’t everything.

Of course, having good grades and doing well in your classes are important, but the majority of the time we put way too much pressure on ourselves to get the best grade possible.

We spend all-nighters and hours on end doing homework or studying.

If you don’t get the certain grade you were wanting, that’s perfectly fine, it is not the end of the world if you have a bad grade because any grade, whether good or bad, does not define you as a person or determine how intelligent you are like many students may think.

You are the same person besides what grade you may end up with and should not be looked at differently by peers, family members and especially yourself.

It’s hard to believe that there’s other things to focus on other than having an A but there are actually way more important things to be worrying about such as your mental and physical health.

Pushing ourselves to the point of constant stress and anxiety due to trying to achieve a certain grade in a class is a big problem, and you’re just going to feel burnt-out in the end, which doesn’t help with doing well on finals.

Grades should not be a priority over your mental health which should always come first. Students shouldn’t revolve their whole college experience on getting straight A’s as we need a good balance in our school lives to do well overall.

Ideas such as joining an RSO, being more social or getting a hobby are great mental breaks to help students de-stress instead of focusing all your time on schoolwork.