If college success were measured only by GPA, I would have missed some of the important lessons EMU taught me.

I transferred to EMU for two reasons: the nursing program and the smaller school atmosphere. Coming from JMU, which is a larger school, I knew I needed a place where I felt like more than another student ID number. Large campuses make me anxious, and I wanted a community where people actually knew my name, or at least learned it eventually.

Transferring to a small campus comes with its own challenges. At EMU, everyone already seemed to know everyone. I spent a lot of time hearing, “Oh, are you new here?” because people did not recognize me. It felt like showing up halfway through a group project where everyone else had already picked their roles. As a transfer student, it can be easy to feel like you are constantly trying to catch up, and not just academically but socially too. Then there was nursing school…

Anyone in a nursing program knows it is not for the weak. Between exams, clinicals, assignments, and the constant pressure to maintain grades, it can feel like your entire personality becomes your next test score. At EMU, nursing students need at least an 80 to advance in their classes. Many other programs set that mark at 70. That ten-point difference may not sound huge, but trust me, my growing collection of gray hairs would strongly disagree.

Balancing nursing school while working two jobs, caring for pets, and trying to function like a normal human being often felt impossible. There are only 24 hours in a day, and yet nursing school expects you to find about 30. Somewhere between exams, clinical rotations, and discovering my first gray hairs, I realized something important: college cannot just be about GPA.

I had to learn to manage anxiety, set better boundaries, and protect my mental health while still keeping up with everything expected of me. That lesson was just as important as anything I learned in class. We talk a lot about academic success, but not enough about how students are supposed to survive the pressure that comes with it.

At one point, I found myself asking, “Is school worth losing who you are over?” If your degree costs your peace, your relationships, your health, and your sense of self, what exactly are you graduating with?

Yes, GPA matters. In nursing, it absolutely matters. Patients deserve competent nurses, and strong academics are part of that. But in the grand scheme of life, your transcript will not teach you how to be an adult. It will not teach you how to handle grief, set boundaries, file taxes, survive burnout, or figure out who you are outside of school.

As I prepare to graduate, I think younger students need to hear this: have fun. Seriously. Learn your material, work hard, and respect your goals, but do not let grades become your entire identity. College is temporary. Real life comes fast. The routines you built, the stress you normalized, and the panic over one exam grade will eventually fade. What stays is who you became.

EMU gave me a nursing education, but more importantly, it taught me resilience, balance, and how to ask for help when life feels overwhelming. Those lessons will matter long after I forget pharmacology flashcards. So yes, chase the GPA. But do not lose yourself trying to earn it.