Published Apr 26, 2006

I spent the last two days thinking that if I just worked reeeally hard this semester, I could manange to graduate with some kind of honors or something. Now, this will shock those of you who know me, but I had actually made a mathematical error when computing my GPA and had myself at a 3.56, rather than the actual 3.48 GPA that I earned with all of my hard work etc. etc.

So now that I discovered what button to push to get my actual GPA, I know that it would be really hard to get to that 3.6 honors level — specifically, I’d need straight As, whereas I can work and get three As, an A-, and a B+, and if I work really really hard and am super lucky, I might make that B+ an A-.

So that got me thinking about all of the grades I’ve managed to get here in b-school that would make my parents so, so disappointed, if they only had to sign my report card. I could easily make honors this semester if I’d simply pushed up some of my particularly weak grades. These include:

  • Accounting - B. Accounting was one of the first classes I took at Marshall and I hadn’t really figured out business school. A lot of people have trouble with Accounting, and it’s a very difficult class for people to start things out with, but I’ll allow that there’s no way for them to realistically push it into the second term; Accounting is just too fundamental. Had I simply asked my friends for help, spent time with the professor, and tried to figure out where I was confused, rather than getting heads-down into my textbook and just working harder, I could have gotten a B+, which is average for the program.
  • Management Accounting - B. Management Accounting and Accounting are actually different things, while Accounting is a record-keeping tool, Management Accounting is about figuring out, or planning, how much it costs to make what you make or do what you do, and aligning that with corporate objectives. If I hadn’t failed to hand in half of one of our problem sets (hey, I’m not a detail guy) then that would’ve helped our team grade and I would’ve gotten at least a B+
  • Managerial Economics - B+. Here’s one of two exceptions, a class with a B+. It’s hard to judge myself for having gotten a nice average grade, but the fact is that, by the end of the class, I really got it. I was answering questions in class like they were nothing and I could easily have gotten there by the midterm, not just in time for the final. Plus, my reading notes were of some small reknown.
  • Operations Management - B. OK, I’ll confess that I didn’t like this class at all, didn’t do the reading, and didn’t work hard. Now I remember virtually nothing about supply chains, but I do remember that if I’d given one sweet bippy at all, I could’ve gotten a B+ in this class. The Goal my ass!
  • Marketing Management - B+. I actually, according to the prof, got an A- in this class; it was just accidentally entered as a B+. I tried twice to get that fixed but I guess it wasn’t anybody’s priority but mine.

So it’s not unrealistic to think that I could have increased each of those grades by one level — and, frankly, with the exception of Operations Management, at which I completely slacked off, I wouldn’t have had to expend much more effort to get there. If I had pulled that grade boost off, I’d easily make honors with 3 As, an A-, and a B+. Sadly, I’ll instead be relegated to graduating with the general proletariat.