 I don't care if you think you're being that guy or that girl, this is your future. Get every single point that you can. Good morning. Another day, another video. This is going to be two out of two. I said yesterday that I'm planning on making a video every single day this week. This is the week before Christmas. And one of my goals for the upcoming year is to really grow this channel, to really get what I have to say out there because I think I can help a lot more people that I'm helping right now. I'm definitely really grateful for everybody that I've been able to help just through the channel and also through the services that I provide with my mock interviews and my essay reviews and all that stuff. But I'm going to have a lot less time for doing all these one-on-one things that I was doing through PA school now that I'm actually practicing as a PA. I'm working more hours than I was as a grad student. And it also just financially doesn't make sense for me to do all these one on one things and spend the time doing that. But I do still want to get the information out there and just help as many people as I can, this way for free, just on YouTube. So one of my big New Year's resolutions is to grow this channel. And I know YouTube really rewards consistency, so I'm going to try to post every single day this week and then move on to at least once a week and possibly even twice a week every single week next year. And that all starts this week with posting every single day for one week. And that actually brings me to the topic that I really want to talk about today, which is getting good grades. Most of the people that follow this channel are probably pre-PA, pre-med, something where you need good grades in order to be competitive enough to be selected for one of these very, very selective programs. And the reality of getting into these programs is you have to have good grades. If you had a rough semester, if you even had a rough year, like freshman year, sophomore year, it's definitely more than possible to fix your GPA. And even if you were like me and you had a poor GPA throughout your whole college career, I mean like 3.0. I don't mean like 2.0. I mean like 3.0, 2.7, something like that. It is still possible, but it's going to be a whole lot harder for you. And if you want to know how I did it and how you can fix a low GPA, I've got plenty of videos that I made like one year ago, two years ago, all about that. So go ahead and watch those if you're in that situation. So whether you're still in college and you have a chance to get a good GPA, or if you've already messed up and you're trying to fix it and you're trying to take classes in order to fix your GPA, either way, I'm talking to you. And I want you to know that getting good grades isn't really all about the study strategy that you use. It's not about anything other than the mindset. You have to have the mindset of getting good grades. What do I mean by that? What I mean by that is that you're going to do it at all costs, no matter what. You are going to do anything it takes to get every single point that is available to you in order to get the best possible grade in every single class that you are taking. That's it. There's really no other way around it. You just have to do that. When you're already in PA school or medical school, it's not so much really about grades, as it is about the knowledge and how much you're learning and how you're developing yourself as a future provider. That's much more important. So it doesn't really matter if you get a 4.0 or a 3.0. As long as you don't get kicked out of the program and you're learning, that's all that really matters. But when you're trying to get into these programs, it is all about getting every single point and trying to get as good of a GPA as possible. So to illustrate that, I want to tell you about two things really quick. One is my undergrad and my post back, how my mindset and my attitude and my study habits and everything were different between undergrad, where I was taking a full load, lots of hard courses, undergraduate biology major, actually first engineering major and then a biology major. And I ended up graduating with a 2.98, right around a 3.0. Pretty decent GPA, but definitely not nearly competitive enough to get into PA school, not even close. And then my post back, which was like six years after I graduated from undergrad, it was after I went in the Navy and I ended up with a 3.9, you know, almost a 4.0. And I took even harder classes. It was actually at Cornell University. So the classes were harder than my undergrad. And I did that one-year program without having taken any coursework for like six years, like I just said. So it was a real trial by fire of this mindset that I'm telling you about and all these study habits that I learned kind of by trial and error really, really quickly in order to get that GPA. So big difference between undergrad and post back for me. And the biggest difference was just that attitude that I told you about. So for instance, in undergrad, I wouldn't say that I was lazy. I mean, I did study, I did prioritize my school work. I really wanted to get a good GPA. Like I wasn't totally lazy, but I had this attitude of, okay, I'm learning this just to get the gist. I don't have to get every pedantic little detail, you know, that's probably not gonna be on the test or if it is, it's really just not important. I really just want to get the gist. You know, that was always my attitude. I just want to get the gist of what they're teaching me. And the result that that attitude got me was classes that I did find a little easier. I did pretty well, you know, Bs, B pluses, maybe even an A or an A minus occasionally. And then the classes that I struggled in, I got like Cs, C pluses, B minuses and totally destroyed my GPA just by that attitude, just by not wanting to chase every single point and just trying to get the gist of what the professor was talking about. Also an undergrad, I prioritized having like a balanced life, having some balance in my life, trying to make time for friends. I was in a fraternity, trying to make time for the gym. I was really prioritizing fitness and trying to get myself in shape and like just doing all these things that were not schoolwork. Now, my attitude and my channel is all about health and balance and, you know, getting yourself healthy. That's definitely something I believe in. But when you're trying to do something as difficult and as important as getting a good GPA to get into grad school, unfortunately that attitude just doesn't work. And sometimes you just have to prioritize things that are very difficult. And sometimes you do have to just not really work out a whole lot or maybe once every other day and not every day or whatever it is you love to do. Sometimes you have to just kind of go all in on your schoolwork, unfortunately. But it's for a very limited amount of time in your life and it's gonna be very important for you in your future. So sometimes it's just worth the sacrifice. One quick story about that in post back, actually two quick stories about that, in my post back. One is when we had this orientation, it was this small group, I think there was like maybe 10 to 15 of us doing this pre-medical post back. All of us were kind of in the same boat. We all wanted to get into medical school or PA school. Actually, they were all going into med school. I was the only pre-PA. I think there was like a pre-dental person too, but not important. And so we had this orientation where they like took us in the woods and had us do all these like teamwork activities because this whole thing was supposed to be about being part of a team. We're all supposed to help each other even though we're all individually applying to medical school and PA school. They wanted to foster this team environment, which makes sense. And the leaders of this kind of retreat or this orientation had us do trust falls and zip lining and like climbing things and doing all these group activities to foster this team environment, which is cool. And at one point they had to stand in a circle and tell the whole class and our professors and this group that we're about to be a part of for the next year, how we're going to accomplish our goals and how our attitude is going to be this year that's gonna lead to us accomplishing our goals. And there's a big contrast between what I said and what one other person said. I said, I didn't do well in undergrad and this is my one chance to prove myself to my future PA school that I can study, that I can learn a lot of material, that I do have academic ability and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to figure it out and get a very good GPA. I'm gonna get straight A's. I'm getting a 4.0. There is no other option. I'm getting straight A's. That's gonna happen this year. And the comments I got from the leaders of this team, this retreat were like, well, we really would like you to think more in a team aspect and not just be a juggernaut. I just, I actually remember that word. She used juggernaut, which was hilarious, but not just be a juggernaut and just plow through the schoolwork and not do anything else besides schoolwork. I really don't want you to be that way. I think I want you to be more focused about helping everyone around you and about fostering a team environment and about minding your health and making sure you get plenty of sleep and making sure you get plenty of exercise and time for yourself and all of that. And then one other person in the group, one other student kind of was more along those lines. She said, yeah, I really do wanna get my grades up, but I also wanna make sure that I'm balanced and focused on me and really find myself this year. And okay, two different attitudes, both of which are good in certain environments. And let me just really quick tell you what happened. I got a 3.9 in my post-back, but I slept between like three and five hours almost every single night. I didn't really take weekends. I barely took holidays. I mean, I went out and I had some fun once in a while, but I was working, I mean, every single day. I was constantly stressed, constantly working. I barely worked out even though it's like what I love to do more than anything else, but I got a 3.9 and I got into PA school and now I'm here. The person that said that, the person that said they're gonna focus on themselves and find themselves and just be really healthy that year, they got somewhere below a 3.0 and may as well not have even done that post-back. It was basically a waste of time and a huge waste of money because those are expensive in terms of their professional development and where they're going. So, take from that what you will, but if you do really wanna fix your GPA, if you do really wanna do something hard, like get into PA school or medical school and you need that high GPA, sometimes you just gotta be that jogger knot and take no prisoners and just freaking focus on your schoolwork, get every single point that you possibly can, no matter what. Even if you feel like you're being pedantic, if you're constantly at office hours, just arguing points with a professor, be nice, don't piss them off, but argue your point why you said a certain thing and maybe try to get a point back, maybe try to get half a point back. I don't care, I don't care if you think you're being annoying, I don't care if you think you're being that guy or that girl, this is your future. Get every single point that you can and get that high GPA and get into PA school or medical school and live your dream, okay? Because that's what it takes. I'll see you tomorrow.