Well done on picking the scores up and getting the Dean’s List all those times. You’re right that communication does need to be better, otherwise students could miss out on all sorts.

I treated my first year in university as a honeymoon year (actually, I blame our lecturers for not telling us about the existence of something called Dean’s List, and how we could count our overall Cumulative Grade Point Average, CGPA). During my first 2 semesters, I managed an average of 3.100 GPA.

In my second year, I learned how to count my own CGPA, I learned the importance of getting a good GPA every semester, and I learned about the Dean’s List.

On the remaining 4 semesters, I was awarded the Dean’s List (yes, 4 consecutive times), and I averaged a GPA of 3.75.

That’s why when juniors come to me, my default advice would be “NOT to treat your first year as your honeymoon year” because the only time you get t honeymoon is after your wedding.