As a new school year begins, I reminisce about unwrapping fresh school supplies and reuniting with friends after a summer apart.

But I'm also reminded of the time I wasted obsessing over my grades.

It's my biggest regret from college: I don't wish I worked harder or studied more — I wish I cared less about my GPA.

I attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, a small private school that sits on the shores of Lake Michigan and is known for its academic rigor. 

In high school, I had my heart set on attending Medill, Northwestern's illustrious journalism program, and fulfilling my childhood dream of becoming a writer and editor.

Friends, teachers and guidance counselors warned me that, with its acceptance rate of 10% at the time, Northwestern would be a "reach school" for me, but I brushed off their pessimism. 

Once I got accepted into my dream school, instead of feeling relieved, I had an anxious pit in my stomach — it was like my body realized the imposter syndrome I'd feel once I stepped foot on campus before my mind caught up.

Since no one expected me to get into Northwestern, I wanted to prove I belonged there and I thought the best way to do so would be by excelling academically.

I was burned out — but my grades were never better

Once I started classes, if I received less than an A minus on an assignment or test, I panicked, convinced that someone in the admissions office would realize I was a fraud. 

When I was 18, I considered stress to be a badge of honor, evidence that I was hard-working and intellectual. Friends joked that the library would be the first place they checked if I ever went missing.

It was funny until it wasn't: During a particularly bad spell of burnout, I pulled an all-nighter and booked a last-minute plane ticket home to New Jersey just so I could hug my mom and sleep in my childhood bedroom for 12 uninterrupted hours. 

Research has shown that this relentless pressure to succeed, often measured by letter grades or a GPA, can contribute to students being sleep-deprived, anxious or depressed.

More than 80% of 2024 college graduates experienced symptoms of burnout at some point during their undergraduate career, according to an August 2023 Handshake report.

I pushed myself to an unsustainable limit during those first two years of college, falling asleep during lectures, skipping meals and isolating myself from my friends. And yet, my grades were never better.

I finished one academic period with straight A's, but I was too tired to celebrate.

Halfway through my sophomore year, I seriously considered transferring out of Northwestern.

I started dabbling in more self-care practices to help cope with the academic burnout — journaling, taking long walks by the lake when my mind was fried — but found it nearly impossible to disentangle my self-worth and mood from my grades.

When I returned to campus for my junior year, I made a promise to myself: As long as I tried my best, I would not beat myself up over a "bad" grade. It took me a while to adjust to the new mindset, but by my senior year, my academic stress reduced from a boil to a simmer.

The sacrifices I made to get near-perfect grades seemed worth it when I graduated from Northwestern with honors in 2019. 

I added my final GPA — 3.82 — to the top of my resume, sure that it would help me skip the line of other qualified candidates, a proof point of my work ethic. 

But in the dozens of job interviews I did in the weeks leading up to graduation, not a single person asked about my GPA. 

My potential bosses and colleagues were far more interested in the projects I worked on during my summer internship, the skills I learned in the clubs I joined, how I spent my free time and what I wanted out of a career. 

Within six months of graduating, at the tail-end of my first post-grad internship, I took my GPA off my resume — a move that felt liberating, albeit a bit disappointing.

'Your GPA doesn't matter as much as you think it does'

Most employers won't check your GPA unless they're hiring for an entry-level job where candidates may not have much experience, Chelsea Jay, a career and leadership coach, tells CNBC Make It.

Companies are increasingly adopting a more holistic approach to hiring recent college graduates, where soft skills, internships, volunteer experiences, extracurriculars and work samples are given equal or more weight to grades.

"You shouldn't slack off, but I tell students, if you can aim for having a 3.0 GPA or higher, that's great," says Jay. "You want to show employers that you're motivated and capable of learning different subjects without burning yourself out."

There are some employers in more competitive or technical industries that do care about GPA, including education, finance, health, law and tech fields. And if you're planning on getting a postgraduate degree, like going to law or medical school, your GPA will be an integral part of your admission decision. 

But your GPA won't make or break your career. 

"Your energy is better spent gaining relevant work experience and building relationships with people working in your field," says Jay. "Those are better predictors of success … your GPA doesn't matter as much as you think it does."

People with B's and C's on their transcripts can still land their dream jobs. Accidentally sleeping through an exam doesn't mean you can't get into your top-choice law school.

If I could go back and give my 18-year-old self one piece of advice, I would tell her not to hinge her self-worth or confidence on a letter grade, that in five years, it won't matter that you tanked your economics final or turned in a paper with a typo.

Instead, you'll remember the new friends you laughed with and learned from, the professors who inspired you to chase a new dream and the moments that made you feel passionate and alive. Those, I believe, will do more for your career prospects than a 4.0 ever could.

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