JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

(Please Auntie Janey, sweet frank Auntie Janey, if you happen to be reading this on a good May’s day pay attention to this so I could still wake up and make necessary actions before the enrolment is over. Thank you.)

First like most of your letter senders I’d like to extend my gratitude and praises for your mere existence. You (or your writing and podcasts) somehow make me forget how boring my life has been for a couple of years now. But yes, sincerely, thank you. (Okay, I’m thanking much, like Wesley Gibson).

I’m a student of a pretty difficult 5-year course which naturally comes as a 4-year course (ledgers, balance sheets) to most schools. You see I study at a state university here in my hometown south of the country. I like it here anyway – life is simple and carefree. The problem is I flunked a subject on my 3rd year – 2nd semester so I am spending the whole of summer agonizing over this. (No we can’t study major subjects over the summer.) For the blame, I’ve found an addiction to Harry Potter since December 2011 so naturally I’ve been reading the books, rereading them, watching the movies, watching them again and searching all related materials on the Net (character profiles, actor profiles, quotes, fan fiction). But then again, it was my choice and I was happy all along. It was somewhat a childhood dream you see.

It’s not that I’ve spent time to think solutions to my problem – just that I need more help with my options.

First, I talked to the others who flunked and they all said that we ought to continue. That said we gamble for another 3 years for a 6-year journey in college. For now, I think it’s the most sensible thing to do. There are many who do this. But you see I went to other private colleges (known to be more lenient) to check if I could study the same course at the least time and I think I found one that could take me to the same 6-year route. However, I think transferring there’d make my credentials even less (rumors are graduates at that certain college find much difficulty finding jobs herein our humble city) plus I’m worrying on studying somewhere alone.

But what bothers me most is I don’t really feel confident that I could still do this. I somehow lost hunger, curiosity and whatnot. Last semester, I just didn’t care. You see most of my successes are based on fear or prestige. I was rather good in first and second year high school ‘because I feared to disappoint my parents and aunt and friends and coworkers (oh, the plight of the middle class as you all say) who cared, plus I loved feeling “being there” anyway, which I now loathe as it accounts for my rather pompous manner. When I got to college, I scraped good grades on my very first semester because I was rather energetic. But when the subjects just got tads tougher, I just lost my gusto and just got satisfied with 70s and 80s (that’s 3.0 to 2.5) at least. I knew all along it was just a matter of time and when I got there I can’t bare how it haunts me.

So I thought maybe it’s time to change my course – something I could manage I guess. But then again, I am afraid of starting alone as a super-electromagnetic irregular student. But that would make a 7-year senseless college life. But at least I could make use of the skills I’m rather good at (or so I think I talk quite well).

Of all these I think what bothers me most is that I am still here stuck at school, jobless, penniless, getting old and with a scarred transcript. I hope to go back three years ago when I was 16 and tell myself never to take the course of the ledgers because it would drive you nuts.

Please Auntie Janey, am I making a right thing gambling to continue treading this road? Given that I am not confident? Given that my priority is to finish college the least possible time?

You may be confusing me with somebody else. I have never made or listened to a podcast in my entire life. Make a podcast…hmmmmnnnn…there’s an idea.

Did you ever think that becoming a wizard was that easy? Wizards, accountants, lawyers, doctors, engineers, etcetera, are not made overnight. In many things in this life, a lot are called yet few are chosen. Just because you got a wand from Ollivander’s Wand Shop and the Sorting Hat put you in a house that you liked doesn’t mean you can perfectly cast a levitating spell instantly, unless you are Hermione.

When we were still in school, we all thought that flunking a subject would ruin our lives forever. It is natural to think that way because ever since we entered pre-school, great emphasis have been put on getting good grades by our parents and teachers. And rightly so. We all need to be sharpened and disciplined because certain tasks in life requires aptitude and skill to be accomplished. But flunking a subject will not make you unemployable or less skilled.

Certain courses require rigid training like your course which is accounting. I know that the accountancy board examination is one of the most difficult board exams in the country and schools who want to have a high passing percentage of their graduates are very rigid in their screening procedures. Accounting is a profession imbued with public interest and the government must assure the public that licensed accountants are competent and of good quality.

Competence is something that you develop as you learn. Part of learning is failing. And in life you will make many mistakes and failures. A scarred transcript will not spell doom. What is important is that you have the opportunity to hone your skills and you have the chance to study the subject again. Teachers would rather see their students flunk in subjects in school than flunk the national board exams.

Employers are not fascist about scarred transcripts. Employers will still hire graduates with dismal grades from certain schools because they are aware that the training in those schools is very rigid and the graduates produced are reliable. And more often than not, graduates who were tortured in their schools tend to overshadow pampered graduates from other schools in the actual workplace. Training always spells the difference in actual job performance.

I think you needed to flunk your subject so that you’d snap out of your complacency and you’d learn humility. Don’t be such a wuss. In this world, guts take people further than brains. So what if you’ll get held back by a semester? At least you weren’t kicked out from the program. Do not worry that you’d be left behind by your batch mates. Besides, how can you be so sure that those batch mates who’d graduate ahead of you would make it through the board exams? The race we are in only ends when we die. Along the way, others will encounter obstacles and get stuck while laggards can suddenly get ahead in leaps and bounds.

The greatest sin that you can commit against yourself is to fold up upon encountering a slight difficulty. We can only become polished by being rubbed against very rough surfaces. Never look for the easy way out. And did you just try to insult me? You think you are already old. Does that mean you think I’m ancient? How dare you!

Your college life will be senseless if you don’t do anything to spice it up a bit. Get laid if you can. Have fun! But whatever you do, do not balk at experiencing difficulty. Go through it. If you don’t, I’ll hex you.