It’s a Monday morning. First period has begun, and students mull around. As usual, most of them have their phones out, but this time they’re not checking Twitter. They’re checking their recently uploaded class ranks.

“I was disappointed,” freshman Elyana Cochran said. “All my friends had better ranks than me. I felt ashamed, but at the same time I didn’t really care.”

Cochran has a class rank of 423, aims for a GPA of 4.0 and wants to go to TSU. She struggles to balance her other activities with school.

“I have too much stuff to do after school, like a bunch of doctor appointments,” Cochran said. “The homework stresses me out.”

Other students were surprised by their rank in a more positive way.

“I was really happy about my class rank,” freshman Ruthie Olowoyeye said. “I was a little disappointed because I wanted to be higher, but I was really happy about it anyway.”

Olowoyeye has a class rank of 20 after the conclusion of the first semester, and is aiming for a GPA of 5.3, and a rank in the top 15. She is in the top 10 percent, and would currently be accepted to nearly all Texas colleges.

“My motivation to do well is just to get into a good college, and then just know that I have a satisfactory grade that people can be like, ‘Wow, she was actually good in high school and did well,’” Olowoyeye said.

But not all of Olowoyeye’s driving factors are positive.

“I have a little bit of stress, because people expect me to get really good grades,” Olowoyeye said. “When I don’t have those grades, people are like ‘Oh, you don’t have an A,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, I’m a human being – I’m not going to get A’s in everything.’ There’s a little stress to at least get to where I want to be, which is a high 90.”

As for the competitiveness of college eligibility, Olowoyeye isn’t all for it.

“I think that competitiveness is good, but I think that it can sometimes hinder people’s ability to actually want to learn,” Olowoyeye said. “They just cheat to get a higher grade, instead of actually learning the material.”

Olowoyeye has already thought of ways to get to the 5.3 GPA she desires.

“I’m going to procrastinate less and probably plan out my time better, because I’m one of those people who do their homework at 4 a.m. in the morning without getting tired for some reason,” Olowoyeye said. “I probably should just do my homework at a regular time period.”

Olowoyeye also has advice for people struggling to get a better GPA.

“It depends on the person,” Olowoyeye said. “If it’s a person that I know is actually trying, I’d be like ‘Go to tutorials, or ask for more help, or just see if you can get it from a different perspective.’ If it’s someone who doesn’t really try, I’d just tell them to try harder, and just give them some tough love there.”