You can still go to grad school w/ B’s. Maybe not to the top ones, but then again, as long as you love what you are doing, that won’t be so relevant.

You shouldn’t be aiming for making money. You should be aiming for making yourself happy as a person over the years with your job. Or else, you will be asking yourself in 20 years why did you want to make so much money, just like you are asking now why did you want to get all those As.

******

Good point about grad schools. Just like perfect grades, getting into the perfect school isn’t everything.

Also, I don’t think money and happiness are mutually exclusive. You can be happy with or without it. Money does, however, give you a greater range of choices, which might make it easier for you to find your ideal lifestyle.

-Jon

it's kind of funny, but I have the exact opposite regrets about college. I WAS that girl "that everyone knew" and I did spend more time hanging out with friends than in the library. and I feel like it was a waste of money. So even though you feel like you've forgotten everything, you're only 22 - maybe it'll come back to you later on. :) Maybe you'll remember things as you get older that you didn't even know you knew - and you'll trace it back to your college education. Getting good grades and spending those thousands mom & dad paid (or scholarships/loans paid) on studying and learning everything you can - to me, that's not a waste.

But what do I know, I had a B-/C average! (ha)
though I do agree, no one has ever ONCE asked about my grades, so perhaps none of it's worth it. I also haven't seen one example (so far) in my work life that shows me my college degree means anything.

Amen to that. I've passed my whole college making good connexions (read: party) in the dorms and the great social skills I've aquired are worth much more then any grade.

I also share your experience that nobody has ever asked about my grades. In my case its a good thing because I used to say "D for DIPLOMA" so you can guess what my grades look like.

On arranged interviews for graduates I even passed straight-A students for top jobs because I was seen as much more "functional" socially and potentially a better team player.

Besides, nobody in the work force even has a clue about what you learn in College. Heck, my first job I was working with an ex car mechanic. How could he ever tell if I got A or D in anything?

"You’re better making powerful friends, building a killer résumé, and generally having the time of your life on your parent’s dime."

I do so hate when my generation speaks like this. Not everyone's parents are shoveling money at them to pay for college. I'd even say that for most, such a thing isn't much more than a fantasy. For plenty, college is an expensive, one-shot opportunity that will serve as a door out of a pretty nasty future. Everyone should have fun and find themselves and all that crap, but it's not all gumdrops and puppy dogs paid for by someone else.

I have found that *where* I graduated has been relevant a handful of times; the grades I got there, not once. (I didn't apply to graduate school.)

Even if you're focused on academics (as opposed to extracurricular activities or just having fun), it's important to distinguish between the goals of getting high grades and learning useful things.

With mixed feelings, I sent this post to my daughter this morning. Achievement, perspective, excellence, fullness, choices, freedom, responsibility, love, life. It's a lot for the young to master during their first venture away from home.

Well said. You know what though, I think the biggest test in college/university is how quickly you learn the statement you've made about "…good grades aren’t going to help you…". I know people who years later still don't realise that it's who you are that will get you somewhere not what grade you get.

Grades will get your foot in the door but people skills are what will help you in all aspects of life. Everyone is looking at you thinking "How will working with you benefit me?"

As I read this essay I thought, "This must be a liberal arts major." I was right.

I majored in Chemistry. I worked my butt off for four years. I envied those English and Poli Sci majors who lounged around on the lawns, played frisbee, and built homecoming-parade floats while I slaved away in the lab all afternoon.

Funny thing! I didn't forget the material. Last year I taught the same university classes I had taken 40 years before (updated, of course).

Being a goof-off in college doesn't pay for everyone, Jon.

Some good advice - especially the work experience part. Many 20somethings need to understand that work experience is not just a string of resume entries - rather, it is a string of actual accomplishments that made a tangible difference for their employers.

Did you ever think that you got 14 job offers because of your GPA? Maybe they would not have even let you in the door for an interview without a good GPA. Why would they then need to ask about it if it is on your resume to begin with?

One really bad piece of advice - sponging off of the parents. As a parent of one college grad and another in her junior year, I find it appalling that after parents invest in their child's education that they in any way have the entitlement to soak off of Mom and Dad so they can live it up. I sent my kids to college so they could learn that enjoyment of life comes not as an entitlement, but is the result of what one earns for themselves.

Why should my children get to drive luxury cars, party it up, and travel when these are the things we as parents sacrificed in our early adult years in the name of our kids being able to go to college and have the opportunity to become self-sufficient? This is absolute selfishness. If any of my kids ever came home, they would be paying room/board/expenses equivalent to what it would cost them to live on their own as a disincentive to consider it an option after a six figure investment in their education.

Yeah, growing up sucks, but, we all have to do it sometime. It's an eat what you kill world, and that is not changing anytime soon.

Interesting points! I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.93 (with a degree in English). Although I don't regret working hard and making top grades (I ended up going on to get my masters and am hoping to pursue a Ph.D.), I can definitely see your points.

Grades matter less than relationships and, unfortunately, sometimes students are left to choose between the two. I wonder what it would look like if a university decided to revolutionize their structure to focus more on developing student leaders and communicators than purely developing student scholars.

I'm glad you mentioned that you could have gotten B's and still had a life. To often students hear that "grades aren't as important as experience" and somehow translate that into "grades don't matter at all."

As someone who is still in college, I so strongly agree with you.

Even as an engineering major, as long as you can pull a minimum of a 3.0 no doors are closed. From there on its all about your abilities and your relevant experience.

I wish that someone told me this when I started college, I'd probably have actually done better in school and I would definitely have been much happier.

While I agree with the point that you could've gotten B's and had a more fulfilling college experience and a gotten a 'good job' to boot, I have to wonder what jobs you were applying for where no one asked about your GPA. Did you have it on your resume so that there was no need for anyone to ask? As a graduate of an Ivy League school where top companies came to recruit, you couldn't even get your foot in the door without stating your GPA in on-campus recruiting, and if you didn't go use on-campus recruiting, it still came up in some way, shape or form during interviews.
I think the best advice to glean from your post is that students should strive to achieve balance, not blow off their work entirely because that presents a whole different set of issues.

I couldn't agree more.

I have a few comments on this.

1. I got straight As in college and had plenty of time for people. I even had a double major, studied abroad, and ran a successful non-profit. I'm not sure why you had trouble doing this.

2. Plenty of people asked me about my GPA even when applying for jobs where it wouldn't have mattered. I have to wonder what type of jobs you were applying for.

3. I slept a lot. Probably more than I do now. And I got As all the time. Sure, I pulled an all-nighter here and there, but it wasn't obsessive.

4. I agree that work experience is more valuable, but I don't think you should sell short the value of having a solid educational bedrock.

Your last comment also assumes that everyone was fortunate enough to have their parents pay for their education.

I paid for and continue to pay for my education. So partying it up was only going to cost me.

Fair point. I, too, tried making great grades in school. I didn't do quite as well as you, I graduated with Magna Cum Laude, not Summa which I think 3.9 would have been at my school. :) However, I found out that my graduate position I held while in school- my boss who hired me for that position told me years later when I was leaving that he felt anyone could do the job, so he chose the candidate with the highest GPA. He saw that I graduate with honors in Undergrad and so he chose me! I had no idea good grades had paid off at all. All I had been told was that employers looked for grades and had never experienced that. So, it was nice to know he actually was judging on criteria I had! Who knew! I was glad he told me so as well.

Posts like this are exactly why I have decided to stop reading this blog. My fellow twenty-somethings all sound like driveling, self-centered, spoiled idiots and they are somehow being passed off as experts.

maybe it depends on your major or career path? when i graduated college and was looking for that first job, grades were a determining factor. no one asked for specifics, but my GPA was asked for more than once. and i was never given interviews based on the fact that my GPA was merely average.

My goodness…what ever happened to learning for the sake of learning? Knowlegde for personal growth? You do not sound like an English major…

I can't say I agree with you, Jon. I majored in History because I loved it, and I learned to write and research and I still remember a lot of it too. And I find it incredibly useful to know a lot of history, because there's a great "story" aspect to it, and it gives me plenty to talk to people about at parties, etc. What I learned was critical thinking, which applies in all aspects of life.

I have to say that an education is the most important thing. Hopefully your education teaches or trains you to think logically - and make decisions based on limited information. And college offers two types of connections - the party connectiona and the academic connection. Will they blur - sure, but what you write about is exactly what Penelope writes about for the work force. Balance is everything and it seems like your college time was very unbalanced. A 'B' average with plenty of network connections/friends will do much more than straight A's…I do agree with that. I just don't want the wrong impression going to freshmen that partying is more important than grades. Make sure you can think things through as well.

Geezus, this blog is unbelievable. I give up, I can't read another one of these posts or a Penelope "personal issues" post again. You know what one of the points of a well-rounded liberal arts education is? To become a well-rounded, interesting person - "it's irrelevant, I forgot it…" SO FRACKING WHAT. You'll forget a lot in life, that doesn't mean that the experiences are worthless. Good luck building a career on "dude, the Wii is so frickin' righteous…"

If this is where our culture is going, dumb, shallow, conclusory and lazy, then God help us all. We'll be deserving whatever we get.

And to rebut one of your ending conclusions, law can be miserable and low paying but it sure isn't for everyone. I found my niche, made parter, love what I do, and have a good living. Generalizing from your feelings and limited experiences to an entire professional is immature and, again, ignorant.

And with this I'm going back to the adult publications, for good.

For lots of people in demanding majors, getting A's and having a life is totally manageable. It wasn't for Jon. But the fact that he had a hard time doesn't seem like a terribly valuable piece of information for the rest of us. Having a life and getting some rest is important, but so is doing the best you can at the things you think are priorities. The ability to put a lot effort into something that's hard and sustain that effort for the long term is certainly something I look for in an employee.

Jon,

How are things going for you now is the question? The reality about your higher education is that you are now equipped to decifer what is the best route for you to take and which is the one to avoid.

Don't beat yourself up too much, if you wish things were different then don't make the same mistakes twice. Go out now and make those things happen in your life that you think you have missed out on.

Stop crying, half of those so called networks you think that you have missed out on are busy doing what they do trying to make it each day too. Look at your success, you are a guest blogger on one of my favorite sites in all of the internet. I say you are already a success.

Blake

I used to stress about grades until I heard the phrase "shoot for the B" on Cartalk in my 2nd year. The Cartalk guys aren't exactly the bastions of academia but the advice struck a chord in me. The gist is that A's are really hard and C's mean you aren't trying hard enough but B's are attainable by anyone willing to put in a reasonable amount of effort without killing themselves. In some classes that meant I only went to about half the classes, some classes I had to go to more. I spent the rest of the time working to pay for school and learning all the stuff I was really going to need once I was out. I feel that I'm more well rounded because of it.

******

-Jon

the worst thing to say is that gpa dosen't matter
i'm sure it got u in the door to those interviews and of course they dont ask u once ur interviewed wut ur gpa is cuz you've been screened. its the first tell on whether a person works hard consistently for 4 years in college and adds to some technical version of is this kid smart of not.

Jon-

This is a great post. I was the guy on the other side of the coin, however. My mom died my freshman year and I felt sorry for myself and did not study as much as I should have. My grades sucked, but since my mom had just died, nobody seemed to care. For the next few years I just drifted by with a bunch of C's (oh, some higher grades, but some lower too).

I was in a fraternity and developed a great network of friends who are still a huge part of my life today. I learned a lot about people, enough that I have written two books on networking and I am a professional speaker on the topic of business and personal relationships. Nobody has cared about my grades, and I have had an interesting (although eclectic) career.

I think the answer lies in the middle. I do wish I had been a better student. I was smart enough to get better grades, I was just adrift. But my dreams of law school died because I did not have the proper grades to be a candidate for a good law school.

Thus, the trick is to do both. Get good grades (I agree, killing yourself for straight A's is not the best plan), but also take advantage of the unique social enviornment that college allows. If you can do both (decent grades and a good social experience), then you get to make your own choices later on.

Your GPA is not as important as some think…but dont totally skate through either!

thom

Good grades do matter if you're on an academic scholarship. That's the only way I could pay for school because I came from a poor family. I **had** to keep a 3.5 just for survival. Many poorer students or those on scholarships will find this is the case.

******

Yep, that's an excellent reason to get good grades.  Really, the point of
my post isn't that good grades are bad.  They aren't.  You just need
to think about what they're actually getting you and whether or not it's worth
it.

-Jon

"Posts like this are exactly why I have decided to stop reading this blog. My fellow twenty-somethings all sound like driveling, self-centered, spoiled idiots and they are somehow being passed off as experts."

I agree and I second.

People seem to think that just because grades don't mean everything to your success and personal fulfillment doesn't mean that they don't matter at all.
Employers/interviewers have seen my grades at all stages in my career and I have routinely received comments and reactions which show that they are important at least to an extent.
One time I was at an on-campus interview that fell right after many of the interviewees had just received grades in a class that directly related to the job. The interviewer asked me what I got, I honestly told him that I received a D and the interviewer's attitude changed at that point. I explained that this was a particluarly hard test and that the class average was actually 55% (ie a D) and I had scored a 54%. He wanted to recruit people who are competitive and are willing to do whatever it takes to complete a task despite other people's reactions or difficulties.

I ended up graduating in the more rigourous Honors program at my college but with only a 3.19 GPA overall. I regret deciding to go into the Honors program since it meant harder courses and more work and basically hurt my overall GPA.

Also, I have forgotten 99% of what I learned in my liberal arts classes but I use the information from my Business classes everyday. I regret not studying harder in those classes.

College is about learning to learn. What you actually learn is not the important part, even though you may learn something usefull.

"I majored in English Literature and minored in Communication Theory….I spent all my time reading… literature and memorizing… communication theories."

Maybe you should have studied logic.

You don't have to get perfect grades to get into grad school. I was a B-average student, but luckily got into a top grad school. Because the drop out rate is something like 50% even at top grad schools, it's increasingly more important for admissions to look for students who will stick with it through thick and thin, and know what they are getting themselves into. You do have to work hard through out the whole academic career, but it's more important to know what you are getting out of it. Ask "why", like why are you taking this class? What am I getting out of it? what is the point of it. If the course is a required core class, why is it considered core(especially when a number of professors and others in the field have defined the course as core!) and what is the lesson from it? This helps to define your interest, whether you will like the field, and whether grad school is the right choice. After college, I told myself I had enough of school. But after reflecting on the lessons of college, and seeing how it applies to the real world, I realized why I wanted to go back to grad school - to find the answer to some deeper questions.

Jon, it sounds like your studies were a bit joyless to you. I was a straight-A college student too (well, 2 B's) but I LOVED my two majors. I picked subjects I was interested in, and the studying didn't seem as much like work.

True, I've forgotten much of what I've learned (liberal arts) but I totally agree with Kate: "What I [really] learned was critical thinking, which applies in all aspects of life."

Plus, the close relationships I made with professors and deans have lasted through the years. They have served as references, mentors, and friends. I don't think I would have made the same connection with then had I not been so involved in the material.

Oh - and I went on to law school. I wasn't planning that during undergrad, but I was glad to have the option. Shouldn't we encourage young people to live their lives so that as many doors are open as possible?

Jon, I empathize with you. You made a valid point (with caveats, of course) and now all of these sniveling whiners come out of the woodwork to defend those sleepless nights and missed dates just to ace their exam on Christopher Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta." Still others claim that you're missing the point. You made a simple claim: that getting As really isn't that important, and anyone with a smidgen of common sense knows that you're correct, unless — and here's that caveat — unless you plan on going to a snobby ivy league school or if you plan to work in a competitive, highly technical field. No one likes to be told that they've wasted their time, but that's essentially what it amounts to. As for myself, I've gone through college (computer science) with all As (except for two Bs). And now I realize that I too wasted my time. All of my potential employers practically laughed at me when I tried to tout my academic record. By the way, I didn't go to college on my parents' dime. I paid for every penny of it, and I think that's what makes this post sound like it's coming from an undeserving gen-Xer.

Reality is, people just want to see you have a college degree. They don't care what it is, or how good your GPA was.

Every interview I ever had went like this?

You have your degree?
> Yes, I got a a BS in…[cut off]

Yea, whatever, what experience do you have outside of academic activities?
> Oh….

If you don't have experience by the time your done with college, your in trouble. Internships, whatever, make sure you have them. And notice I said "Internships" not "Internship". That's intentional. Mandatory more than 1 semester/summer if you want to be taken seriously and not laughed out the office.

*eye roll*

I got a 4.0 and I don't regret it at all. I still partied and had fun, I just took my academics seriously too. I had every opportunity after college to do whatever I wanted and I'm glad that I kept my options open by doing well. Would I have freaked out if my grades were lower? Probably — but I also would have realized that perfection isn't a useful goal in and of itself.

Who cares if the people around you aren't fawning all over you for your grades? Get over yourself! Maybe the value of your education is in learning things for the right reasons, not trying to crawl to the top of the ladder. If you think that working hard and learning are worthless without external approval, then you really shouldn't bother working on your grades.

On the other hand, those of us with a work ethic and a drive to learn things (that we aren't just going to forget in two weeks) will probably keep on doing what comes naturally — our best. And if "my best" happens to include perfect grades, I am not going to complain.

"The Cartalk guys aren’t exactly the bastions of academia but the advice struck a chord in me."

Actually both of the hosts have extremely good educations. Ray has a degree in general science from MIT and Tom has a degree in chemical engineering from MIT and an MBA and DBA from the BU Graduate School of Management.

As a computer science major, I have a different take on this. I never took my grades that seriously (although I wound up with a 3.2) because, even though the classes I took for my major were useful, they didn't apply that specifically to what I wanted to do when I graduated. I never suspected that any company would even ask about my GPA during interviews. I couldn't have been more wrong. The first question asked at my first five interviews (Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, and Amazon) was, "What was your GPA?" The google interviewer's demeanor even changed when I mentioned my GPA.

That said, I'm sure the matter of GPA probably depends on your major and career path. From what I've heard, however, the issue of GPA becomes less and less of a concern after ones first job.

I was a (mostly) straight-A student in college and I don't regret it one bit. For me it was a watershed life event to move away from my parents and succeed on my own, even if just at school. I found it extremely empowering to be both independent and successful.

But it sounds to me like Mr. Morrow was a bit of an extreme overachiever. I had a 4.0 GPA for four semesters and then discovered that I didn't have a great social life. I had one semester where, among other things, I came out and partied a lot and had a 2.75 GPA (a C+! Shocker!).

After that I "got by" with 3.5-3.9 per semester and still graduated Summa Cum Laude; and I was a much happier person for it. The obsession with tip-tip-tip-top grades is definitely unhealthy. It strips you of your willingness to deal with the ambiguity that's inherent to real life; assignments tend to be rather deterministic and boxed-in.

But for me, I do still secretly believe that people who graduated — at least in my field — with less than stellar grades were just lazy. Call it bias; we're all guilty of it. :)

When I applied for my current job, I was asked for my GPA. Fortunately, I have a 3.7, which is pretty good for the college I attended and was enough for graduating with honors. At my college people pulled all-nighters and gave up on social lives just to pass. What social lives they did have usually consisted of studying together, with maybe one party a term.

"I sent my kids to college so they could learn that enjoyment of life comes not as an entitlement, but is the result of what one earns for themselves. … Yeah, growing up sucks, but, we all have to do it sometime. It’s an eat what you kill world, and that is not changing anytime soon."

I agree, and that's exactly why I don't want to have any children.

Jon,

I do disagree with the first point you made (and I apologize if my point is repetitive). No one ever asked about your GPA because most likely every recruiter ALREADY KNEW your GPA when you gave them your resume. You don't get into the door of a job interview without your resume, and you don't make a resume these days (especially if you've just graduated) without putting your GPA on there.

People were more interested in talking with you about your Chief of Staff position and your radio show, because there's not too much to talk about regarding grades (except if they say, "Hey. Nice GPA"). But believe me, recruiters notice the hard work you put into college, and I wouldn't discount anyone who works towards an "A" average in college.

That's my two cents anyway.

Matt

Going to college is not supposed to prepare you for a career. It is for learning. We can change what the meaning of higher education is (and I think we are doing that) but it's not career camp. That point needs to be made very clear to students graduating from high school. I think this post is trying to say that in a roundabout way but it comes off as sort of negating the learning experience or the feeling of accomplishment you can get from attaining stellar grades, which is unfortunate.

I went to college thinking that if I did well, it would set me up for my career. I've learned that, while they intersect at certain points, your education and your work life are not one and the same.

As someone who has interviewed lots of graduates for many years your first point about interviews misses the point: good grades may be a big part of the reason why you get selected for an interview, but they won't be the subject of the interview itself.

My grandfather was the CEO of a major civil engineering firm. My family always jokes about his approach to hiring and grades. He used to say, "If I had the choice, I'd always hire the guy who got B's before the guy who got A's. If I thought they could both do the job, I knew the guy who got B's had a much better grasp on the "real world" than the guy who kept his nose in the books to get those A's." This was in the 70's and although a lot has changed since then, the general idea remains the same: Lots of people can do the job, but employers want people who are well rounded.

I also worked extremely hard to get straight As. I don't regret it. I would have been miserable with crappy grades. If nothing else, it's given me a strong work ethic.

I was fortunate that my program had a co-op element. It really helped me keep things in perspective.

Here's another perspective on this: If you set a goal of getting straight A's and being the best student in your classes — and fulfilled that goal — that's an amazing achievement.

That is something to be proud of, and that no one can take away from you. As you said, unless you're pure genius, this took perseverance, priority setting and a four-year commitment to achieving the goal. You can use this in a job interview if they ask about achievement.

And, I wouldn't be so sure that you forgot everything. You probably had to write essays, make arguments, articulate your ideas, etc. Sometimes it's not what you learned but the process learning how to learn that makes college valuable.

I agree w/Kate on the value of a liberal arts degree (I did Eng. Lit., too, and minored in women's studies and philosophy…and I "only" made Magna.)

I spent the first year of my management career being paranoid that I couldn't talk the talk because I didn't get that business degree. Then I realized that all that Shakespeare that I read for the love of it was giving me insight into people. The rhetoric and logic, I drew upon to build my business cases, and the critical thinking…well, let's just say that it's possible to get a business degree without picking that up along the way.

(Not that all B.A's have it, either; more to say that no degree program has a lock on teaching the basic skills it takes to get the job done.)

Yes, the networking will give you a jump start on a successful career…if your goal is to maximize power and influence by conventional and/or social metrics; i.e. optimize yourself for fast promotability.

However, seems like in that case you'd be trading one type of "outward" success (straight A's) for another (influential member of business community; quick promotions). Six of one, half a dozen the other, I would think.

For my part, je ne regrette rien.

If you managed to graduate with an English degree and did not, proudly, learn any critical thinking skills, CONGRATULATIONS! You must have also not noticed that you went to a crappy college.

I feel sorry for you. I learned a lot in college… and I have an English degree. Oh yeah, I graduated with a 4.0 GPA from a better school than you attended. How do I know that? I learned more than you did. Most people with lower GPAs probably learned more than you did.

Some companies actually get scared away by a student with straight A’s who has no internships or other experiences outside of the classroom. But grades definitely can matter–especially in super-competitive industries such as consulting and investment banking.

You're exactly right. At the end of the day it’s better to have good (not necessarily great) grades while also taking on leadership roles like you did with student government and the radio station.

It sounds like, in the end, your hard work led to a well-rounded resume that helped you land quite a few offers. Not bad for a "straight A" student.

When I first left university I put my grades on my resume. I did this because I was proud of them and also because that and unpaid internships were about all I had to put down.

Even now, 11 years later, I have applied for numerous jobs where stipulating your college grades was part of the application process. They don't always ask at the interview, but often times it's part of the initial filtering process.

I hear what you are saying and it sounds like maybe you took it to extremes but at age 22 it's probably a bit early to write it off as an irrelevance.

University is where you learn critical thinking and you can immerse yourself in a subject fully. I don't regret anything I learned at university, even if I don't remember it. If anything I regret what I didn't learn. I did a highly vocational journalism degree, where at least half the course was devoted to practical stuff, such as running the university radio station. This was good because it helped me get a job. But I'm not sure it's the point of university and later I regretted not doing something a bit broader and more traditionally academic. So I went and did a Masters in international relations.

I got straight A's too. No way, I did too. People are so lame. 64 comments on how I got straight A's and still had a life or no life. Get back to work pretentious people. Assembly line is slowing down. Wait so is the economy. I wonder if there's a correlation why people are so dawmed busy at work reading blogs. I got straight A's and went to Harvard, and Oxford, my grades were so high I graduated Omega Suma Cum Loudly. People are different, work in different ways, there's no wrong or right.

This man feels that his work was a waste of time, well it is his own space to blog. We don't need all this negative feedback and elitist bullshit. Get back to work. Please spare me. Oh this liberal hippie, "Spare any change, Spare any pot for a change."

Thank you.

I wonder what it would look like if a university decided to revolutionize their structure to focus more on developing student leaders and communicators than purely developing student scholars.

Oooh, I'd love to go to a school like this. The KaosPilots do something like this - it's a business/social entrepreneurship school that's less about being scholarly (not at all, really) and more about knowing how to manage, lead, take charge, work with people. It's all project-based, and it is revolutionary.

I come from a culture where it's really cutthroat - "straight As or nothing". Children are literally killing themselves because they missed an A. People get told that if you don't get straight As in everything, you'll amount to nothing. That if you're not a doctor/engineer/lawyer, you're nothing. And for what? At the end of the day, you're all on the same playing field, your grades don't matter anymore, it's all about what you do. The people who spent all their life getting straight As (and sacrificing everything else in the process) get stuck while those with a mixed bag of grades and opportunities get through.

The issue with this is that no one is taught how to ADAPT. The Straight A scorers all go "ack, all I know is study, I gave up my hobbies to study (that's the only way to get As anyway), now what?" whereas the people who supposedly "Slacked off" can now draw on their varied experiences to adapt to anything that gets tossed to them.

I quit university the first time after my first semester (and a foundation year) to go on a study-abroad tour that changed my life. I learnt so much more from that tour than from any university. I then spent a few months working at an international TV station. I was able to command more money, despite hardly going through university, than all the other fresh grads who had spent 3 or 4 years slogging off in school.

I found that TV wasn't for me and tried exploring other avenues. My parents were insistent on getting a degree, so I enrolled to university in Australia in a Creative Industries degree, which I thought would be practical and hands-on and international. To my dismay, it was too theoretical and Western-oriented (Asia=Japan in their eyes, apparently) and not particularly relevant to anything.

There was one class I absolutely LOVED. CI Management. Taught by someone who was extremely practical and had worked in the arts industry for ages. The first day in class, he told us, "Last year I got a lot of feedback from students saying I wasn't theoretical enough. THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF THE CLASS." I loved him. He really showed us how the real world worked. His assignments were all real-life ones - analyze an arts company, create a project proposal. He didn't care about academic theory, just that you understood how a budget works and how the industry works and that you can articulate a clear and concise vision for your project. My working style fitted perfectly, and I got a 7/A+ (despite going through all sorts of crap in my life at the time).

This semester I've been struggling. Even though I do a lot of research and try to incorporate my myriad of experiences into my assignments, I keep getting 4s/Ds because I "didn't include enough theory". It didn't matter if I synthesized material from other fields to make my point, it didn't matter that I actually had LIVED the class material and could speak from the heart. Because I didn't parrot the right people, I nearly failed.

For one assignment, which was to make various art pieces related to lectures, we were given a sample marking scheme for our written work. The 1-3s/fails were crap, which was expected. The 4s and 5s, Ds and Cs (maybe Bs), were honest, clear, and showed how the writer learnt from the lecture material and incorporated that into their pieces. It was more personal than academic, but you could understand where they were coming from. The stuff that gets you 6s and 7s, As and A+s? COMPLETE GOBBLEDYGOOK. "This piece was influenced by XYZ's theory on Blah, which can be seen by the use of the Palm Green colour described by SoNso in Etc as being "fundamental to the liminal processes of Blather". The OffCut systhesis of ABC's and DEF's theoreom of SpaceTime…" Who the heck makes an ART PIECE totally by academic theory? It became a game of "quote as many theories as possible, whether it fits or not". I refused to play that game, and I got a 4. D.

The marking criteria is so subjective. What works awesomely for one lecturer is completely different for another. I learnt more from all my outside experiences - conferences, workshops, travel, etc - than I ever did at university. Unlike you, I don't focus on making money (heck I don't even care if I make any). What I do care about is whether I'm happy, whether I'm making a difference to the world, whether I am fulfilling my purpose. Writing theory-stuffed papers that never get read by anyone else besides the lecturer? Fulfils none of the above.

(And I'm on a partial scholarship, to boot. Well, who knows if I still will be given my grades this semester. Bah. I want my CI Management lecturer back.)

yeah, he's right. I got top grades at an Ivy and wound up going to a third-rate med school 'cause I'm a lousy interviewee. I said I'd never make that mistake again and work on being more well-rounded in med school. Except, guess what? You have no time to be well-rounded in med school! So of course I got a lousy residency (in a relatively competitive specialty, admittedly).

I'm in my late twenties. Is it too late to change, or am I going to be a lousy interviewee (and hire) forever? I really don't know how to party or network, and I wonder if my brain just isn't wired for it.

You know, like a mild form of Asperger's or something.

I can't believe the drivel I read here. I have been recruiting at a Fortune 100 company for 15 years, and believe me, grades matter. So do social skills. But don't think social skills by themselves with a 3.2 will get you an interview - it takes a 3.4 plus just to get through the initial screen. It is the same way at many other major companies. If you choose to ignore this, do so at your own peril, as you can never get your GPA back….

To all the Fortune ### people here, the money-focused people, and to the OP too:

What if your goal is to make a difference in the world?
What if you want to start your own enterprise, your own project, your own organization?
What if you want to create something for the world, your community, or even just yourself?
What if you're not concerned about what some random employer may think about you, not concerned about the rat race and cubicles and all that - but you're concerned about how you can contribute to the world?

Does your GPA matter then?

It should be noted that you don't really need to get straight A's in college, but that doesn't grant the license to get a D in every class. This is a great article, I'm going to feature it on my site for college students!

Jon I think you're one of the best guest bloggers Penelope has had. I liked the post a lot and agree with every point, except the part about enjoying life on your parents' dime during college. Like many commenters, that doesn't apply to me. But that's a minor nit. I went over to your website and loved it too, tried to subscribe to your RSS feed but that got blocked for some reason. I'll try again later.

Oh, and as a manager I can say I've hired too many straight-A students only to find out they can't deliver on the most basic assignments. I'll take a well-adjusted smart person who can deliver on a commitment any day.

Wow I don't agree with some parts of the article but some of the criticisms for this article are just plain ridiculous and I really do wonder if trying to get the highest GPA turns people into snobs.

"Oh yeah, I graduated with a 4.0 GPA from a better school than you attended. How do I know that? I learned more than you did. Most people with lower GPAs probably learned more than you did."

Anyone with a GPA number can write a more intelligent post than this.

"And to rebut one of your ending conclusions, law can be miserable and low paying but it sure isn’t for everyone. I found my niche, made parter, love what I do, and have a good living. Generalizing from your feelings and limited experiences to an entire professional is immature and, again, ignorant."

Talk about being ignorant I'm sorry everyone who didn't have law go the same way it did for you.

I am getting ready to attend college after serving many years in the US Navy. I am currently working as an Environmental Scientist with no college education and receiving pay and benefits similar to my colleagues with degrees. I am an example that hard work and perseverance can go a long way. I also know that habits formed while in the military made me effective and these habits, much like the habits students obtain in college, are extremely important in all aspects of life. Those who excel both scholastically and socially develop good work habits and understand moderation. Learning balance is paramount and it sounds like you have learned this a bit late, but you learned it nonetheless.

My God, Jon, you got your studies paid for by your parents, got great grades, and you're still not satisfied. Stop whining, and make your life what you want it to be! Don't wait for them to come to you, but hunt the good jobs down using the knowledge that you gathered over the years.

Sure, there's no reason to KILL yourself for great grades, and maybe you could have spent some of your time differently. But the point is: you didn't! You've followed a certain path, and now you'll have to decide whether that path was correct, in which case you continue on it, or if it was wrong, in which case you look for a cross section that gets you on the right track.

Man, you're so lucky you had the ABILITY to study. Now go do something MATURE with it, and stop crying like a beaten up mama's boy.

Actually, I need to gripe some more:

Jon, you've LEARNED something: you've gotten all that experience that your studies brought you, bought for you by your daddy. AND you've apparently picked up outside school, like how relatives are important as well. The latter is available to most of us, although some of us are blind to that truth. The former, however, is NOT for everyone. Some of us just don't have the mental makeup to do it, others lack the funds, and still others live in a neighborhood where schools are an unheard-of luxury (third world, war zones).

You got BOTH. 90% of the people in this world would sell their soul to be in your shoes, and I doubt you'd do well in any of their places. At least not while yammering about a waste of time.
You still have time to waste (as proven by this post), now waste what's left of it in a more constructive, productive, sensible manner!

I have to agree with those here who disagree with the blogger.

I was always a straight A-student. But I also won squarely the All-Rounder trophies in schools. I enjoyed a whole bunch of stuff in college including random stuff such as watching my class play cricket on Sundays, people, outdoorsy and cultural activities, formal and informal leadership roles in student affairs, and a whole lot of sleep! I am friends with a large % of people with whom I studied. Nearly everyone who taught me remembers me after all these years.

Thanks to all that, when I cite communication theory now - and I graduated with my engineering degree 15 years ago - it is steeped in a lot of cultural context, cross-disciplinary references and humour.

Grades are employers' concern at your first job which for many lays the foundation of their future. So they are not totally unimportant.

So what can I say?

That you missed out on a well-rounded education?

That genius for you was 99% perspiration but for many, it is not?

That this post was another one of the privileged-20-somethings who think they have 'lessons', when nearly 90% of those do not apply to others?

Thanks and good luck!

I love the comment by Tim (just a few up from here)

"I really do wonder if trying to get the highest GPA turns people into snobs."

I do know people who are "better" school and "higher" grade snobs who are in their 40s and beyond. A person I know got passed over for a big promotion from a Fortune 500 company. The woman who got the job only had a high school education, but had spend 20 years with the company. She apparently is good (I don't know her)…but he freaked out that the VP job went to someone with out college over him with an MBA. He quit in a big huff saying that a person with no degree should never have been allowed to work in the company no matter how good she was. OUCH.

She is still there and doing great. He is still bitter.

And the recruiter who says you cannot get a job in a big co without a 3.4…that is not true either…(maybe true just out of college). I know lots of ambitious people with bad grades or no degree who have great jobs with brand name companies. Yes, they had to earn their way to the top on other paths than going straight into coveted training programs, but they are good at what they do. A smart boss hires the best person for the job. A risk taker will over look company policy on grades if the person is worthy. Who would want to work for a dumb boss who wont take risks?(apparently a lot of people…but this is a whole other topic for your blog!).

Look, most people who commented were very stuck on their own good grades. Congratulations, you should be proud. I wish I had straight A's now that I am older. Yes, it is a good idea to get good grades. But when you are 41 years old if you are still thinking about your GPA (A's or C's) then you need to move on. If you are 25 and still bragging about grades, that is ok, you dont have other stuff yet.

But think about this….when you die, do you want them to say "He was a straight A Student 60 years ago"? God, I hope there is more to say than that…so much more that the grades pale so much behind the great person, entrepreneur, philanthropist, parent, spouse, friend, and all around amazing human being. A sad world to those who secretly want their GPA stamped on your tombstone. In the end it is just a number.