Isn't GPA overrated?

asianese
Thu, 05 Aug 2010 23:34:41 +0000

OP I feel the exact same way. I must repeat what I have always said "GPA is 90% work ethics and 10% intelligence. I mean seriously, there’s a girl in my grade who is a 4.0 student, president of student government, liked by all the teachers and everything, and is looked up to as an intellectual god in my school. However, when we took the PSATs in freshman year, she scored a 154, while I scored a 232. Yet, even my own grandparents say if I continue on the path I’m going, I will become a plumber due to my less-than-asian GPA of 3.5. GPA is overrated to the max.

I see some of the other posters’ comments in favor of GPA, and I admit that they make relevant points. However, because many people’s grades are derived from work ethics rather than potential, if I were a college adcom, I would weight them much less than most. I believe that if a slacker like myself were given the opportunity to attend a top notch institute of higher learning, he/she would rise to the occasion and be finally able to realize and utilize their full potential. In the end, the result will be an extremely intelligent student with the same work habits as a student of lesser potential. If I were the adcom, I’d definitely side with the intelligent student.