@Shipsarecool - You can’t say what everyone’s number one priority should be because you don’t know everyone’s circumstances.
@preamble well it should be every “intelligent” college student’s number 1 priority, which I believe if they are in college in the first place would be intelligent ?
@Shipsarecool Omg I’m dying right now. NEVER assume intelligence, college students or otherwise. In fact, dare I say especially college students.
As for your earlier comments, I’m with preamble on this. My grades are important, of course, but I refuse to stress about them. I do my best, and it is what it is, I don’t freak about every 1/10th of a GPA point. And IMO, knowing someone who can vouch for you at a job (aka networking) is WAY more important than GPA. It won’t make up for a terrible GPA, but it’ll be a better differentiating factor than that extra tenth. Great recommendations + great interview > extra half a GPA point.
@Shipsarecool - Are non-traditional students unintelligent? Students who have families and full time jobs? With bills and mortgages to pay? What about student athletes who have to juggle grades and sports in order to maintain scholarships so that they can afford to go to school in the first place - are they idiots?
Also - you can be intelligent and not prioritize grades as well as be quite dim but pull off a 4.0.
@preamble1776 Yes, they must make grades their number 1 priority, or else college wasn’t an appropriate choice for them at the time… They can’t just enter college expecting it to be a breeze, they went there to committ and to learn or else they are wasting their time…I’m not saying do nothing but study, just saying make the most out of your studies, Unless they went to college especially for sports then I don’t know why they would pick sports their number 1 priority over the actual reason they went to college in the first place…Sounds like common sense to me.
@Shipsarecool FYI, some kids are at college for sports, hoping to be the one in a million to go pro.
In addition, you’re saying that going to school, regardless of outside factors, means that your only objective is great grades. What if it’s an adult with a job and family, looking to pick up a degree to advance in his/her job? They already have a job, so GPA doesn’t matter, they just need the piece of paper. So you can bet a 3.3 isn’t too different from a 3.7 for them, if the 3.3 means they have more time for family. You can make the most out of a great opportunity without making it your #1 priority.
@Shipsarecool - Like @SusieAnne said, sometimes all someone needs is the degree; just to get a box checked, so that they can move up in their career. If becoming XYZ position requires XYZ degree and XYZ degree requires a minimum GPA, there’s really no reason to break your back trying to get a 4.0 when a 3.1 will suffice. This is especially true if you have kids at home that need to be fed, a full time career to tend to, and so on.
And you’re making priorities sound like static entities when they aren’t - for a student athlete on scholarship, one week school may take precedent over sports, but the next week the big game might take precedent over a pop quiz. It is very dynamic. If an athlete is majoring in something pertaining to athletics (Sports Management, Sports Coaching, Fitness, etc) then their performance on a certain team might have a much larger bearing on post graduate employment than, say, their grade in some low level general ed class about Anthropology or Statistics.
@SusieAnne now you’re twisting my words so i have no response for you.
@preamble1776 so let me ask you something, if there was a recuiter for a big company like google or apple interviewing you and ask you, “what was your number 1 priority when you were in college?” Do you think someone would really answer anything other than academic achievement ? I rest my case…
@Shipsarecool Absolutely I would answer something different! That would be about the most boring answer you could give them, and you’re trying to stand out, not be like every other candidate.
And I’m not sure what you meant, “twisting your words”. You said school should be everyone’s #1 priority, I gave you a situation in which that would be ridiculous for the hypothetical person. No twisting required.
Oh my, this thread is getting out of hand! Perhaps we should allow everyone to have their own priorities. More than one road leads to Rome, so let’s just be happy with the road we chose for ourselves.
@Shipsarecool - There are a number of responses that would be a lot better than saying “academic achievement” – LOL.
@preamble1776 Oh really like what ? What other reason would one be entering college…?
Doubt that’d be a question you’d get for a Google interview, especially considering the rising amount of students they’re accepting without degrees, but I’m with preamble. You can’t make blanket statements like that and expect all successful students to have the same answers. It completely depends on a student’s goals.
@Shipsarecool - If you mean academic achievement in the sense of grades (which you insist should always be a #1 priority) then there are a number of better answers. Expanding one’s intellectual horizons. Learning for the sake of learning. To be in the company of minds who share similar passions as yourself. To be in the presence of world class faculty who have spent years studying your intended field. Self discovery and becoming a mature, functioning young adult. Extracurricular charitable and philanthropic opportunities that enriched your soul.
@shipsarecool - No doubt, grades are very important and academic achievement usually means “good grades.” What the others are pointing out to you is that a good college education includes more than just going to class, studying, taking tests and “achieving” good grades. A young adult is expected to grow and expand his/her horizons during this time period in many, many other ways. He/she is expected to become a truly independent, interesting and contributing adult, who has experienced successes and, yes, failures that teach their own lessons. A good student might explore classes in unfamiliar subjects that could result in lesser grades, but greater understanding of the world and how it works. A desirable hire might have engaged in extracurricular activities that exposed him/her to other viewpoints and ways of doing things that had not previously been considered.
A true education involves more than just the obtaining of grades, i.e. “trophies.” A true education renders one a better and more useful person in a myriad of ways, and grades are just one reflection of that growth.
This is why you should not say that “grades” were your number one priority in college. It would be better to state that your number one priority was to become a truly learned person so that you could be a better _____ (whatever you are studying to be). The way to become a better_____ is to take advantage of the many activities, opportunities and experiences that are available to you at your college. To say you are focused solely on grades makes you sound like a trained monkey. Employers are looking for personality, maturity and an eagerness to take on challenges, and these qualities are not typically acquired in the classroom.
@Vctory LOL - I was gonna say that I doubt Google would ask a weirdly bland question like that in an interview. I was also going to mention that not everyone is hoping to work for Google either.
You really should practice what you preach @Shipsarecool
http://i58.■■■■■■■.com/2ujp2ew.png
(See: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1601696-academic-probation.html#latest)
First off, grades are only part of what makes your college career. Your connections, projects/extracurriculars and improvements to your personality are going to add a necessary component to your future.
Second, this whole thread has completely gone off topic.
And lastly, at Google they would do something like ask you to verify the validity of a binary search tree (damn those trees)
@Violet1996 - I forgot what the topic of this thread was like two pages ago.
@preamble1776 Thanks for providing a good example of my point, grades should be everyone’s number 1 priority I am preaching so that people won’t make the same mistake I have made when I was a college freshman last year and didn’t give the best efforts I should have given, but now when I try my best I get good grades since i made grades my number 1 priority now, and now my grades are excellent and my gpa reached up to 3.0, not the best but since I tried my best I feel like i made a good improvement since i worked hard.