Depends (like most of these generalizations) on your college and teachers. I had two professors who hammered the point that the priorities are: clarity, correct

Depends (like most of these generalizations) on your college and teachers. I had two professors who hammered the point that the priorities are: clarity, correctness, and performance. In that order. Perhaps a bit dogmatic, but a useful idea. We would often spend class time writing cleaner, simpler code after arriving at a correct answer.