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Twentysomething: Why I regret getting straight A’s in college

9 points by vlad 19y ago

And the counterpoint: Thirtysomething: Why I DON’T regret getting straight A’s in college http://robbieallen.com/2007/12/thirtysomething-why-i-dont-regret-getting-straight-as-in-college/

vlad 19y ago
And the counterpoint: Thirtysomething: Why I DON’T regret getting straight A’s in college http://robbieallen.com/2007/12/thirtysomething-why-i-dont-regret-getting-straight-as-in-college/ http://robbieallen.com/2007/12/thirtysomething-why-i-dont-re...
- yters 19y ago
  Good response, I don't trust hindsight only a couple years old.
zkinion 19y ago
Heh, I hardly went to class, and ran a successful business while I was in college, and got almost a 4.0 </self promotion> I kind of regret even going to college though. I learned much more in the real world and having a business, for sure.
rantfoil 19y ago
Also note that things might be a bit different for a CS major. Paying attention in those algorithms / theory classes make a difference down the line.
- fortes 19y ago
  From the article: I majored in English Literature and minored in Communication Theory. The main reason I chose those subjects was I thought they would teach me how to write and speak, two skills that would serve me well for the rest of my life. Boy, was I stupid. Instead, I spent all my time reading classic literature and memorizing vague, pseudoscientific communication theories. Neither are useful at all, and I’ve forgotten at least 95% of it. I’d guess the same is true for most college graduates. Tell me, what’s the point of spending 60-80 hours a week learning things that you immediately forget? Sounds the problem is with what she chose to study, not her grades.
timcederman 19y ago
I goofed off first year which was a lot of fun, and totally worth it on a personal level, but it meant when it came time to start my PhD, I barely scraped into my program thanks to the GPA (even though I aced everything 2nd year onwards) and found it hard to get in to any overseas Master's programs with a scholarship. Luckily a great PhD scholarship right in my area (ubicomp, what are the odds?) showed up at the last minute at my university which I was accepted for straight away. Not everyone lucks out like that though and gets the balance of no consequences and enjoying college.
pxlpshr 19y ago
Maybe I should write a blog post discussing why dropping out of college for 2 years was the best decision of my life, followed by my second best: finishing.
mironathetin 19y ago
When I was accepted for my first job, I made the shortlist because of the A's. After the first job, indeed, they were more or less useless. I think especially for CS or physics students, networking is hard and it is a good exercise to start early. I once read an interesting article where a MIT Professor was quoted. I don't remember his name, but he advised his tech students (especially the tech students!) to visit every party they could find and talk to at least four different persons at each party. Good advice. Networks become more and more important the older you get. For startup founders few things have more value than a good network. Most people I know are techies. Today I would like to know more lawyers, businesspeople, tax experts and designers. And I would like to be able to talk to them in a way that does not sound chinese in their ears (and vice versa).
nostrademons 19y ago
I blew off basically all my classes in college, and don't regret it at all. Ended up with a 3.0 GPA...I think the exact count was something like 14 As, 7 Bs, 9 Cs, and 2 Fs. One of my prospective employers did ask my GPA. They gave me an offer anyway. I got a consistent 8 hours of sleep a night, even when it meant skipping the next morning's classes. I remember nearly all of my coursework (that I did & showed up for class for, at least). I got to meet lots of interesting people, most of whom are now in law/grad/med/business school. I got to serve as tech lead on a 100,000-user consumer website, and did a couple other web projects for the school. But the best part was that I made a whole lot of mistakes on my parents' dime and found out a lot about myself. Most of my assumptions going into college were wrong (hence the 2 Fs): I thought I wanted to be a theoretical physicist, I thought that the effort I put in didn't correlate with the results I got, I thought that I didn't like people, etc. It's much easier to change your career path before you've graduated than it is once you get into the working world or grad school.

9 points by vlad 19y ago

And the counterpoint: Thirtysomething: Why I DON’T regret getting straight A’s in college http://robbieallen.com/2007/12/thirtysomething-why-i-dont-regret-getting-straight-as-in-college/

vlad 19y ago

And the counterpoint: Thirtysomething: Why I DON’T regret getting straight A’s in college http://robbieallen.com/2007/12/thirtysomething-why-i-dont-regret-getting-straight-as-in-college/ http://robbieallen.com/2007/12/thirtysomething-why-i-dont-re...

yters 19y ago
Good response, I don't trust hindsight only a couple years old.

zkinion 19y ago

Heh, I hardly went to class, and ran a successful business while I was in college, and got almost a 4.0 </self promotion> I kind of regret even going to college though. I learned much more in the real world and having a business, for sure.

rantfoil 19y ago

Also note that things might be a bit different for a CS major. Paying attention in those algorithms / theory classes make a difference down the line.

fortes 19y ago
From the article: I majored in English Literature and minored in Communication Theory. The main reason I chose those subjects was I thought they would teach me how to write and speak, two skills that would serve me well for the rest of my life. Boy, was I stupid. Instead, I spent all my time reading classic literature and memorizing vague, pseudoscientific communication theories. Neither are useful at all, and I’ve forgotten at least 95% of it. I’d guess the same is true for most college graduates. Tell me, what’s the point of spending 60-80 hours a week learning things that you immediately forget? Sounds the problem is with what she chose to study, not her grades.

timcederman 19y ago

I goofed off first year which was a lot of fun, and totally worth it on a personal level, but it meant when it came time to start my PhD, I barely scraped into my program thanks to the GPA (even though I aced everything 2nd year onwards) and found it hard to get in to any overseas Master's programs with a scholarship. Luckily a great PhD scholarship right in my area (ubicomp, what are the odds?) showed up at the last minute at my university which I was accepted for straight away. Not everyone lucks out like that though and gets the balance of no consequences and enjoying college.

pxlpshr 19y ago

Maybe I should write a blog post discussing why dropping out of college for 2 years was the best decision of my life, followed by my second best: finishing.

mironathetin 19y ago

When I was accepted for my first job, I made the shortlist because of the A's. After the first job, indeed, they were more or less useless. I think especially for CS or physics students, networking is hard and it is a good exercise to start early. I once read an interesting article where a MIT Professor was quoted. I don't remember his name, but he advised his tech students (especially the tech students!) to visit every party they could find and talk to at least four different persons at each party. Good advice. Networks become more and more important the older you get. For startup founders few things have more value than a good network. Most people I know are techies. Today I would like to know more lawyers, businesspeople, tax experts and designers. And I would like to be able to talk to them in a way that does not sound chinese in their ears (and vice versa).

nostrademons 19y ago

I blew off basically all my classes in college, and don't regret it at all. Ended up with a 3.0 GPA...I think the exact count was something like 14 As, 7 Bs, 9 Cs, and 2 Fs. One of my prospective employers did ask my GPA. They gave me an offer anyway. I got a consistent 8 hours of sleep a night, even when it meant skipping the next morning's classes. I remember nearly all of my coursework (that I did & showed up for class for, at least). I got to meet lots of interesting people, most of whom are now in law/grad/med/business school. I got to serve as tech lead on a 100,000-user consumer website, and did a couple other web projects for the school. But the best part was that I made a whole lot of mistakes on my parents' dime and found out a lot about myself. Most of my assumptions going into college were wrong (hence the 2 Fs): I thought I wanted to be a theoretical physicist, I thought that the effort I put in didn't correlate with the results I got, I thought that I didn't like people, etc. It's much easier to change your career path before you've graduated than it is once you get into the working world or grad school.