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Straight-A ness is a very subtle slippery slope. You start off by being normal. Then you do well in a few difficult courses, and people start telling you - you
by sn41 8y ago
Straight-A ness is a very subtle slippery slope. You start off by being normal. Then you do well in a few difficult courses, and people start telling you - you might be the first straight A student in a long time. And despite yourself, you start being a lot more conservative in your course selections. You start dropping courses when you suspect that you might not get an A (mind you, you're still doing very well, and you might even get an A, but there's a small risk). An early B would have made me much more knowledgable, since I would have gone out and explored a few more out-of-the way areas, and taken more difficult courses towards the end. (This is based on my experience.)
It's perhaps better to have a few gaping holes in your resume. Probably it pushes you more. A relevant quote that I find inspiring:
"And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore. If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery."
- Apsley Cherry-Garrard, "The Worst Journey in the World" [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Journey_in_the_World https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worst_Journey_in_the_World
- joppy 8y agoSomething I see a lot is bright students taking easy courses for the marks. And these students are not lazy, don’t have many other time commitments, are generally very pleasant and engaging to talk to, and ace the material. But when I suggest that they should be taking harder or more interesting subjects, they respond with something about marks.
- jerf 8y agoWell, I can definitely speak to that from the other side. I took courses I figured I wouldn't get a 4.0 in college, and they were some of my most educational precisely because they did stretch me a bit. Speaking from the interview side, I will say that if I get a resume from a recent grad with a 4.0 or greater (given the way some places grade nowadays), I will often subtly probe for the difficulty of courses taken. I could have easily scored a 4.0 in college, but I would have been worse for it. Unless you're 4.0'ing the hardest set of courses you could reasonably be taking, your 4.0 doesn't necessarily mean to me what you probably intend it to mean. It doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing, it just... doesn't mean the good thing you would have expected most people to interpret it as. (That said, there were also some courses I could have done better in, even so.)
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> you start being a lot more conservative in your course selections Conversation I had when young comes to mind. Stranger and I are on a ski lift. I am bragging about having not fallen once all day. He replies: "Not falling means you're getting better. But it also means you aren't taking risks. If you want to keep getting better, you can't be obsessed with falling." It was a philosophy diametrically opposed to the one espoused by my parents. With the benefit of hindsight, it's right. Prioritising straight A's over taking interesting (and varied) courses, building deep relationships and trying extra-curricular activities is not a great long-term decision for most favored life paths.
- baddox 8y agoAlso, when I got my first B in high school I completely stopped caring about my grades. My high school had ridiculous grade inflation and no weighted courses in GPA, so the first B meant no chance of being a valedictorian.
- WalterBright 8y agoI've known a few "easy A from basketweaving" high GPA students. I wouldn't hire any of them, as they'll do as little as possible as employees. I'd much rather take an employee who got B's in the toughest classes.