Make More Than GPA

GPA is also a measure of compliance and subordination.<p>For many businesses this is a more valuable measure than pure smartness. Many employers say they would rather have a dumber but more cooperative worker: a "team player" so to speak.

To summarise most of the comments in this thread:<p>"My GPA was [low/medium/high], therefore I think that most smart, well-adjusted people get [low/medium/high] GPAs."<p>edit: However, in the interests of contributing more than snark, I shall say the following: I think the US GPA system is screwed up, due to insufficient resolution and grade inflation.<p>Where I went to uni, you got a mark for each course out of one hundred. Any mark above 85 was considered very good, and only the top few percent of students in each class would get above 90. (A 100 was unheard of, or more accurately, I only heard of one once).<p>Anyway, this meant that a lousy mark in one class could be cancelled out by a great effort in another class -- since even the top students only averaged in the very low 90s there was always room to recover. In the US, though, at most places an "A" is too damn easy to get, meaning most of the top students will be running 4.0s, and staying at the top simply requires you to not screw up and get (gasp) a B.

I think before you can convince students of this, you need to convince prospective employers. To a lot of them, GPA is an easy filter.

<i>GPA fanatics usually have few interesting thoughts of their own.</i><p>Seems like an overly broad generalization.

Six weeks passed this prior semester before I realized I was going to fail all of my classes. Was I focused? Absolutely not.<p>This past semester I switched into Engineering from a Liberal Arts degree, and I'd never felt so worthless, incompetent and overwhelmed. Everyone had it together, everyone knew absolutely everything—and me, half a year of teaching myself programming in my spare time was showing no results. Except for developing carpal tunnel syndrome.<p>My roommate was another source of tension. Every day (and I really mean every day), he would talk about how Harvard Law demanded a 4.0, who wore real suits and who wore knock-offs, how School A was so much better than School B, the difference in salary between top-tier and bottom-tier grads, and, to top it off, how much he valued "good ol' American values, like from the 50s".<p>He flew through his tests and quizzes with straight-As, and I struggled to scrape up a passing grade.<p>To make matters worse, I started learning shell scripting, further distracting me from homework and classes. Also, I was getting treated for depression.<p>Anyway, I couldn't find a way to be motivated for anything other than my side projects. I tried turning my homework into a programming puzzle, but it was too late—my grades were too low to salvage.<p>Taking time off was something that had always been on my mind, but hearing it recommended was the final push I needed.<p>So I withdrew.<p>And, surprisingly, the world didn't end—it opened up. I didn't know what to do with all this free time, so I increased my volunteering time at a local school and started job-applying like crazy.<p>I was interviewed for an IT position and another to cashier, and I got neither. Still don't have a job, still wondering how I'm going to feed my cat, yet not worried.<p>Don't get me wrong—I'm stressed like hell, but I'm enjoying it. I can literally spend hours coding without feeling guilty.<p>Finishing college is important to me, however, and I'm set to return in the fall.<p>Hopefully my work ethic will keep maturing—I'm excited to start again.<p>GPA definitely isn't on my mind.

Grunting for GPA is a well-defined path. You take your classes seriously, study, do you assignments, and pass your tests; that's all there is to it. Whereas independent projects means venturing into the unknown, having to define your goals, and judging your success yourself. The later is a more daunting task.

I'm thrilled my graduate program doesn't require that I take any courses for a letter grade. Grades don't matter, research does, it's nice to finally have that reflected on my transcript.

If you replace "independent study" by "relevant experience", my advice in <a href="http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/05/13/being-a-new-cs-grad-in-this-economy-sucks/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/05/13/being-a-new-cs-grad-...</a> is completely identical.<p>To paraphrase: optimize for GPA first so you are in the acceptable range (&#62;3.5), but then, focus on optimizing the second most important criteria: project experience.<p>I was a hiring manager once.

The first part of this article just seems like a good argument to home school your kids. I'd imagine a home schooled kid with a nice SAT score would probably do quite well dealing with college and then just fine after college. I've never been asked for my GPA and probably wouldn't continue talking to a company that asked for it.<p>That being said part of the point of starting your company is to not worry about stuff like that.

A good argument for <i>self directed</i> learning. I was home schooled a number of times and you're just replacing a class room with your living room and a teacher with your parents; the material is all just as rote and redundant as the school material.<p>The difference can be likened to working in an office and telecommuting from home. Both are work, just different environments. There are obvious benefits of telecommuting over cubicle working and those benefits can generally be applied to the homeschooling situation. More time with kids, kids get to learn from the one on one focus of a nurturing parent, they get to play in their own backyard, etc.<p>I like his arguments, they are sound. Project based learning generally provides more hands on knowledge with a focus on being inspired to do what you are doing rather than being motivated (big difference between those two terms).<p>I'm a self directed learner, an autodidact (technical term). I've been pursuing college level Rhetoric, Formal Logic, Mathematics, and computer science. Industry experience has served me well too; but I do fall behind from my University bound peers in theoretical foundations - unless I spend an enormous amount of time delving into all the topics that are given at Uni. Discipline is also another toughie with this chosen path, it's taken me about three years to get down a solid routine that I know I can follow. Waking up early is a key to it.<p>I generally spend three days a week on personal projects that range from my ideas for web applications, my personal site, writing projects, electronics hobbies, &#38;c.; with two days a week dedicated to book study. Every day for about an hour I do a Mnemosyne session (spaced repetition program) providing timed cards for vocabulary, math, postulates, etc.<p>Sadly, I'm going to need a part time job or part time contract work soon so I can have some expendable income. I'm living off of passive income ATM but I pinch pennies left and right! No money to go out snowboarding, sailing, partying, etc.

Reading this reminded me of <i>The Homework Myth</i> (see <a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/hm.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/hm.htm</a> for more on that).<p>I'm not looking forward to arguing with my kids about doing homework. Particularly when I know how useless it is.

I know a lot of people in my high school who are in the top 5% of our class, but have no ability to think creatively.<p>GPA is just a measure of how much time you spend studying, factored in with your natural intelligence.<p>The people with the most intellectual potential are those who maintain a decent GPA but spend little time studying, but instead do things that are productive (as the article explained).<p>A valedictorian who does nothing but studies doesn't have a greatly increased chance of succeeding in life.

I think most people tend to forget that the primary purpose of school is to learn - not to get good grades.<p>Objectively, learning C or reading Knuth is a better use of my time than doing some teacher's bullshit busy-work-so-their-class-seems-more-important homework assignment. If I truly and absolutely was looking out for my own education, I would take the zero and study on my own.<p>Unfortunately colleges seem to put stock in a student's GPA and I have to waste my time on useless bullshit.