Reply to How important are college grades?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "How important are college grades?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You people really need to give it a rest.  If your kid was driven enough in high school to get themselves into an Ivy they don't need mommy getting so into the weeds of their classes that they know they're "struggling" in two classes and are already worrying -- one month into the kid's college career -- what the grades are going to be.

Give it a rest man.

[b]And why the need to mention that it's an Ivy, by the way?  You couldn't have asked the same question without having to drop that the kid is at an Ivy?[/b]

[/quote]

Because a student at say a JMU has a very different range of opportunities available to them than a student at an ivy. It's relevant, so calm down. It would be more relevant if we knew which ivy. Five classes freshman fall = not Harvard.[/quote]

By your logic grades matter MORE at an Ivy than elsewhere.  And that's bullshit.  [/quote]

Your first sentence is likely accurate. There's a huge opportunity cost to getting bad grades at an ivy. You go from a potential recruit at MBB to looking for jobs on indeed like any other schlub. That's a huge incentive to get good grades.[/quote]

This is insanely uninformed thinking.[/quote]

How so?[/quote]

NP. Because it underestimates the life-long value of an Ivy education, including name recognition, network, and all the assumptions that come with that.

Also, yours is a perfect example of anxiety-driven, all-or-nothing catastrophic thinking. Textbook “how not to do life.”

To state the obvious, there are a million options between MBB and being unemployed. And your fear of immediately plummeting to “schlub” status with the peons of society is sad. And offensive.

There are endless ways to succeed at life. On many different timelines. Anyone who thinks it’s MBB-or-just is truly uneducated about life. [/quote]

My point may have been a bit exaggerated, and I don't want to discount your excellent arguments above, but I maintain that the opportunity cost of not doing well in OCR is quite substantial, and bad grades are a barrier to that. If this weren't true, there wouldn't be so much pressure to grade inflate. Sure, you can put together a good career without MBB/IB/whatever as your first job, but it's easier with it, and an ivy undergrad gives you a leg up on that if your grades are good. You can leave that money on the table, but that's an opportunity cost by definition.[/quote]

All true if your goal is to optimize the amount of money your DC makes in their first job out of college.

Given my life experience and that of my kids’ and their friends, I’d argue that it’s not as hard as you think for an Ivy grad to “put together a good career,” with or without MBB/IB. This assumes they have initiative and drive and are willing to think for themselves rather than try to follow the crowd, which I hope/assume they do at this point in their education and development.

As for the opportunity cost of leaving the extra $25-50k “on the table” those first few years, I hear you. If you’re optimizing for early income, that is true.

Although again, my life experience and that of my kids and their friends tells me that the extra income will go to taxes and additional spending (more expensive  housing, travel, and nights out) rather than to saving/investments that will compound into $1M extra over time. 23 year olds who are flush with cash (and surrounded by similar peers), tend to behave like … 23 year olds.

Finally, there’s also an “opportunity cost” to four years of sacrificing the extra social/downtime in college for the sake of chasing a 4.0 rather than cruising to a 3.5. It may not be quantifiable in dollars, but it takes a toll on everything from relationship-building (social, romantic, and professional (future networks)) to mental health (continuing to chase “perfection” in an attempt to reduce risk to zero, which is, of course, impossible.)

Everyone is different, of course. But to me and my kids, that second type opportunity cost was far greater than chasing the 4.0 and the goal of MBB/IB etc. during ages 18-23.  And again, it worked out quite well for us all. Not the same path, but one that has brought similar financial gains/security as well as a rich life. [/quote]

Mental health can cut both ways though. The pressure to get good grades can degrade your mental health, but bad mental health can degrade your gpa. Having a lower GPA at an ivy because you prioritized your mental health - yes, you'll probably do more than fine. Having a lower GPA at an ivy because you DIDN'T prioritize your mental health - you're going to struggle.[/quote]

I think you are confusing correlation with causation.

Given what you describe, it sounds to me like the risk to GPA stays constant either way, while the risk to mental health goes down in the second scenario. (No guarantee of good mental health. But pretty clear elimination of one aspect of risk (academic burnout) and increase of at least one positive factor (more time spent on relationships with other people).

Specifically:

- Succumbing to the pressure to use marginal free time to optimize your GPA in an attempt to eliminate the risk of a suboptimal (though not actually bad) first job outcome;

Increased risk of poor mental health + unclear GPA (could be a 4.0 or could be lower due to burnout/anxiety/mental health issues);

VS.

- Rejecting the pressure to use marginal free time to optimize your GPA in an attempt to eliminate the risk of a suboptimal (though not actually bad) outcome;

better mental health due to time spent on social life, relationships, and clubs/activities + unclear GPA (could be a 4.0 or could be far less due to distractions and loss of focus.) [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics