This is such a fascinating issue, Dennis. As a first-year college student in the US, I struggle to balance my desire to learn but also my need to achieve a high GPA for career purposes. For example, there are classes that everyone who takes them says changed their life, or helped them grow in ways they didn't know were possible. However, in many of those classes it's practically impossible to get an A. How did you manage this balance between learning and grades during your time in college?
Cooper, this is such an amazing comment and something I've given quite some thought to. It's easy for me to say with hindsight to focus on the learning, not the grades, but the only reason I'm able to say this is because I got the good grades and good job and now don't need to worry about that anymore.
It seems that it really depends on what you want to do after college. If you're planning on traveling extensively, starting a company, or joining a startup (something outside the normal path), grades matter much less than your drive and ambition. However, if you want to pursue the normal path (grad school, internships, etc.), I unfortunately think you'll need to sacrifice some learning for the sake of grades. After you get those good grades and good jobs, then you can focus more on the learning.
In the case of those super awesome and transforming classes you mentioned, I'd recommend taking those anyway despite the fact you likely won't get a good grade. One class won't realistically catastrophically damage your GPA, and you can talk about it extensively in interviews or on applications anyway. The benefit of taking such courses appears to be much, much higher than the downside of a non-A grade. :)
Thanks for your response Dennis. As I do plan to follow the "normal" path, I think I'll have to do what you say and lose a bit of the learning for my GPA's sake. The good news however, is that there are resources like yourself that provide vast amounts of knowledge at absolutely no cost to my grade, so thank you for publishing these!
This is such a fascinating issue, Dennis. As a first-year college student in the US, I struggle to balance my desire to learn but also my need to achieve a high GPA for career purposes. For example, there are classes that everyone who takes them says changed their life, or helped them grow in ways they didn't know were possible. However, in many of those classes it's practically impossible to get an A. How did you manage this balance between learning and grades during your time in college?
Cooper, this is such an amazing comment and something I've given quite some thought to. It's easy for me to say with hindsight to focus on the learning, not the grades, but the only reason I'm able to say this is because I got the good grades and good job and now don't need to worry about that anymore.
It seems that it really depends on what you want to do after college. If you're planning on traveling extensively, starting a company, or joining a startup (something outside the normal path), grades matter much less than your drive and ambition. However, if you want to pursue the normal path (grad school, internships, etc.), I unfortunately think you'll need to sacrifice some learning for the sake of grades. After you get those good grades and good jobs, then you can focus more on the learning.
In the case of those super awesome and transforming classes you mentioned, I'd recommend taking those anyway despite the fact you likely won't get a good grade. One class won't realistically catastrophically damage your GPA, and you can talk about it extensively in interviews or on applications anyway. The benefit of taking such courses appears to be much, much higher than the downside of a non-A grade. :)
Thanks for your response Dennis. As I do plan to follow the "normal" path, I think I'll have to do what you say and lose a bit of the learning for my GPA's sake. The good news however, is that there are resources like yourself that provide vast amounts of knowledge at absolutely no cost to my grade, so thank you for publishing these!