As finals are fast approaching, I’m reminded of how much people misinterpret what academia is for, and more specifically, how important grades actually are.
For example, in my experience at least, finals week has often been filled with moans and groans that go something like this:
“But if I don’t get a(n) __ I won’t get into grad school” or “You just don’t understand how hard it is to be premed” or “I hate this class, but I have to take it to get into _____.”
I suppose this isn’t that surprising. It’s easy to be sucked into the idea that academia, or becoming a doctor or a lawyer, is the only way to prove yourself ““ that the only worthwhile people are those with top degrees from top institutions. And that the only way to prove you’re a worthwhile person is to climb the ladder of academia to the top.
It can be especially difficult to get out of this mode of thought if your family and friends all have or are planning on acquiring a postgraduate degree. In fact, whether or not you’re influenced by your parents may even affect your grades. A recent New York Times article revealed that people with dependent tendencies get better grades, while people who are more independently minded tend to get lower grades. So it’s probably worth checking that you’re not going to grad school for related reasons.
It’s even easier to forget that there are many more options out there, and that graduate school isn’t simply the next step in the same way that college has become the next step after high school.
Yes, if you’re planning on applying to graduate school, grades do matter. Maybe not all of your grades ““ if you’re applying for a doctoral program, the only grades that are of great importance are those involved with your subject of choice.
But what’s unfortunate is that if people were totally honest with themselves, they’d realize that if they’re already sick and tired of school and exams, then grad school is the last place they should be considering going next.
Besides, graduate school isn’t fun and games. According to American Demographics, the amount people visit therapists is directly correlated to the amount of education they’ve received. While this doesn’t necessarily mean graduate students are more depressed, it’s a definite indicator of how stressful life as a student can be.
And while some people genuinely want to go to graduate school because they love the subject, others come up with less motivating reasons for wanting to continue in academics ““ anything from wanting the prestige of having a higher degree, to proving they’re smart, to loving college and thinking that grad school is a continuation of that.
It doesn’t take a college degree to realize these are not substantial reasons for signing up for years of even more difficult schooling, and if you’re thinking of a doctoral program, of schooling that is relevant to absolutely nothing except a very small percentage of the population.
Even people who aren’t planning on going to grad school seem to get stressed out. Maybe people don’t realize that if they’re not planning to get a postgraduate degree, their grades really don’t matter that much.
It’s common to put a GPA on a resume, but it doesn’t make or break you. And as soon as you’ve built up some work experience, it really won’t make a difference.
Maybe we need to remember that there’s a difference between learning and studying.
For example, learning about modern art means understanding how to interpret modern paintings ““ how to compare them and how to analyze them.
Studying modern art means memorizing the specific dates of when 50 paintings were painted in order to get an A on a test. If learned properly, one of these will be semi-useful later in life. The other will be lost 10 seconds after the professor calls “time.”
And the point of going to college isn’t the studying; it’s the learning portion of classes. Most of us already know that we can study hard to get good grades: That’s how we got here. College is a time to sit back, relax, and actually enjoy what we’re being taught, not to get stressed out over whether you will get a B.
Besides, when we graduate from college, it’ll be the first time in 17 years we won’t be tied to school books. If anything, we should take full advantage of this. In fact, we should be jumping for joy.