<p>My girlfriend is wondering weather or not it's worth it going for major honors in her department (she'd have to write a Spanish literature and language senior thesis). Supposedly it's quite difficult to get and she'll already get general honors and graduate this year with a great GPA.</p>
<p>Do business schools or employers really care about this at all? Is it worth going for?</p>
<p>If you have no ambition or drive. </p>
<p>If you are satisfied with mediocre and 2nd place.</p>
<p>Seriously, If they find out you could have and you don’t; that is worse than trying and failing. It says a lot about you and how you face challenges.</p>
<p>Don’t overwork yourself. Don’t do it if you don’t enjoy it. Plain run of the mill honors is good. </p>
<p>—But really, A future MBA (or JD) not going for #1? I don’t buy it.</p>
<p>She has more ambition and drive than anyone I know. However, she has a full coarse load at a difficult university and her adviser told her that only three people have gotten honors in this particular major in a long time. </p>
<p>And how would they find out if she tried and failed or if she never tried at all?</p>
<p>The reason it is only 3 is because many give up before they even try. If she wants to be the best then she needs to learn to ignore the historical odds. They have no impact on her performance today. She needs to focus in on what she wants. If she is considering it then she has some sense that it could be done. If she has that feeling then she should try. Why not?</p>
<p>It’s not that employers would know precisely what she did. People can sense what type of person you are. If you are the type of person that gives up without even trying, that trait will shine through. For those types of people the odds are always so great that they can’t possibly win. Those are the people who refuse to invent or innovate because to them, someone else must have already tried and failed. Those are the types that take the easy route settling for the mediocre returns, and the second place jobs. A top MBA doesn’t make you a top performer. You must begin with a winning spirit. Winners know that failure does not mean a loss. Failure is an opportunity to learn about yourself and your business. </p>
<p>If she doesn’t try, and she believes she could have made it, she will regret it for the rest of her life. This is a 1 time thing. One shot. That what you get at the interview. That is what you get at the deal table. That is what you get in a sale. 1 chance.</p>
<p>Of course you get more than one opportunity in life but you should approach each opportunity as if it were the last.</p>
<p>crazy talk aside, </p>
<p>assuming she already is graduating with honors, most hiring manager wouldn’t particularly care, nor would most adcoms</p>