I’m slowly spiraling down that rabbit hole myself.
I worry about my own self. I don’t have time for the drama of others.
Why would you care what someone else thinks? You will hear many stupid things from people during your lifetime.
I would say Hello, stressed out student! I’m sorry that the current cutthroat admissions climate (and job market) has made you feel this way about your education. That stinks. I hope you find something that interests you in college and throughout life and love learning about it.
I think GPA helps in the short run, but not the long run.
So many people want to take a zillion AP classes so they can have the most weighted classes but then don’t get to take classes that are interesting to them.
It depends who is saying it and under what circumstances. For the kid who really, desperately wants medical school, caring about GPA is essential. The same is true for the high school kid who’s family can’t pay tuition and whose only hope is gaining admission to one of the elite - “meets full needs schools”. Its unfair to penalize kids for focusing on what the world requires of them.
Just move on. Everyone has different opinions!
I think OP is also referring to him/herself, based on post 0.
Personally, my kids didn’t grad college with the high gpas (one did fine, the other not so much.) It’s amazing, however, just how well educated they are. Truly. That matters more, to me. Imo, it matters more in life. If they go for grad school, they will work it out.
That you are fairly normal, OP. Enjoying the experience for the learning without thought to how you are performing based on your own talent and efforts - and how that stacks up against your peers - is a luxury a lot of students just can’t afford. There are scholarships, internships, grad school and employment that rely heavily on GPA at this point.
At this point in your life, it’s actually helpful to have a way to gage your progress and mastery that is quantifiable. Get out into the big wide world, and that measurement of yourself becomes a whole lot murkier.
Some people also value “Likes” on Instagram more than they value friendships. Many people value trappings over substance, and that’s just the way they are. Accept that and move on.
If I were you I will forget about what these people say and mind your own business instead. Also, remember that like is a learning process and that people have different priorities.
Regarding the title question, if that someone controls whether you can pursue your goals, then you may have to play their grade/GPA game. I.e. this may be the case for pre-med and pre-law students, as well as those at colleges where their desired major has a grade/GPA based secondary admission process.
Yes, grades/GPA are supposed to indicate learning, but once they become critical factors in decision making, some students will compromise learning to get higher grades/GPA (i.e. avoid courses where they may learn more but risk lower grades).
Grades/GPA play a factor in post-bachelor success with getting into graduate school, business school, etc., but I wouldn’t put too much thought into it as if someone says this to me I’m generally not going to care. I’ll worry about myself.
If you’re talking about yourself, I would reflect on what you like about your classes or major. For example, when I was taking orgo, getting a good grade was a big priority for me as a premed, but I also realized I really enjoyed the problem solving and logic aspect of orgo. I thought it was so interesting to understand the basics of how molecules could be assembled in nature or synthesized in a lab, and it’s just flat out cool to me that a small set of relatively simple reactions are the fundamental building steps of a plethora of chemical and biochemical reactions. So for me at least, I try to take pleasure in small, simple rewards such as the satisfaction of solving a problem successfully, as well as reminding myself of the big picture “cool” factor.
Also, having friends who can nerd out with you over school helps a lot too lol.
Just because someone is saying it, doesn’t mean they believe it. May be just stating the harsh reality of how much weight GPA and standardized test scores hold. It sure requires time and opportunity to prove your intelligence but GPA, SAT, LSAT, PSAT, GMAT, MCAT, GRE are solid evidence to pass intitial screening. For example, Amherst only sends 15% of their total applications to admission committee, if you can’t make it there, your knowledge doesn’t get any attention.
It doesn’t matter who is the most qualified and admired candidate, democracy picks ones with the most electoral votes.