<p>Does anyone here ever feel like their accomplishments are nothing? Well, not "nothing," but that you're so used to it that it doesn't really impact you anymore?</p>
<p>So last night I attended--for the fourth year in a row-- the academic awards banquet for my school. Once again I made the top 5% of my class, which is an accomplishment, but I feel that now, when we're seniors getting ready to graduate, our accomplishments in high school almost don't matter and that they'll be insignificant because all our peers are on an equal level as us and that college is where we need to stand out.</p>
<p>Okay, now I feel ridiculous. Am I totally off base here?</p>
<p>Employers don't care, but its not like they were all for nothing. They got you into college. Norcalguy is right that once you get to college they are meaningless though, but just remember you would not be going to a great university like Cornell (I assume you got accepted) if you had not done them.</p>
<p>Beyond your acceptance to college, your high school track record is pretty much useless to employers, grad school, etc. </p>
<p>That goes for community college as well, as it can be (and often is) used as a link between a bad HS experience and a great 4 year college. What you show at community college, for example, far outweighs your high school record.</p>
<p>And it's really not just for employment purposes. I know things like US News or acceptance rates or average SAT scores seem important right now as HS seniors but all of that BS goes away once you're in college (unless you choose to stay on College Confidential for some senseless reason like I have). I know the SAT scores of maybe 3-4 of the friends I've made at Cornell. It just doesn't come up.</p>
<p>College isn't <em>necessarily</em> about standing out - it's about using the resources you have to your fulfillment/best advantage. If you happen to stand out, fine; but at Cornell, or any other university, you very well might not, but that's perfectly fine as long as you take advantage of what's offered to you.</p>
<p>But no, that's not ridiculous. I felt the same way. Especially since high school sucks all around, when you graduate you get this overwhelming feeling of "OK, what the hell was all that for?" Especially since you're so independent in college, all that time you spent listening to teachers and relying on others and working within a rigid system just seems so stupid and futile.</p>
<p>But you're graduating, and life is just going to get so much better! :)</p>
<p>you're not off base at all...in a way you're kind of a blank slate going into college. and college is a lot harder than high school...the grades don't come easily. but hopefully if you work hard in college, you'll be rewarded with good grades and you'll feel smarter and more accomplished all over again :)</p>
<p>Elgguj, for me college has been much easier than HS. I think it may be my mindset though. I was uninterested/unmotivated in HS, and now in college something clicked. I actually pay attention, do any HW, and learned how to study. I have made straight A's through my sophomore year. The freedom and ability to make your own schedule are HUGE pluses to me. I am way less distracted now than I was in high school. With that said, it is still easy to fall apart if you don't work hard, but there is no reason someone can't do well in college if they want it enough. </p>
<p>I also think the quality of the professor/teacher has a ton to do with it though. I had some HORRIBLE teachers in the inner city high school I attended. Even now in college, my grade percentage tends to be much higher in courses with better professors. I had an adjunct prof in intro to biology who was incompetent, and I barely got an A. The class didn't seem hard at all until the tests. He would pull stuff out of nowhere and put it on the test. I had a great prof in managerial accounting and got a 97 despite difficult tests (class average was a 60% and there was no curve). Ratemyprofessors is the greatest website ever invented imo (the bio prof I took was the only choice I had to fit it into my schedule).</p>
<p>i agree that college is easier on some levels. the profs actually teach the stuff and the classes are interesting (for the most part). which makes it easier to pay attention and focus. but at the same time, the quality of your work does have to be muchhh higher to get A's in college than in high school. profs in college can easily recognize BS...so college forces you to actually learn things and focus if you still want A's. which is ultimately a good thing...just a pain sometimes when you're feeling lazy.</p>
<p>the only classes i ever cared about in high school were AP chem , honors chem and AP euro. The rest of them were total BS and i just never did anything for them. And the only real extra curricular i did was research so i am kind of glad I didnt try too hard since we ll get a clean slate in college :)</p>
<p>Maybe on Wall Street where things like your school's prestige carry more weight. Generally, post-graduation, your employer/grad school won't care about your HS stats. While in college, for internships and stuff, you may be asked about your SAT scores.</p>
<p>Will Ibanks hold it against you if you did not take the SAT, but have an excellent GPA? Should I take it at some point even though I don't need to for college admissions anymore?</p>
<p>By Rebecca L. Weber | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
Harvard University senior Zachary Podolsky has every reason to feel good about the record he has compiled in college. A classics major with a GPA above 3.8 and a writer for the Harvard Crimson, Mr. Podolsky is also well informed about financial markets.</p>
<p>But when he applied to several dozen Wall Street firms, most of them asked for a bit of ancient history: his SAT scores.</p>
<p>Podolsky, who will start his new position at Goldman Sachs 10 days after graduation in June, says he had no idea he'd be asked to submit scores from the tests he took in high school.
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<p>Take a look at this job posting... scroll down to minimum SAT score Investment</a> Analyst</p>
<p>So... Hermanns - are you applying for an i-banking job straight out of college? If you're applying for an MBA program, you can take the GMAT.</p>