<p>jhsu, basically what ur advocating is mediocrity. Mediocrity is the reason why George Bush is the president of the United States today. Cutting corners on studying leads to terrible work and study habits. Maybe a cursory knowledge of the subject matter is enough to satisfy you, but for others, a thorough knowledge is needed in order to do well (and I mean A's). Maybe B's, C's, and D's are good enough for you, but in the world of ivy league admissions, they just don't cut it.</p>
<p>Social_Pariah, if you think I voted for the Moron-In-Chief, then I have a some penny stock and Ginsu knives to sell you. And yes, that was a gross insult to morons all over the world.</p>
<p>spydertennis: If your father beats you for earning less than a 95, start hitting back. It's called self-defense.</p>
<p>You can't be perfect at everything all the time. This is an undeniable fact of life. There are some things that you should NEVER cut corners on (such as integrity, correcting safety flaws, etc.), but insisting on APs to the hilt with straight A's is not one of these things.</p>
<p>If I approached college with the perfectionism I approached high school, I would have been pulling an all-nighter every single night. You just do the best you can given the abilities and resources you have. As an undergraduate electrical engineering student at UIUC, I graduated with a GPA of 4.13 (3.13 on the conventional 4-point scale) and in the 60th percentile for the class, so I passed with flying colors. And yes, I did get at least 7 hours of sleep per night most nights. The constraint on my study time encouraged me to be more efficient and productive. As a graduate student at George Mason University, I again managed to sleep at least 7 hours per night most nights. </p>
<p>I graduated with a GPA of 3.03, which is quite a feat considering that I specialized in an area of electrical engineering where my background was weak and did a time-consuming independent study and an even more time-consuming (and unsuccessful) research project. In spite of my record of a declining GPA, I have no regrets about what I did in graduate school.</p>
<p>That's extremely reasonable and valid. But the point is, jhsu, we're not in college yet. Our academic standing is extremely important in getting into college. Once we're in, we can relax a bit.</p>
<p>oh dude i was just kidding, i thought you understood that</p>