I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whether or not putting in that extra effort to get all As was really worth it… It seems that there is a wide range of people getting into top schools, and that it doesn’t necessarily require you being #1 in your class. All throughout high school I accepted doing your best in the classroom (which I always assumed was straight As for me, because I knew that was my best) to be a good goal. But now I’ve stepped back, examined the situation a bit, and I can’t really justify all that stress/worrying/etc. I’ve always been told it’s so great that I work hard in school, but why? What is the pay-off? Is there a lot of value to self-discipline? When do I get to reap the rewards of my effort? Does anyone in life really care? And, more importantly, in college should I continue trying to get top grades, or just try hard, learn a lot, and settle for whatever the college analog of the B+/A- is? I feel that I’d have a LOT more time/energy then to learn other stuff that interests me, or just relax and enjoy myself more. Was there any point to all the work I did in high school? Does it matter to anyone else ever? Why do parents push their children to do well in school? What does it all come down to in the end?
wow, long post, sorry
<p>I think if you were trying so hard, that you didn't have time to relax and have fun then you are just one of the "number robots" like was said in one of the other posts. I am not saying you shouldn't try hard, because you should, but not to the point that it takes all the fun out of life. These really elite schools aren't looking for numbers, they are looking for people. I think you should relax a little. Go to the movies with your friends or something. Don't be a person who just sits in her room and studies herself to death. There is more to life than numbers. If it is an issue with your parents, you should talk to them. Tell them you don't like the pressure and it is hurting you. They are you parents, but it is your life.</p>
<p>I should make one thing clear... I DO enjoy most of it. Like if just getting B+/A-s throughout high school was ok, I'd be all set. It's learning the extra 5-10% of the material or spending that extra 30 min perfecting an essay that gets to me. MOST of it I really really do enjoy. But it takes a LOT of discipline to push myself to get the extra 5-10 percentage points of the grade, and sometimes that effort is spent on things that aren't terribly interesting/important to me. Like I stressed out a lot about getting As rather than A-s and that just seems REALLY dumb to me... although I still believe that there is a very big difference between an A- and true complete mastery of the subject. I'd say that 90% of the time my effort in school was motivated by sincere interest and passion for learning. The other 10% though caused a lot of (maybe very unnecessary?) stress and concern.</p>
<p>Well, I am not going to lie to you, I am a slacker. I do a lot of my work right before work, but I also read a lot of nonfiction in areas the interest me like physics and math and such. I don't really push for the extra 5-10% because I don't care that much, and I don't want to say I went through absolute misery just for some numbers. If you have fun learning, that's great, but I personally don't think you should stay up all night trying to completely master some subject like calculus if you are an intended English major. I am not saying you shouldn't try to do good in that class, but you should obsess over a subject that you really will never have much to do with just for numbers.</p>
<p>I know some people that lose sleep over Bs on tests... if that's you, then stop it. It's just really not such a big deal. Colleges don't see a 4.0 and think "Wow! What a great person!" It's just 1% better than a 3.97 to them, which isn't such a huge difference to be concerned over.</p>
<p>Along with that, there's the whole valedictorians-bomb-out-in-college thing simply because they've always put so much stress on themselves to maintain the high grades and college hits them and they can't handle it. So if you've been stressing over grades your entire life, now is when you need to relax about them because you'll definitely get a few Bs in college, and it's not the end of the world.</p>
<p>There's just not a massive difference between a 3.9 and a 4.0 gpa... but there is a massive difference between a relaxed 3.9 and a stressful 4.0.</p>