<p>I know some people say that A students work for C students, and C students become Presidents of the United States. But in reality, I feel the future for C students is much darker than A/B students, even for those graduated from the top colleges as listed on this CC forum. One thing is that a C student will have near nil chance continuing for medical/law/business and other graduate schools. </p>
<p>I dont understand why anyone wants to be a C student in a top college. Should I be in that position, I would transfer to a less competitive university if I am pretty sure I could get a better grade. </p>
<p>Any comments are welcome and appreciated, although those backed by statistic data would be much more helpful than anecdotal cases. Hey, you always have someone wining a big Powerball, but you dont want to invest all your money that way!</p>
<p>It depends on the student.
It also assumes that you think grades are an appropriate measure for learning.
I would rather my child take a calculated risk, and try a class in which they were interested, but wasn’t their best subject, over taking the path that I observed some of her sisters classmates doing- which was taking the course that sounded the best- with the most generous grading teacher.</p>
<p>I opted for competitive private schools for my oldest- she is bright, but I didn’t want her to be the brightest in the class, I would rather she be in the middle. This worked well for her, as she was challenged by her teachers and her classmates, to a greater degree I feel, than if she had attended a less academic school.</p>
<p>Id also point out that this statement One thing is that a C student will have near nil chance continuing for medical/law/business and other graduate schools
is false.</p>
<p>I realize that a very motivated and focused student can eke out an education from any school, but why wouldn’t you want to attend the most rigorous school that is appropriate for you?</p>
<p>The atmosphere at a school where classroom discussion continue out of the door and into the night is much different than a school that has a 4 day academic week and parties start on Wednesday.</p>
Well, med school would probably be out but not necessarily the others. Many people go to business school after having been in the workforce for ten or more years; in that case the business schools are probably going to pay more attention to previous work experience and employer recommendations.
There are C students at college who work hard for those Cs, and there are C students at college who simply don’t care that they’re getting Cs. These students are probably partying a lot, not looking to get into fields that require a stellar GPA (i.e. medicine, ibanking), and just aren’t that concerned with GPA at that point in their lives. Many students make a conscious choice not to worry about getting high grades.</p>
<p>
Certainly on the whole A students (who are more able and/or work harder) will succeed more than C students. The point of that saying I think is more to point out that academics aren’t everything. Someone who’s personable, friendly, knows a lot of people, and has a great personality (like that C student who parties too much, perhaps) is going to go far–and may very well go further than a boring A student who worked really hard in school but never did much else.</p>
<p>How about being an okay student at a not-top college? I graduated cum laude with a B.S (and that cum laude was only because I transferred and none of my grades before my junior year were factored into my GPA or class rank!). I’m married to a guy who graduated either summa or *magna<a href=“don’t%20remember%20which”>/i</a>, and who has a PhD. From an Ivy! Guess which one of us makes the most money? (Different fields accounts for most of the difference.)</p>
<p>For something more than anecdotal evidence, I seem to recall a study that looked at engineers and found that those who had the best social skills made the most money, not the ones who had the best technical skills. You might look for that.</p>
<p>I have a few friends who were in this position. Many of them planned to go into music (where grad school options will depend mainly on skill level rather than GPA) or education (you don’t need to go to grad school to teach, but if you do go to grad school, the competition isn’t that fierce).</p>
<p>Although one of my friends who struggled the most academically while dealing with personal issues did end up going to medical school and is now a specialist in her field of choice.</p>
<p>Perhaps because one believes that the benefits of having gone to that particular college outweigh the negatives of the lower GPA?</p>
<p>And there are B/C students out there who go to grad school, by the way. It’s a little trickier, but one of the benefits of having been a struggling student is that you learn to be more resourceful than you do as a student who can cruise through easily (and if you were smart enough to go to a top school in the first place, the combination of smarts and resourcefulness can serve you very well).</p>
<p>And of course there are B/C students who get terrific jobs straight out of college.</p>
<p>Not everyone wants to be a doctor, lawyer, or investment banker.</p>
<p>Graduate programs are mostly interested in your grades in your major field. So you may get Cs in classes that broaden your education, do well in your major, and get into good grad programs. </p>
<p>In addition, having a prestigious college name on your resume can be very helpful in some circumstances. No one asks what your GPA was 10 years out, but a well-known name makes them sit up and take notice. Having graduated from that name school with a C average will often do you more good than a 4.0 from Brand X school. </p>
<p>Not to mention the fact that some people are interested in education for its own sake, not as a credential.</p>
<p>“No one asks what your GPA was 10 years out, but a well-known name makes them sit up and take notice. Having graduated from that name school with a C average will often do you more good than a 4.0 from Brand X school.”</p>
<p>Ten years out an employer wants to know what you were doing from year 1 to year 10. You’re right that no one cares about GPA at that point. However, a Summa Cum Laude or Magna Cum Laude next to Brand X always meant more to me when I was hiring than a degree from a brand name school.</p>
<p>From my own experience, I went to one of the top graduate b-schools and one thing that struck all of us was that (if I remember this correctly) something like 40% of our class attended one of the Ivy League Schools, MIT, or Stanford. We all thought it was rather strange that some large, nationally known schools might have 1 or 2 people in our class, but a Princeton (with its small class) had 25 (I just checked, it really was 25).</p>
<p>To all of us, that meant the best strategy was to go to the best school that you could get into.</p>
<p>Also, IMHO, Consolation hit a key point - for the rest of your life you will be known by the school you went to - no one will know your grades.</p>
<p>One big caveat - I went to grad school “a few” years ago - this may not be valid, or as valid, any longer.</p>
<p>I also doubt anyone wants or plans to be a ‘C’ student. I’m betting most of them aim a little higher, whether it turns out that way or not.
Even if a school might be a reach, maybe they welcome the challenge, and happen to like a student body full of bright, motivated peers.</p>
<p>If you find yourself earning Cs at Famous-Name-University, you had better just hang in there until you finish your degree because not a lot of other colleges/universities are going to accept you as a transfer student. Unless of course you drop out for a few years and get your act together academically before going back to school.</p>
<p>In more than two decades in the working world, no one has ever asked what my grades were in college. Not H.R., not a prospective boss, nobody. They want to see a degree on your resume, not a transcript.</p>
<p>GPA was less important years ago than it is now. Many entry level employers screen by GPA. So, in those first couple of years after graduation, it IS important to have a good transcript. Also important, as many mentioned, for graduate school admissions.
I don’t think anyone goes to a top school thinking about getting Cs though.
From what I hear, the ranking of a school doesn’t necessarily correlate to the difficulty of the academics. My neighbor’s d went to Wake Forest and is struggled to keep a 3.0. That school is notorious for tough grading…“Work Forest”. Yet it’s not what I would consider to be an elite school (although it is very good). Her s is at Havard and getting As - working reasonably hard but not killing himself. Go figure…
So, if GPA is important to you (and it probably should be along with getting a good education and having a good social life) then check out the grade inflation or deflation at the school you’re going to. It’s just one factor…but one that deserves some attention given how crazy competitive it is out there.
And to those who have been around for two decades, it’s different than it used to be. No one asked me for my GPA either. But they do ask graduating students now!</p>
<p>Some of my best friends got plenty of Cs in engineering at an Ivy. They worked plenty hard, but the curve in engineering is pretty tough. Almost all of them went to grad school (some Ivy) and they are all tremendously successful now. Yes that was a while ago, but I find it hard to believe that C students today are destined to permanent failure.</p>
<p>Grades (e.g. GPA) are very important for determining your potential in your first year or two out of college (because most employers, especially top ones, often won’t realistically consider those below some cutoffs). Also, GPA is very important in grad school applications. In both these situations a “C” student is really going to struggle a lot in the competition for top end positions.</p>
<p>However, once you get more than a few years out from college then your college GPA doesn’t really matter that much (if at all) and your previous track record in your career takes over. Here is would certainly be possible, although statistically unlikely, for a “C” student to be the boss of an “A” student.</p>
Unfortunately, this does not describe the world of work in some fields today. Quite a number of employers in engineering fields (1) require a transcript at the interview (2) have minimum GPAs for hiring - often 3.5, no matter how prestigious your school or how grade-deflated it might be (3) require on-line resume submittals and scan electronically for the GPA, eliminating those without the information or below the cut-off.</p>
<p>Maybe there are ways around that through networking, but it is a different world today than for those of us whose careers began two decades (or more) ago.</p>
<p>Heck, when I got my Stanford MBA the entire curriculum was Pass/No Pass. Maybe it still is. But college grads in a number of fields might as well have their GPAs tatooed on the forehead, at least for that first job. </p>
<p>Not saying I like it - I don’t. But it is how it is.</p>