More than 10 years ago, when I was teaching at the Wharton School of Business, a student came to me at the end of the first semester. He sat down on a chair and burst into tears. I immediately started going over in my head all the possible reasons why a freshman can cry. Did his girlfriend leave him? Was the supervisor scolded for plagiarism in the course paper? "I just got my first A—minus," the student said in a trembling voice.
Year after year, I watch with concern how students fixate on getting solid A's. Some sacrifice their health, others even try to sue the university. All of them become participants in the cult of perfectionism because of the conviction that high grades open the doors to elite graduate school or provide an invitation to work in a prestigious company.
I was among them too. I went to college to graduate with a high GPA. Then such a result was for me an indicator of willpower and intelligence, proof that there is something in me that will allow me to succeed. I was wrong.
Research proves L. L. Baird. Do grades and tests predict adult accomplishment? / Research in Higher Education that academic success does not guarantee a dizzying career at all. Moreover, in the first year after graduation, the relationship between grades and success in different fields is P. L. Roth, C. A. BeVier, et al. Meta-analyzing the relationship between grades and job performance / Journal of Applied Psychology is quite modest, and over the next years it becomes insignificant at all. For example, when 2-3 years pass after graduation, the excellent academic performance of Google employees in college ceases L. Bock. Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead influence their work progress. Of course, it should be clarified here that twos are unlikely to get into Google.
Unfortunately, academic scores do not evaluate qualities such as creativity, leadership and teamwork, or social, emotional and political intelligence. Yes, excellent students have no equal in absorbing and analyzing information when it is necessary to pass the exam. But for a successful career, rather than looking for the right solution to the problem, you need to look for the right problem to be solved.
Studying for A's requires the ability to match. An influential career, on the contrary, is looking for originality. As a result of a 14-year study in which the best students of their groups took part, it turned out K. D. Arnold. Lives of promise: What becomes of high school valedictorians: A fourteen-year study of achievement and life choices that, despite a generally successful career, they rarely occupy the highest positions.
Excellent students rarely become influential people — they become part of the system, not change it.
Perhaps this explains why Steve Jobs graduated What was Steve Jobs’s high school GPA? Not 4.0, or even 3.0 / The Atlantic school with an average score of 2.65, J.K. Rowling received Got a 2:2? Like to get stoned? You’re hired! / The Times university diploma with an average score of 3, and Martin Luther King deserved C. Carson. Martin Luther King Jr.: The Morehouse Years / The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education only one A in four years of college.
If your goal is to graduate without a single flaw in your diploma, you will certainly try to choose simpler courses and classes, which means that you will remain in your comfort zone. And if you are willing to endure periodic fours, you will be able to master the Python programming language, while simultaneously analyzing complex literary works. This will teach you how to cope with obstacles and setbacks and make you stronger.
Students who study for A's miss a lot in social life. The more time you need to spend in the library, the less time you have to make real friends, enroll in interest groups or join volunteer groups. I know this from my own experience. I was never able to achieve a high average score — the four I was counting on. Instead, I got a diploma with a score of 3.78. And now, by the way, this is the first time since the release that I tell anyone about him at all. In fact, no one cares about this score.
Looking back at my time at university, I don't dream of my grades being higher. If I could go back there, I would study a lot less. The hours I spent studying the inner workings of the eye would have been much better spent in rehearsals at the university theater or in conversations about the meaning of life.
Therefore, a little advice to universities: make it easier for students to take intellectual risks. Stop dwelling too much on the minimum difference in scores or adding useless pros and cons to standard scores. It's time to stop this academic madness that makes students strive for a useless ideal.
And now a tip to employers: let employees know that you value skills, not just a's in the diploma. Many companies are already following this correct strategy. Analysis of 500 job ads showed A. P. McKinney, K. D. Carlson, et al. Recruiters’ use of GPA in initial screening decisions: Higher GPAs don’t always make the cut / Personnel Psychology that during the initial selection, only 15% of recruiters paid special attention to high average scores. For 40%, other qualities of candidates were much more important.
And finally, a tip to excellent students: understand that insufficient academic success can prepare you for resounding success in life. Perhaps it's time to make an effort to achieve a new goal — to get at least one four before graduation.