"net worth is inversely proportional to GPA"

[Zenmervolt]

<< It's been my experience that, the smartest of the students are *not* the best students, not even close. In high school, some of the more brilliant students were low B, maybe C students.

But, as capn said, dropping out of school doesn't mean you'll be successful. That's absurd. Largely, those that are intelligent yet don't make great grades are simply bored, or have many other things in their life that they're passionate about and take precedence. >>

Well said, but you forget that for every genius with a "C" average, there is another equal genius with an "A" average. There are some smart people who get bored and do the minimum despite being highly capable, but there are also many smart people who find time to get an "A" and socialise and do extra things on the side. It's a matter of personality type and how much value is placed on grades. I had a 3.72 last semester (damn Physics E&M, the "B" brought me down), but I also had free time up the wazoo, not everyone with a good GPA spends all or even most of their time studying.

ZV

 

[Mani]

There's a few factors here, and I say this as a graduating college student with a crappy GPA but a number of high-profile job offers.

In a lot of cases the high-GPA folks DO as uncJigga said have a set path for them. They have a clear goal in mind and a set path they want to take to do it. It often involves little risk (there are a number of companies that just love a nice GPA) and has guaranteed earnings. However, they limit themselves also to this, and don't stray from this path. It may not be the shortest, it may not be the longest, but it's guaranteed money.

I can look at a lot of my friends with crappy GPAs and I know they'll do better than a bunch with higher GPAs because they know how to find multiple ways to achieve the same goal. They know their academic record will not coast them through life so they use their social skills or other powers of persuasion to make a path for them. This is a learning process that will get you a lot farther in the work world than knowing discrete fourier transforms backwards and forwards.

There's also the factor that many people who do well in engineering stay in engineering, whereas many of us with crappy GPAs are doing it with the intention of going on to do business, which salarywise is much more lucrative.

"I won't get into a religious debate about how to define it, but let's assume that Stanford is a 'better' school than Ray's College-O-Rama"

LOL!

 

[gotsmack]

stanford sucks

 

[BigJohnKC]

Seems like it could be true...I had friends in colege with higher GPA's but I get paid more. Of course, one is teaching junior high and another high school....and another is a musician...hmmm, maybe it has to do with major as well. But, I do agree that some people with lower GPA's tend to be more social and outgoing, and the "smartest" people I knew in college were spending their Saturday nights studying for the big test on Monday.

 

[iamshady]

W00t! I should be making atleast 7 figures out of college then!

 

[b0mbrman]

It might have to do with majors...people who are getting better grades are probably in crappier majors while people in hard stuff like engineering and business can get good grades only up to a certain extent

 

[OS]

I should add though, that there may not be any meaningful relationship between grades and earnings. Apparently only 10% of electrical/computer engineers at my school graduate with some kind of honors and the average GPA is around 2.6. It's a very hard major and alot of people drop out of the program. Basically what that means is that very few people from my department do get good grades. So it may be the case that there aren't any high GPA millionaires because there aren't many people with high GPAs to begin with.


On a side note, profs in my department like to mock other departments. Apparently, art majors at my university average a 3.5 GPA and 90% of them graduate with honors, but their starting salary is in the 18-30k range and according to profs, that "comes with supersized fries." :Q For engineers, it's 10% but we get 50-70k starting. Another one is that graduates of behavioral sciences get a BA in BS. :Q

 

[Viper GTS]

Jerboy is set for life.

Viper GTS

 

[WilsonTung]

I guess I'll be somewhere in the middle then.

But from another perspective - Straight A people would probably go for PHds and then to academia (Good pay, but not the best).

A's are great, but there is more to life than grades.

 

[whitelight]

i'm hoping this is true. my parents wouldn't mind either.

 

[worth]

I belive a lot of smart, straight A students don't care that much about making money. Some of my teachers, brilliant and intelligent people who got straight A's in high school and college ended up becoming teachers.

 

[MeanMeosh]

oh hell yea!!! i'm gonna be rollin in the dough like a crazy mofo!

 

[cavingjan]

There is one other factor that everybody has ignored until now (myself included). It goes by many names. Commonly its called luck or fate. Good old fashion "being in the right place at the right time".

Personally at work, when looking at resumes I toss out those with GPAs below 1.8 and above 3.5. Its been our company's experience that those with the high GPAs have too many personality quirks/issues that make it a bottom of the pile option for us. And those below just haven't applied themselves. (It takes 6 months to train someone to do the job that my group does.)
Grades in college don't mean squat beyond your first job. Jobs where grades would be an issue are usually also credential specific so again, it wouldn't be how well you did as much as what specifically did you learn and where or who you learned from.

I interviewed a young guy last week who did very well at CMU and knew a lot about projects that go on at NIST (happens to be where I work) but you just got the impression that he knew everything there was and didn't care to learn about the things that my research group did. Needless to say, the three of us involved with hiring did not put a rubber stamp of approval.
College doesn't teach you to do a job, it just provides you the tools needed to learn the job in the work environment.
Again just my two cents.

 

[minendo]

<< I sure hope so... >>


me too

 

[Blayze]

<< Thats the best news I've heard all day! >>



Same here!

 

[Thanatopsis]

<< I guess I'll be somewhere in the middle then.

But from another perspective - Straight A people would probably go for PHds and then to academia (Good pay, but not the best).

A's are great, but there is more to life than grades. >>



Exactly. And many of those 'A' students realize there is more to life than money, and would rather do what they enjoy instead of simply making more money. My dad, an engineer and an A-B student does not WANT to be a manager, even though it is more money and his company has offered him numerous times. He enjoys what he does, and get paid decently in a secure job.



<< I belive a lot of smart, straight A students don't care that much about making money. Some of my teachers, brilliant and intelligent people who got straight A's in high school and college ended up becoming teachers. >>


Bingo.

 

[Dually]

<< This goes along with the fact that people such as bill gates and larry ellison, as well as many other famous, rich people dropped out of college. >>



Um yeah, they had multi milionair parents.

 

[MrHappyMonkey]

i agree 100% with the statement. The "over achievers" typically everything "by the book" and do not take too many risks, and, was mentioned earlier, get things handed on a silver platter. GPA does not tell ANYTHING about a person besides if either a) their prof was an easy grader b) you were a suck up c) you studied your @ss off to get a number printed on a piece of paper. The only thing that really counts is experience. This seems partially true in High school where most classes that you take are non-vocational, so they are really not prepping you for too much real world experience unless you will be major in a specific field that is included with normal "general ed." classes. A graduation requirement at my HS is to get through 3 years of a science (bio, chem, physics) just to receive a diploma. Why would this much education on science be needed for someone who has no aspiration of being a doctor/scientist/etc that would use this type of information on a daily basis. The fact that most colleges (I am in still in HS) base whether or not you will be accepted into their school is based on grades does not seem to fair. The deciding factor should not be a number, but experience in the profession you want to major in. If,for example, I wanted to major in Business & Accounting, not too many classes that you would take under general ed. at your HS have too much to do with getting a MBA. A prime example of this would be my brother (who is a senior in HS) who is a very inspired and good business person does not have to high of a GPA, so most colleges would immediately dismiss an application. This seems ridicules to me. The state of California, and probably many other school systems should reform how grading and GPA is done to factor in experience rather than a series of test and classes that give you no experience that you will use in a future profession. To get back to the original statement, grades mean nothing, experience is everything. No grade or number will show this.

 

[edfcmc]

The law school mantra:

A students become law professors.
B students become judges.
C students become millionaires.

 

[Bluga]

oh great, than i'm going to be a billionaire

 

[josphII]

whatever you do DO NOT believe that cr@p. I can tell you from first hand experience that the ones with the 4.0's get the jobs, and the rest are left scrambling.

 

[Martin]

My guess would be that Higher GPA people are more stable, consider this:


10 HighGPA ppl become engineers, each gets 100k/year = 1mil/year
10 LowGPA students, 8 of them do nothing, end up with 30k/jobs, 1 gets good management position = 160k, one becomes a semi-pro sports player, 700k/year = 1.1 mil/year.


To me, the best would be a combo of academics and real-world smarts....

 

[DannyLove]

sooooooooooo, does that make me a billionarie, cause I was in the Engineering Department and then I DROPPED IT AND LEFT IT, W0000000000ttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


danny~!

 

[hans007]

i am really business minded and i get along well with people and am a good public speaker. i have a 2.67 gpa. i guess i feel better now. i'm not all that good at math or physics, i can program pretty well though. oh wells, maybe i'll hit it big some day.


and well i know a lot of people with 3.9s who know nothing about what they did, you can really study yourself to an A, i guess it doesnt take that much real abstract thinking power to be able to do that. or common sense.

 

[Mday]

i am studying EE too =)