Is it worth it trying to get the best grades possible when we're already in a prestigious college ?

Is it worth it trying to get the best grades possible when we're already in a prestigious college ?

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C's get degrees aaaay

What are you trying to do next? If it's your only degree and you can't do well enough to get awards, it doesn't matter much outside of your own satisfaction as long as you pass.

It's worth trying to learn as much as possible in your field while you have the privilege of not working full time and not having many responsibilities, which means getting good grades.

get a job, I guess.

Idk, I'd rather work on my side project than tryhard my (mandatory) physics exam.

Let me rephrase my question. What do I get from having good grades?
I mean, okay, in highschool you need good grades to get good college. But once you're in college, why do the grades matter as long as you pass?

You can get awards and it looks better on a resume. But if you don't really care much about academics, why even go to college?

Well, first, obviously for the diploma.
Though it's not that I don't care about academics, it's just that I only care about specific classes (algorithmics, maths, computer architecture and programming) and still have to attend unrelated ones that affect my rankings (physics, electronics, literature, and humanities)

> obviously for the diploma.
A diploma is just a piece of paper. You have a job in mind?

>and still have to attend unrelated ones that affect my rankings (physics, electronics, literature, and humanities)
Learn to love those classes. I'm getting a PhD. Every class has to be on the subject. I'd be delighted to get to study something else once in a while just to think about new ideas.

No offense but "learn to love those classes" is the typical example of "easier said than done"

If you love math, physics at least should be easy.

Seriously, you'll realize that you don't really get this opportunity again. I really regret not giving a damn about philosophy and not reading anything.

It's not so much about them being easy or not than about not feeling like I'm wasting my time every time I study for their exams

Its more a question about optimizing the value you get out of your time. Being in college has a high value, and education has a high value, but if you're at a prestigious college there are tons of opportunities being thrown at you from all angles.

Yes! And I preferred going to networking dinners by Google over studying some subjects But now it's the end of the semester and I'm realizing that although I'm passing all of my classes, I have terrible grades in some, and it feels so weird because I used to be a straight A student.

My goal from this chan is just to find a way to convince myself back to work, knowing that I only need a reason to study those classes to actually do it. (In HS, I used to top on those classes just because I needed to to get to the uni I am at today)

>What do I get from having good grades?
a better job
for example, I know for a fact if you're studying law and not in the top 10% you are gonna be a clerk your whole life

ThanksDoes anyone knows how relevant that is in the field of computer science?

A good portfolio is better.

If you are going to grad school, yes. Otherwise fuck no.

Portfolio of projects, you mean? Like a Github?

I'm not in the US, and the way it is here, you automatically get to grad school once you finish undergrad.

A github, sure.

automatically into grad school? Fucking bullshit. I have to study an entire summer for my GRE to get a chance at a decent grad school; with my 4.0 GPA btw. man US is such a meme for education >__

Oh okay, that's cool. I didn't expect to be recommended to continue on this path, but eh!
Thanks for the advice.

We also need to take exams if we want to go to another uni for our grad degree, though. If that's any consolation.

It can help you get a better first job, although if you can land a decent first job without great grades and you work there a while and your managers have great things to say about you, then you can get a better job regardless of your college grades.

If you're going to grad school, yes. If going into the private sector, no. Although graduating cum laude looks good in some fields.

Does it in computer science?

How significant is the difference between two possible first jobs?

Believe it or not. Some job applications will ask for your GPA as well as asking for transcript copies.

when you're coming out of undergrad and the only work experience you have is working a cash register, your GPA is one of the only things an employer can see on your resume

for example my megacorp employer won't even speak to someone with < 3.0

Could be relevant, but let's say that if you get into some schools, you can't be a cash register.
(Already had (not too badly) paid summer internship at mediumcorp, and megacorp offers internship to 60% of CS sophomores)

What's the point of looking at your grades in x if you're going to work in that totally unrelated field y ?

>CS
your school name means fuck all
if it's ABET accredited you aren't learning anything differently than any flagship state university
your choice of work will be SEVERELY limited with a shitty GPA, almost as much as if you're a complete autist during interviews

What else would you do other than try to do well with what you're doing with your life?

What kind of a stupid question is that?

You have one life, you've chosen to spend at least 4 years of it (and if you're in the US a huge amount of money) to go learn at a university.

Why would you not try your best?

I LOVE my main courses. But I can't find a reason to study irrelevant mandatory classes.
When I posted this thread, I was actually wanting to find reasons that would motivate me to study them well.

It's your life and how you chose to spend your time what better motivation do you need?

I did not choose some of the classes, and I only need to study them for one more year and a half. Hence the post.

No. You are a big fish in a big pond

Yes, I'm studying applied math at UC Berkeley and all courses I've taken so far are interesting. I'm considering spending more time on differential geometry in machine learning (it's a very cross disciplinary field)

That seems interesting. Could you tell me more about what you do?

And this is unrelated so sorry to bother you with that, but your school and mine have an exchange program agreement, and I have to choose a destination to go to for one semester.

I'm hesitating between going there or to China.
So... would you recommend going to UCBerkeley for one semester? And why?

What do I do? well I just study the electives that I like at this point and think about the internship for next year. I've taken all mandatory courses for my program (and t.bh I kinda miss them now because they are awesome)

Do I recommend UC Berkeley for 1 semester? well depends on what field you're in, for EECS you can get excellent contacts with the industry here, internship opportunities abound, startups from SF bay area or Silicon valley like to hold their data mining contest in our courses etc.

For math and physics, well we're a good school but beware that if you come to Cal to study math because you heard of some famous professor, don't hold you breath lol the rock star professors are often on research leave, they don't typically teach lower division courses and they often teach advance graduate classes like seminar on Perfectoid spaces and shits... but if you come here to do your thesis with one of the professors you already contacted beforehand, that's a different matter.

I don't really know much about the bureaucracy and the admin stuffs like registrations and all sry.

It's fine. All of the bureaucracy is taken care of, I really was asking about opportunities and professors, and your answer is exactly what I wanted to know. Thank you.