Many of you are missing the point. (neilc has it right) I didn't want to achieve straight A's for the sake of achieving straight A's. It is not like I told anyone (or needed to prove myself to anyone else). I did it because that was the mark of achieving mastery in the course (now you may disagree with that). Most of the poeple I knew that claimed to be learning a lot outside of the class curriculum and ended up with C's actually didn't learn very much because they spent more time slacking off than trying to learn.
As far as spending time to get A's instead of exploring, I didn't mention it but besides the two internships I also participated in a study aboard at the University of Manchester (England) and traveled all over Europe.
People see this issue as black and white, but trying to get A's does not preclude you from doing other things. You just have to be willing to put in the time to get A's (ie, learning the subject matter) PLUS do other things. Most people don't have the work ethic.
> People see this issue as black and white, but trying to get A's does not preclude you from doing other things.
I believe that it does. A small number of people, in general, make good use of the extra time afforded by slacking on grades, but we here on yc news probably aren't talking about the average person.
People I know who got straight A's were very one-minded. The huge number of clubs that they were in fools no one. Straight A's is almost a guarantee that the person has expertise in nothing else substantial, from what I've seen.
As far as spending time to get A's instead of exploring, I didn't mention it but besides the two internships I also participated in a study aboard at the University of Manchester (England) and traveled all over Europe.
People see this issue as black and white, but trying to get A's does not preclude you from doing other things. You just have to be willing to put in the time to get A's (ie, learning the subject matter) PLUS do other things. Most people don't have the work ethic.
-Robbie