Do high school grades matter?

[secrets0stolen]

What consequences have you experienced because of your high school grades: whether good or bad?

[LostMyMap]

Originally Posted by secrets0stolen

What consequences have you experienced because of your high school grades: whether good or bad?

Grades, combined with other activities and ACT scores, got me a full ride scholarship to a major university.

[curiouslyrandom]

I graduated with a GPA of 2.75 or thereabouts, the bottom third of my class in a highly competitive school. Took ten years off, then went to college and got a GPA of 3.89. No one gave a fig about my high school grades because I didn't use them to get the grants that would have asked for them.

Just pulled my son out of junior high to homeschool him again. Last time didn't work out so well, but this time at least we have a plan.

[Indiana]

My high grades allowed me to get into a sought-after, limited-entry degree course that has given me excellent transferable skills and contacts for my career.

[VinceG]

High school grades only matter when it comes to getting into college.

Most colleges have minimum requirements that you must either exceed, or get waived.

Colleges that can afford to be selective, well, you have to find some way of standing out. Grades is one of the ways to do it. Loads of extra curriculars, letters from congressmen, businessmen, and the like are other ways to do it.

If your aim is not to go to college, then you can forget all about your grades. Forget about your schooling, too. Focus instead on building skills.

[NDN Scholar]

If you're looking for scholarships, you need high grades. Many universities ask for a minimum high school gpa for entry into undergraduate studies.


If you barely pass, go find some full-time work for a few years, and you'll probably be accepted into a university regardless of your grades as a "mature student." Good luck with scholarships, though.

[st33med]

Originally Posted by NDN Scholar

If you're looking for scholarships, you need high grades. Many universities ask for a minimum high school gpa for entry into undergraduate studies.


If you barely pass, go find some full-time work for a few years, and you'll probably be accepted into a university regardless of your grades as a "mature student." Good luck with scholarships, though.

This is very true. High school can also be beneficial for college if you take AP classes. These can get you out of the regular classes if you test out on one of their tough tests. But, it's worth it in the long run because A) you get out of easy courses and B) you get more credit and possibly take an easy semester or two.

But, from my past knowledge, it doesn't seem like you want to go to a university.

Completing high school can also slightly improve your payroll because you are at least educated.

It might be best to define what you would absolutely love to do now.

[SatvikBeri]

Personally, high school grades helped me get a full ride to Simon's Rock, and then transfer to Berkeley.

I know one person who didn't graduate college, and his high school grades helped him get a job interview.

[LakeyPoo]

Striving to get good grades will spread throughout other areas of your life. It will cultivate work ethic and self control that will help you throughout your whole life.

[Mounds]

I think high school grades are the most important. I was barred from several programs I liked due to grades, including entomology. That's seriously no fun when you know you have the knowledge but your lack of good grades is holding you back.

[aelle]

My good grades all throughout high school allowed me to get into my higher education of choice, my excellent baccalaureate grades allowed me to receive a grant that I used to intern abroad 3 years in a row. These 2 things were big factors contributing to the line of work I am in now.

[aelle]

Originally Posted by LakeyPoo

Striving to get good grades will spread throughout other areas of your life. It will cultivate work ethic and self control that will help you throughout your whole life.

Meh. I graduated top of my high school class and I hadn't lifted a finger all year. Some of my more struggling classmates had much stronger work ethics than me. Grades really aren't that good a measurement of your efforts.

[KBC]

Sorry,I guess I'll be one of the few who hasn't graduated..I've been out of school for more than 25 years now too.

I didn't graduate,I went to the school of hard knocks,took up a career in drug abuse/alcoholism,married early,divorced 10 years after,moved from place to place,acquiring job skills,education of the street sorts,and never went to jail,never was turned down for any jobs applied for(naturally I didn't apply for the Chairman of the board for GE,either),but I truthfully haven't had any negatives from not having a higher education.

The rest of my siblings got their collage degrees,doing things they 'sometimes' don't want to do..Sounds like life to me.

Will they make more in their lives than me?naturally they will,,Does this worry me?none the least.

I did what I did,they do what they do.The only ones who have had problems with this 'life' I chose are those who believe they are superior in some way..

[royster]

KBC beat me to being an unpopular poster:

academic acheivement merely shows how well you've bent to the system you'll be obeying for the rest of your life, should you choose to. Success isn't measured by posessions you can't take with you. In the scheme of eternity, high school grades aren't even on the "squat" radar.

I don't have a lot of respect for book-smarts in dealing with the world. And with the spiritual shift going on, academics is inconsiquencial, except spelling. That's about to change, too.

90% of highly-schooled people couldn't survive without air conditioning.

[Thanatopsis]

To your first question, another question: What are you looking to get out of high school? Your answer to this will help you understand why you are in high school in the first place.

To your second one: My high school grades were above average but not stellar. I graduated ~110/~710. I was able to go to a university, earn a bachelor's degree, and enter a graduate program to become something I've wanted to be since I became curious about the world. No regrets here; it's all been fun!

The best advice I can give about high school: unless you are legally or illegally emancipated, you will be going to school, so make the most of your time inside those walls. Use it to begin your life's grand experiment, whatever that may be. Or don't

[sandy]

One year after you graduated from high school nobody really cares about your grades. They will come up with "new standards" to "measure" you by then

[SatvikBeri]

Originally Posted by royster

And with the spiritual shift going on, academics is inconsiquencial, except spelling. That's about to change, too.

There are so many ways to interpret this part of this post. My head is spinning.

[Lauxa]

Being in the top 10% in Texas meant automatic acceptance into any state college.

Once you blow the whole grades thing I think it would be hard to get back into the mainstream educational system. Meh. Colleges like homeschool too, as long as you can show them what you did with your time.

[scorpio1980]

My high school grades never meant anything to me, and now at almost 30 years old they still don't mean anything to me. I have never been asked what sort of grades I received, because I have never desired to fit in with the academic world. If you feel the need to judge me by how good I can mindlessly spew useless nonsense out of a textbook then I figure I don't need you or your programing.

[springvale]

Originally Posted by secrets0stolen

What consequences have you experienced because of your high school grades: whether good or bad?

High school grades are very important. Once you have the highest grades during high school, you can easily be accepted in different prestigious colleges and universities.
I mean-it's kinda VIP treatment

[curiouslyrandom]

90% of highly-schooled people couldn't survive without air conditioning.

I heart you, Royster. Seriously, I do, because I know a lot of these people. I've listened to them whine about job hunting during hellish New York or Chicago summers, and I've wondered why they put up with all the misery... just because they went to college/uni and now are hunting up employment in a field they don't really care much about, but it's all they know?

Your high school grades and the college or university you attend will only matter to the HR person who hires you. If, like me, you don't go that route and instead pursue a college degree because it interests you, life will be different. My college education was totally paid for through scholarships and grants (yes, I was a "mature" student), and if I want to finish the final year of my degree at a university, I can reapply for more, plus a loan or two to cover all the bases. Every few years I apply to a uni, and I've always been accepted. NOT because of my high school grades, but because of my essays and my previous college credits.

I applied to a private women's college last year ($35k/year) but decided not to go because I had too many other things going on. They offered me a merit scholarship of $10k and a few other small grants and scholarships, which made it almost affordable.

[Medea33]

Even very good colleges will accept sub-par high school grades, if your SAT/ACT scores are stellar. You might need to interview though. As far as scholarships go, they can depend on your grades, depending on the grantors.

Unless you want to go to college within a few years of your HS graduation, though, nobody cares.

[livelove18]

It all depends what you want to study in college. If you are going to school for a specific program your school has that you need a certain gpa to be admitted they do matter. But if you are going to school to major in business administration, you really can get a business degree at any type of school. What matter is what you do AFTER college.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by secrets0stolen

What consequences have you experienced because of your high school grades: whether good or bad?

Think about it this way: Once you are in high school, do your middle school or grade school grades matter anymore?


Nope.


The only thing high school grades matter for at all is getting you into college and getting scholarships if you want them.

As soon as you get into college, your high school grades mean absolutely nothing. I am a senior in college right now and at no point in my college years have my past grades from 9th-12th grade mattered at all.

[beyond]

My high school grades were very bad but it didn't have any negative consequences on anything, rather it forced me to study harder at univeristy.

[Lifeisamazing]

In general, they do matter. Like many people have preached: they help you get into college easier and assist you with a scolarship.

However, how many people envy those who get better grades or who spend lots of time in a book to study for a test, when in reality they have no communication skills or any other skills to make a difference in their life and world? Sorry for generalizing because very intelligent people can obviously get great grades as well, even though that didn't seem to be the case in high school. Those who were smart at something usually liked that subject and didn't care at all about what grades they received in other classes. Those, who cared about grades in general, were those who studied for every test and didn't seem to be those who really liked their life. I believe what matter are skills, not how well you can prepare for one test and forget all the material your learned for that afterwards.

[Transcend]

My high school grades certainly matter, for they have caused me to be a returning, fifth year student. If you're in high school, you should certainly be worried about your marks. They'll get you places.

If I had focused on school last year, I would not be in the place I am: a student that barely graduated and now must return to improve for university. Essentially, doing good in school is key unless you want to waste a year of your life, providing you plan on extending your education beyond the high school level.

[Whiplash]

They weren't important for my own experience...(did not seek higher education then)...but I have no trouble believing they are very important.

As I began the process of higher education as an adult they were meaningless (for my degree anyway).