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From: campbell@sauron.UUCP (Mark Campbell)
Newsgroups: net.cse
Subject: Re: Degrees, grades...
Message-ID: <619@sauron.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Mar-86 09:16:18 EST
Article-I.D.: sauron.619
Posted: Mon Mar  3 09:16:18 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Mar-86 04:45:12 EST
References: <4514@kestrel.ARPA> <3407@nsc.UUCP> <4588@kestrel.ARPA> <18@drilltech.UUCP> <5137@kestrel.ARPA> <636@nbires.UUCP>
Reply-To: campbell@sauron.UUCP (Mark Campbell)
Distribution: net
Organization: NCR Corp., Advanced System Development, Columbia, SC
Lines: 45
Keywords: 4.0, Discipline

In article <636@nbires.UUCP> rcd@nbires.UUCP (Dick Dunn) writes:
>> > In my book, your degree has no intrinsic quality or value; it is a statment
>> > that you attended university X and performed well enough not to be expelled.
>> 
>> What about a 4.0 gpa from Princeton or somewhere?
>
>Yes, indeed--what about it?  So *** what?
>
>> ...
>> It's very hard to get a 4.0 from a good school without being
>> interested and motivated. 
>
>No, it is not.  In fact, the people who can get a 4.0 from any reputable
>school are, in my experience, much less likely to be interested and
>motivated than the people in roughly the 3.3-3.8 range.

If you can come up with a generalization as sweeping as that, then the
schools you've been associated with give too many 4.0's.

>You can get a 4.0 by being pretty bright and obsessive/compulsive with the
>right(???) focus.  You don't have to be the least bit interested.
>
> [...]                                             The chances of going
>through an entire degree program (undergraduate in particular) without
>encountering at least one turkey are so small as to be negligible.  I am
>suspicious of people who have never lost interest in a course, never said
>"it's not worth the grief", never focused their interests on one area to
>the extent of neglecting another. [...]

Disclaimer: I've never gotten any degree with a 4.0.  And I've known very
few who have earned 4.0's.  And I too have lost interest in courses.  But
I've got to say that I admire someone with the discipline to maintain a
4.0 throughout a degree program.  On the other hand, I also admire those
that said "what the fuck" and pulled a 2.3 GPA and spent their days and
nights coding.  I've seen both types of students become excellent engineers,
and I've seen both types become terrible engineers.

It would be interesting to see if this posting is another case of the "I
got/am a 3.5/BA and so it is the only thing worthwhile" syndrome that has
been sweeping the net lately.  (for clarification: my GPA's were between
3.7 and 3.9.)  If so, don't all of you think that it might serve all of your
interests to become a little broader-minded?
-- 

Mark Campbell    Phone: (803)-791-6697     E-Mail: !ncsu!ncrcae!sauron!campbell