My 2 cents on the whole affair can be seen below.
It set me thinking. Having been one of "those" straight A students all my life, I wonder if I can call myself successful? My B.E or the subsequent FCD (First Class with Distinction) that followed has not had any bearing on my success at NDS. Similarly that 3-digit CET rank has not opened any doors for me (except those of RV maybe) since.
To me, grades are a measure of success only within the school/college - it gives you access to better opportunities (such as placements, projects) more easily. But once you are in the company or project, your grade has no relevance. So good grades can be good predictors of opportunities and not necessarily success.
But, is this because our academic setting is tuned to quantifying accuracy in re-gurgitating obscure, sometimes irrelevant facts as grades? We are not really given marks for understanding what we learn by rote or for being able to apply those obscure theorems to relevant practical problems.
So, is there a relation between "learning" and success? I believe there is. Studying engineering may not have taught me anything that I can use as is in my career as an Integrator. But it did polish my analytical bent of mind which now allows me to strip a given problem layer by layer until I have gotten to the heart of the matter - a significant contributor to my success. If I had studied Liberal Arts instead and applied for the same job, I would have been severely handicapped without this attuned sense of objectivity.
As I mull over applying to B-School and re-entering the academic world, I wonder if I should focus on getting into the Dean's List or spread myself learning as much as I can without focussing on great grades. Which will be a more predictable launchpad for future success? Thoughts anyone?
