Going to college, my father and one of his work partners told me something to the effect of "just remember, D stands for Diploma, that's all you need to graduate and once you're out of college no one cares about your grades." At that time I also thought degrees (colleges) were fungible, i.e., it didn't matter if you went to a decent public school or a private or a total party public school.
Those were two terrible pieces of advice.
The best advice I had before undergrad was to "pick your professors, then pick your classes." Find out which profs are easy, and take them. Eventually you'll find professors that aren't particularly easy, but are well suited to your learning style; take every class they offer.
I agree with most of what Flambeur said, particularly if you want to go to a high flying company, a bank, graduate school, an MBA program, or law school.
And to echo the advise given to a young Charles Ryder by his older cousin Jasper when he arrived at Oxford in Brideshead Revisited, "You want either a first or a fourth. There is no value in anything between. Time spent on a good second is time thrown away." In other words, you are either taking hard classes that you struggle to get a D in (and barely pass) or you are taking classes that you can blow the top out of and get an A. Otherwise you'll be a senior and in an interview with a highly sought after employer and they'll ask you "so why do you only have a 3.5 GPA?"
Those were two terrible pieces of advice.
The best advice I had before undergrad was to "pick your professors, then pick your classes." Find out which profs are easy, and take them. Eventually you'll find professors that aren't particularly easy, but are well suited to your learning style; take every class they offer.
I agree with most of what Flambeur said, particularly if you want to go to a high flying company, a bank, graduate school, an MBA program, or law school.
And to echo the advise given to a young Charles Ryder by his older cousin Jasper when he arrived at Oxford in Brideshead Revisited, "You want either a first or a fourth. There is no value in anything between. Time spent on a good second is time thrown away." In other words, you are either taking hard classes that you struggle to get a D in (and barely pass) or you are taking classes that you can blow the top out of and get an A. Otherwise you'll be a senior and in an interview with a highly sought after employer and they'll ask you "so why do you only have a 3.5 GPA?"
