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Can good grades actually help you become successful?

It sounds silly out loud, but this is a genuine concern.

One would usually hear all these success stories about billionaires and other game changers who got poor grades, eg: Elon Musk, Einstein etc

But rarely do we hear "A* student became a success".

Perhaps it's because it should be considered the norm, but that is not the case, in fact, conventionally, the "A*'s would work for the B's who are employed by the D's".

Also, maybe it is communicated to give hope to those who didn't do particularly well in school, to state that grades don't define you.

But, as I approach my GCSE's I wonder if my attainment of good grades would result in my success, or would it just land me in a mediocre job that's considered academic?

To put it into plain English, should we even bother with Secondary school?

Reply 1

username2356659

Usually there is little correlation between your grades and your potential in life - as seen in many billionaires. Though, having good grades helps you create a good foundation for success (if that makes sense).

Reply 2

jsg9

Yes, you should bother. Those who become billionaires are few and far between, regardless of how well they performed at school. If you have the potential to get good grades, you shouldn’t not bother with it on the off chance you’ll become a billionaire. It also depends on how you define success.

Reply 3

sundae

It doesn't guarantee success but it does make life a little bit easier.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 4

Sanjith Hegde123

yes... the only reason why you dont see it in the news is because it isn't surprising.

Reply 5

username3755000

Good grades > good uni > learn, network with smart people, have a good name on CV etc.

Reply 6

username3482522

Elon Musk went to three private universities of which are within the top 100 on the international rankings. I'm sure he did not have average or poor grades.

Einstein generally had good grades, according to a quick Google search.

How do you define success anyway? The majority of the top ten billionaires from the Forbes list as of right now went to one of the top ten universities in the world.

https://www.quora.com/profile/Asim-Qureshi-17

He went to Oxford university (obviously meaning he had good grades), became an Physicist, then Investment Banker, a Real Estate investor and a Tech Entrepeuneur.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 7

username3755000

Original post by num.7

Not only that, but probably a huge % of self made million and billionaires probably had good grades and went to good unis.

Reply 8

Joshyouare

To put my input in on this; I think it depends on the person.

When setting up your own business, unless it's something which you need a certain qualification for, it doesn't matter whether you got a B or a D at GCSE french.

Certain jobs require you to have certain qualifications - some more lenient than others (doctors have a very strict requirement).

From my own experience I left school when I was 16, I'm just about to turn 18 and i'm on a wage that is higher than a medicine graduates average wage.

Grades will never be the deciding factor in anything - bar a few things haha

Reply 9

_gcx

Study Forum Helper

Einstein? Poor grades? Seriously?

We hear of all the success stories of people going from poor grades to success, but we rarely hear of people who fail school and achieve very little. After all, who wants to hear that?

The answer to your question is, of course, yes.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 10

username2888406

There are many successful people who are not bilionnaires, success does not equal rich, I think you're confusing the two.

Reply 11

thestudentbroom3

Of course, it's only survivor's bias that leads to the perception that good grades don't matter. People always think of the few who don't have good grades/qualifications yet turn out to be very successful but are quick to disregard the millions who also don't have good grades yet aren't successful in life. In in terms of "success", I'm guessing you mean earnings/high equality of life etc.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 12

frostfly

I think achieving ABB or higher will give you good potential. Achieving higher than AAA will not benefit you much more in real life than AAA would.

Reply 13

Leeshur

Having good grades now is setting up the groundwork for future opportunities. I feel like taking the time to study now will only benefit you in the future. No, you don't have to go to university, but you still have that option available to you (and will have to jump through less hoops) if you get your qualifications now.

It's your life. Ultimately, you need to do what will make you happy.

Reply 14

iodo345

Original post by SentientMatter

No good grades in school doesn't mean you will now have a higher income like baby boomer parents like to say as in their time (1960s/70s) getting a degree and A grades actually meant something and separated you from everyone else in the job market.

Now lots of people get A grades in random subjects, universities exist to make money so lots of people have degrees now you get people with good grades working menial jobs disillusioned with things as they believed from older people like teachers that good grades --> university = good job.

Meanwhile the people leaving with lower grades at 16 who became plumbers, electricians or something skilled etc end up making more money as they are contributing something which people will always need eg fixing a broken toilet/ sink etc.

Whereas those with a degree just have a certificate.

Reply 15

KateBr

Not at all. It might help you somehow if you need to compete to apply for your first job at some places, but in general grades do not help you to succeed. Life experience and meeting the right people that would teach you useful things - that would help.

Reply 16

JDieMstr

All that matters is what you do with those grades. Your grades aren't gonna do your interviews for you but they can get you that opportunity.

Reply 17

Lemonade Time

Certainly, yes.

The question reminds me of this: (I have no idea where I saw this, but I found it somewhere a few months ago)
People talk about how the famous scientist (I forgot his name) only got 1 for science during primary school and achieved great success. But that's a lie.

Well, not exactly a lie. It's the truth, but the thing is...a 1 is like th highest grade anyone can get in the school he was in. Look, getting a 1 is like getting an A*, it's just different systems of grading...

So here's the thing:

In order to get into an university, you need to have nice grade, right?

Without a good grade, you won't even be able to get into an university.

Without a good grade, you probably won't even be able to get into a highschool (that's the case here, not sure if the rule's different in other places)

My cousin almost failed to get into a highschool because of his bad grade. idk how's it like in other places, but at least, here, after middle school there's an exam, and you have to be the top 50% to get into a highschool. Anyways, it's different educational systems and I gues GCSE already counts as high school, this is just an example to show that good grade is not everything, but it's certainly important.

How successful do you think you can be without ever even going to university?

Look, I know that there are lots of stories about people who are only high school graduates and achieved great success, but here's the thing:

First, look at the reason why these people are only high school graduates. Did they really stop going to school because they got bad grade? Or, did they stop going to school because of something else?

There's a handfull of people who didn't finish their university coursework because of other reasons, such as when they think the university work is too easy. Plus, there are some high school graduate successful people who got into a really top university before they became successful, and only left the university because of some other reasons.

Then, there came these people who truly had bad grades and became successful. Yep. They exist. But look, there are like billions of people with bad grade on earth, and only a few of them became successful Do you think you're the 0.00000 (who knows how many zeroes go here)0001 percent amongst them if you get bad grades?

Another thing about successful people:
People always like saying things such as, "Oh look he's so successful because he did this, becasue he did this..." but the fact is, no one actually knows what truly made one successful. Thing is, a certain amount of luck is required to be really successful.

Look, for example, there are ten children here, numbered from 1 to 10. Nine out of ten of them had experienced Event A, but only Child 1 became successful.

So it's highly possible that people will point at child 1 and exclaim, "Oh look! Child 1 is successful because he experienced Event A!"

But the other nine children are just, um, neglected. People won't point at them and say that they're unsuccessful because they experienced Event A.