Mike Strong, Arts & Living Editor
College is one of the most crucial points in one’s life. We attend college with the goal of getting some form of degree. This degree is supposed to be a gateway to a number of job opportunities.
Lately, though, I have begun to wonder whether the typical process we go through to get that degree is still practical in today’s world. I do not believe that our grades are as valuable as we think they are.
As college students, we are constantly told that we are going to have a tough time finding a job in our desired field. Our elders are always telling us how much harder it is going to be for us to get hired in this environment. Things are not harder these days; they are just vastly different. I attribute this difference to the rise of the internet. This large network has become an excellent tool for entrepreneurship. We can create our own new roles in society and craft them into what people want to consume.
The skill to do this comes from creativity, not getting an A in an ancient course that hasn’t changed its approach in the last decade. If we all follow what the standardized books tell us to learn and do, we all become copies of each other, creating identical and uninteresting content.
A prime example of how jobs have changed would be YouTubers. YouTube has only been around since 2005 and it has already allowed a plethora of personalities to make their mark on the world. And they have done this with little to no help from their grades. YouTube star Jenna Marbles reportedly makes more than $350,000 a year through her channel, which simply focuses on being a young adult. Marbles got a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Suffolk University and earned a Master of Education in Sport Psychology and Counseling from Boston University. Neither of these degrees directly relate to her ability to make six figures by filming herself at home.
I’m not saying that everybody should go the route of becoming an internet personality. It’s not for everyone. But the same idea of grades being a nonissue can relate to fulltime jobs as well. More and more, employers are not looking for grades and a degree so much as they are looking for practical experience and uniqueness.
College is a great time for you to explore your unique talents and apply them to the type of career you want. Internships are obviously a great outlet for this. They get us the credit we need without expecting us to get 80 out of 100 multiple choice questions right. Internships put the power in your hands to show potential employers what makes you valuable outside of your GPA.
So, if you want to be noticed, start putting yourself out there. Take the time to start a blog if you want to be a writer. Share your knowledge and skills on the web if you want to work in finance. Apply for internships if you want to go into nursing. The bottom line here is that experience beats grades every time.
Don’t beat yourself up if you bomb a couple of quizzes. Don’t stop doing extracurricular activities in exchange for more study time; the sacrifice just isn’t practical in today’s society. Sure, still work as hard as you can to keep your grades up. They are useful for many things like scholarships and maintaining your self-esteem. But we can all stop telling ourselves that “C’s get degrees,” because that just doesn’t matter anymore.
