|
In college, I had two particular roommates who both had exemplary academic records in STEM / CS fields on paper, yet embodied two different extremes. I think of them often while pondering my own tortured academic path. The first was among the most brilliant people I've ever met. Sure, this person was a full-ride honor student with straight As all around, but they never found the challenge they needed, even when sitting in on grad-level classes for fun. They hardly ever studied, spent most of their time playing video games, exclusively took classes in their areas of interest, and transferred to another school when those classes ran out. Repeat for at least three colleges, taking over a decade to finally cave in and fulfill their undergrad requirements. Then after school, their career never really took off. The second was, to put it politely, not the sharpest tool in the shed. They studied furiously to master material that seemed trivial, and whenever I tried to discuss advanced topics with them, they were completely lost. But they worked hard, harder than anyone else I knew, to maintain a perfect GPA. Went on to have a very successful career. I suppose I bring them up to point out that even academic success doesn't paint a full picture. My own academic performance in college was wildly inconsistent. Started off with scholarships, Dean's list, etc., then plunged into failures and academic warnings (barely avoided probation). I recovered, hit Dean's list again, and then back into failure mode. Then another last string of As during my senior-level courses brought me back into a low 3.x GPA at graduation. Regardless of the recoveries, damage was done, costing me intern opportunities that might have helped out a bit when graduating into a recession. Depending on my mood, I could place the blame for my failures on a lot of things. A few different medical conditions ultimately requiring surgeries and months of prescribed opiates. Lack of parental support. Depression preceding my downturns. Undiagnosed (at the time) ADHD. But in retrospect, I also could have been smarter in how I dealt with all those things instead of embracing the self-destructive aspects. |