Your GPA Should’t be your sole focus.

A lot of people go through college/university as ‘’unseen” or ‘’unnoticed’’ BUT not when it comes to grades.

Most people in college seem to be missing the most important key that can help them build their careers and take the best decisions.

I met people with high GPA rate, who spent several sleepless nights preparing for final exams project assignments or presentations in order to get an A+ rating. However, it takes much more than that to succeed. I was invited as a speaker in an event and I was explaining that point when a guy interrupted me “You can’t get anywhere without excellent grades”.

I’m not demeaning the importance of high scholar achievement. But, in a world that is changing fast, high grades are not enough anymore. Grades can’t define how competent you are anymore. It’s a just a number on a score sheet that can get you in an interview room with a human resources manager that have been meeting college graduates like you for the past 15 years. Why would your high grades be different from the person who just left the interview who scored more/less than you did in Microeconomics with two points?

What’s special about you? What are you bringing to table?

I met people who got interviews and got recruited by Big companies like Apple/Intel/Deloitte who were average students and their highest GPA achievement was 3.0.

How? what did they do that made the recruiter believe in them and choose them over the IV League graduates with outstanding GPA standing outside in front of the interview room?

Here we are going through some elements that prove that your GPA shouldn’t be your sole focus.

1-Social Life and Civic Engagement:

“The journey is the reward.”

The internships you gave your prettiest 40 hours a week for free doing, the organizations you spent your evenings with, and the community service projects where you found yourself painting houses or sorting through cans of food are things that will come in handy.

These things will fill up your brain, these things will offer your ability to develop a sense of engagement and a strong mindset, you ‘ll adopt a different mindset, you will be able to harness and stretch your imagination.

you have to figure out how to make new friends at work, or put together a speech which may land you a promotion.

2-Confidence and vision:

“Always speak well of yourself and consistently visualize your life working out as you want it.”

The most common question that recruiters, teachers, ourselves ask is:

“ Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”

Most people don’t have an answer to this question. Most people go through college and graduate with no clue about the next step is; except ‘’getting a job, becoming rich, having a YACHT on the shore of an island, getting married, having kids.”. This is too vague & too general. SPECIFY YOUR GOALS. Break things into SMALL, MANAGEABLE CHUNKS.

Graduates who have a vision where they want to be in the future have more chances to get a job than somebody who doesn’t know what he/she wants to do with his/her life.

Confidence is one of the key elements that all Students need to develop throughout their college years. Start with the small things, making a school presentation, public speaking in front of a small crowd, you will end up as a confident individual.

3-Your network:

“You’re the Average of The Five People You Spend the Most Time With”

You could be a 4.0 student, but if you have no connections in the field you want to pursue, finding a job may be harder than you think.

Building a solid network is something mandatory.

It can be your bridge to achieve your goals and dreams.

Here are four reasons why I think building a professional network is mandatory: Knowledge, advice, job opportunities, and referrals.

For me, these are the natural outcomes of having a solid professional network.

—

One last thing…

If you liked this article, click the clap button below so other people will see it here on Medium.Thanks!

Achraf Jemni
Student, Avicenne private business school

Follow me on :

0021652881770 | achraf.jemni@outlook.com | www.apbs.tn | Facebook|Instagram|

“Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” Vaibhav Shah