Do school and grades determine the success you will have in your life?

10 Answers
Seetaram N T, Working on realizing my own ideas into products
Answered Jun 7 2017 · Author has 737 answers and 1.7m answer views

One of my Ex company boss, who had an IIT and IIM degrees used to tell me that, most of the
successful people in this world are second class people. He used to say that being ordinary they
put all efforts to come up in life and succeed as they don’t have any parachute called degree
attached to their waist to land safely on heaven of success.

But in real life, we don’t want to take chance. We want to have the best Education in best
universities, so that the probability of succeeding in life will increase.Even though we may not
achieve great success but we will not fail miserably. Unfortunately the world is created in such a
way that, people look at your grades and degrees as a basis to assess your potential than what
you actually might have. You need these grades and degrees to at least get an entry into the
success gate.

During 90’s there were very few software companies in Bangalore like Infosys, Wipro, TCS etc. So
all these companies only used to call Rank holders or IITians for the job interviews. Even there
was a article in Deccan herald which titled, “The TATA’s require PhD degree holders, even for the
house keeping Staff!”. So this is when your degrees and school really matter. If you don’t have
good grade or school, you don’t even get entry, This is true even now also, the campus
recruitment happens only in selected colleges and IIT’s in india and you have to be part of one of
them to get an opportunity.

I was working in a company founded by B.V Jagadish (Founder of Exodus communications), he

had come for an all hands meeting in that company. He had mentioned that, it was very difficult
for him to get recognised in US as he didn’t have an IIT/IIM/MIT/Stanford Degrees then. He had
engineering degree from UVSC Bangalore. He also mentioned that degrees really matter a lot for
faster recognition in our society.

Only exceptional people who are self motivated, having specific goals, go getters with die hard
attitude,passionate, take enough risk and pain, having fire in belly, having burning desire and
killer instinct can only succeed without having these degree and schools tag attached to them.

So choice is yours, you want to swim along the stream or against the stream to succeed. Both are
equally possible.
Nadia Zulh, studied Data Analytics and Econometrics & Social and Economic Developments
(2017)
Answered Jun 7, 2017
I'd hate to say they don't, but they do. Sure, skills are important but they can be developed over
time. But grades, once you graduate.. that's it. You'll live with your transcripts and degree cert for
the rest of your life.

Truth is, excellent grades will open doors for you.

Not just any door, but the best doors there is out there. Ivy league schools, top firms, you name
it..
And once you open the best door, there is no stopping you from going further. You have access to
the world's most quality education, most excellent teaching staff, best facilities there is out
there.. and on top of that, you'll be surrounded by intelligent people who are sociable as well,
and get networking opportunities which will in turn, increase your chances of achieving success.
These people will be your drive.

I wish I had been more hardworking at school.

Teresa Temsi, Volunteer at a Suicide Hotline

Updated Jun 10, 2017 · Author has 67 answers and 886.1k answer views
Not necessarily.

I wouldn’t say your grades “determine” your success in life, but they do indicate the presence or
absence of traits that do determine your success in life:

Intelligence. It’s hard to get anywhere if you don’t have the brains. And smart people recognize
that good grades will allow them to get into a good college which will allow them to get a high-
paying job…which is the conventional definition of “success”.
Work ethic. Duh. Work hard, and you’re more likely to be successful. There’s no excuse because
I’d say school is 75% effort.
Conscientiousness. If you care about your report card and your teachers’ opinions of you,
chances are you’ll care about your performance review and your boss’s opinion of you. You’ll be
more likely to be meticulous in your work, and therefore more likely to do it well.
Grit. Do you give up and resign yourself to a low grade when you encounter a math problem you
can’t do?
If you’re not doing well right now, it doesn’t mean you’re doomed to failure. But it does mean it’s
time to take a hard look at how you can improve—and developing the personality traits above
would be a wise starting place.
Aleena Syed, Student
Answered Apr 9, 2018
Originally Answered: Do you think that grades prove success in life and school?

Let me present a situation. Harry is the valedictorian of his class. Straight A's, never faltering for a
second when it comes to academics. You’re probably a little envious of Harry. He will probably be
accepted into a great school, maybe even an Ivy League. After that, his fancy degree might earn
him an amazing job with an even better salary. Now let’s turn to Emma. Emma doesn't get the
best grades and may occasionally even fail a test. You think to yourself after seeing her report
card passed around at the end of the quarter, “At least I did better than Emma.”

Peeling back the layers one by one, you can see how much of a lie Harry’s rank really is. Harry
cheats on almost every test, getting answers from friends who hope he will return the favor.
Harry skips school on days of tests hoping to hear answers before hand. Harry looks up answers
to worksheets and homework, regurgitating the basic answers Google provides.

On the other hand, Emma studies right when she comes home from school, completing multiple
sets of problems so she can fully understand the concepts. She stays after school for tutorials and
asks engaging questions in class. When she’s confused, she doesn’t assume someone else will in
the gaps, but rather pursues answers herself.

Harry might end up being “successful” in the sense of material achievement like a fancy degree,
but how much of this has any value if you see the means of how he got there? If you believe
success exemplifies itself through hard work and dedication, then maybe grades aren’t the best
judge of that.

Abdullah Ansar
Answered Apr 9, 2018
Originally Answered: Do you think that grades prove success in life and school?
School grades can't provide success in Life!

There's a student, very sharp and intelligent, smart is what you should call him. He settles for no
less than A*'s in any of his subjects. Every teacher likes him and he is very respectable to others
too but nothing is perfect. So, here's the catch in the story. His father is a business tycoon of his
city and uses his influence over teachers. The student “John” , we can call him, is also a wrote
learner. He will just open “Notes” and just memorize them and get A's.

On the other hand, we have “Mark” . Mark belongs to a middle class family and isn't a wrote
learner but rather a person with love of learning inside him. John may get as many A's as he
wants but he lacks public speaking skills. Mark knows the meaning of struggle and knows the
value of his time because he knows, if he stop for even a second his place would be taken over by
children of impactful people. So, he keeps working.

John on one side can get A in a subject but Mark on the other side can stand up in the class and
give the exact same lecture professor was going to give. Mark is in love with learning and the
learning and knows more than John in any particular subject. Mark can talk wit anybody
regardless of their status but John is a narcissist and will not talk to anyone unless he has the
riches too.

Both grow up, Mark works up the ranks and gets the admission in best University and John is
there too. They both work as they always did and University is finished too.

Both lose their parents, After so much A*'s John takes up the company of his father and start
running his company. He works as he should but on the other hand, Mark is working as a school
teacher in day time and a Ph.d by night. His lust for learning isn't finished finished yet!

Both are on their death bed, remembering God, John is thinking The Islamiat or any other
religious studies he studies in his O level, He is thinking why he didn't act upon them whike on
the other side Mark is calm and peaceful because for him Islamiat was far more than his book.

Both die, Nobody casts a news that a failed business man died who ended up living in a middle
class family but news goes crazy when casting news that One of the GREATEST scholar has died.
He died in a high class manner but class is of no mean Because when both get look of their graves
it's all dirt and silt.

Life is an illusion, Prepare for the exam of the END!

Shilpa Nagpal
Answered Jun 7, 2017

No, it is you who determine success for yourself .

School is a place where you learn things , you have opportunities to explore things but it totally
depends on you whether you make use of these opportunities or not .

School shows you the path , but you are the one who has to follow it .

When I talk about grades , I think grades do determine your success to an extent . If you say no
grades doesn’t matter at all , it is not true because you do require minimum marks to pass a
subject . You do require a minimum percentile to sit for campus placements.

Maintain these required grades , so that grades never become an obstacle in your path
Your knowledge and skills have a major role to play in your success . Expand your knowledge ,
gain practical skills , excel in your area of interest and no one can stop you from being a
successful person .

Work hard , follow you interests , plan , execute and revise .

If you focus on achieving your goal , you will definitely succeed in your life .

All the best !

Julian Michele, studies Mathematics at Stony Brook University (2021)

Answered Jun 7, 2017

No.

Just . . . no.

Paying attention in school is great. Education is great. Getting good grades is great. But the
numbers presented to you on every report card aren’t always part of some grand plot woven by
fate.

I have consistently been at the top of my class for years, and my peers never fail to elect me as
the “Most Likely to Succeed,” but in all honesty, I’m no more likely to succeed than any other
person out there. I could make bad decisions. I could miss opportunities. It could turn out that my
school smarts get me nowhere. Meanwhile, even the kids whose averages are just barely high
enough to graduate may someday discover an enormous talent and become a millionaire.

Please don’t take this as a call not to study or try your hardest. But don’t stress if you’re not
number one. It’s nice to be at the top, but how many celebrities do hear of who were high-school
valedictorians, anyway?

Jhansen Chonn, former Medical Laboratory Technologist

Answered Jun 7, 2017

No, there are many people who are quite successful and were high school, or college dropouts.

Ryan Reynolds went to college right by my house, he was sitting in class and literally said “fuck it!
I'm out of here” and he went to California and became a pretty big name actor in some pretty big
films.

Many entrepreneurs have found success with nothing but a high school education, a dream or
two and went to action building businesses.
Many realtors passed the licensing exam with only a high school diploma. Their grades don't
matter because the program was either you Pass or you Fail. And if you Fail, you can challenge
the assignments or the test until you pass. There are a lot of realtors that suck, and there are a lot
of realtors breaking the six-figure mark.

Katrina MLB
Answered Jun 7, 2017
Usually, but you’ll find some outliers who barely made it to graduation or dropped out before
graduation but turned out to be really successful.

The determination of success is a combination of many experiences, some you can acquire in
school, some from social environments, some from childhood, some from a dream, all of which
can provide a foundation to build character. Whatever comes your way, take it and make the best
out of it.

Getting educated in school and getting good grades is a very safe way to play the game, you’ll
definitely increase your chances in becoming successful in this society. You may also take the
unfamiliar path if school is not challenging enough, though I have to warn you that only a few of
those people have had a shot. This being said regardless of which path you take be prepared to
work really hard and hope for luck because that’s what success is made out of.