Does anyone else feel obsessed with grades? Having had several internships and worked on research under a prof...

Does anyone else feel obsessed with grades? Having had several internships and worked on research under a prof, I am fully aware that grades are not everything. But semester after semester I find myself obsessively calculating my grades before they're in. I know grades aren't a measure of intelligence, but if I ever get a bad grade I feel like its proof that I'm stupid.

t. math major

what do you consider a bad grade? in math it should be hard for you to get a low grade considering your grade is mostly homework, i managed to never get anything less than an A- and I'm a brainlet

Grades aren't everything, but if you want good grad school placement you better make sure you don't dip under 3.8 at a top school or 4.0 at a state school.

I have never gotten anything less than an A- as my overall class grade either. I mean grades on individual tests/projects. It feels like getting punched in the face to receive a test score of 70 or less.

I have very close to a 4.0 (3.9 something), at a state school. Do I still have a chance for top applied/computational schools?

>there are people on Veeky Forums without a 4.0 GPA
Brainlets should go back to Veeky Forums and /pol/.

>t feels like getting punched in the face to receive a test score of 70 or less.
Your professors never challenged you!

>your grade isn't mostly homework?
What did you mean by this?
I've never had homework be a part of my grade in any math class except for like calc 1, and even then it was only 5% of the grade.
I guess it factors in that most professors test off of suggested homework problems, though.

Anyway, yes, op. I'm always calculating how well I need to do to maintain an A, etc., but I'm also trying to transfer to a better university ATM. I usually don't feel stupid if I get a bad grade, though. It's more like "wow, you need to stop playing wow," etc.

>>your grade isn't mostly homework?
>What did you mean by this?
year after year from undergrad to grad school my math classes weighed homework more and more heavily since exams are a horrible way to test your knowledge of higher level math

by the time i was in 4th year most classes didn't even have exams, the grades were all from homework

I was somewhat obsessed back in high school.

After getting into uni I don't care as much, since the only bar is that 3/5 average is required to get into doctoral studies.
Then again, the signal processing department I'm at has so little expectations that I'm averaging almost 5 by knowing Fourier transform.

>mostly homework
what shit school you go to where Exams, especially the Final, is that atleast 70% of your grade? If it was majority homework than brainlets would be passing through easiluy because they would just use an app to answer all their questions.

>there are apps that produce proofs of higher level math theorems

wolfram alpha

what do i plug into wolfram to prove that finite groups of order [math] p^aq^b [/math] are solvable?

The same thing I plug into your mom every night.

You're doing the lord's work user.

Nothing like a good ole fashioned mom joke.

>the Final, is that atleast 70%
you're so lucky in my country the final is 100% of your grade

I Wrote An A in math only twice in my lifetime. I am the total opposit of you. I never cared about grades other for when I really needed them. Here we never got marks for homework, only at tests and now in exams. And its true that grades don't make your intellect cause I did IQ tests and its way above my grades... I have a guy like you in my class always trying to score 1.0 (which is the best in DE). Because of that he'll probably get the beeter jobs later tough so I'd say its ok to want best grades possible. Anyways I am the best in my class in terms of a good engeneer since the best studs come to me for help but at the end of the day your grades are your only reference here so... your on the right track I guess

At the freshman level maybe. If the students have more knowledge, it can be interesting to give them homework problems that are more involved than what you could reasonably expect of students in a 3-hour timeframe. It's more interesting for them (students have more to chew on, have to think a little harder, have more occasions to show what they can do etc.) and for you (you can use it as an excuse to get them acquainted with a new topic or get them to prove a hard theorem that you didn't have time to put in the syllabus etc.)

>there are people on Veeky Forums who haven't been home-schooled by well-adjusted descendants of the aristocracy who were self-aware enough to know their didactic limits and hire the best suited cohort of tutors to make up for them
>b-b-but muh 4.0 GPA

Wew lad. How about YOU go back to /g/, you disgusting delusional prole.

holy shit is the grade inflation this bad in the USA?

in UK you can get into a top-level business or have a chance of getting a master's / PhD at ani top level london uni / oxbridge with just a 2.1 / first class which basically requires you to have an average of 70-80% in all exams

you could even have a 50% average in your first 2 years and then pull your shit together in the 3rd and final year and get a first class with just an 80-90% average

BTFO

Some people are motivated by German shepherds, other by golden medals. The only reason I maintained a 4.0 was because I was scared of losing my full ride scholarship (needed a 3.2). So I kept padding that GPA, taking tons of classes with the easiest professors I could find, spending winter and late spring taking extra online courses for my gen eds.

Was it a good idea? I am a very lucky person with great opportunities, so I can't say. I do know that the only other thing that drives me to study is respect for the professor, and that is much less motivating than the fear of your life collapsing before it even started.

Is this reliable? I fucked up A levels so I'm at my insurance (mid-high tier London) and on course for ez 1:1 but thought i was doomed for life

Yes actually, I lazed off and got shitty B-'s and now I'm quitting gaming after the summer and trying to study more during the summer.
I'm honestly depressed about it and I'm really disappointing myself for not taking college seriously. I don't give a shit what others think but to see myself fall behind when I know I can do better is just the worst.

OP here. No you misunderstood! It's totally abut my profs too. I want nothing more than to show my profs I care. The only reason I feel bad is because I feel like I"m letting them down.

If you start to drop or will drop below your gpa due to one class, drop the class and pick it up next semester. That will help save your gpa. Of course that depends on your college/university methods and rules. It can also help prevent activation of paybacks on student loans.

Maybe it's because you haven't let any of the material capture your imagination, so you channel your boredom into brownnosing and self aggrandizement?

I was talking about myself. But I'm not oblivious. It feels really bad to see your professor frustrated.

Yes, even over 5 fucking percent. I think I have a problem.


I'm beginning to think my uni is more shit than I thought, half the units I've done has some form of group assignment.
5% of group work goes towards assessing your group members contribution and vice versa.
This time round, some fat cunt marked me down on my contribution so it dropped me down to 3%.

I could have got the full 5 if that amorphous turd didn't hate me so much. I don't know how I offended them, I don't even know them. I did more than my 3rd of the assignment and yet the other retard he gave full 5 to just because he licks that fat cunts asshole up.

I spent my first three semesters failing everything I took. I was drinking too much, smoking too much and never going to class. I was depressed and had no direction. Some random night as I'm laying in bed I realize I really want to learn physics. After a semester off i came back strong but had to start from remedial courses and retake everything. I brought my gpa up from a .2 or so to a 3.48. I'm a senior now and classes have become very difficult for me and have been putting massive amounts of stress on me. I've watched nearly half of my class drop out simply due to stress. I'm starting yo realize it's not the grade I care about though it's just whether or not I feel I've either learned the material or understand it enough to where I could get through problems given some reference material. I doubt I will hold my 3.48 and will likely graduate somewhere around a 3.0. it's disappointing but overall I'll still be proud.

Same here.
American students really have it easy.

good for you. I mean it
t. also used to be lost but came to senses

Hopefully the tests are at least well structured and made.