You know, I think this is a good question.
I think grades are important to an extent, but really only one of many that should be important. I think failure is the best measure of a person's character. Yes, failure.
Anyone can walk the walk when the going is good. But seeing how someone handles failure, in my opinion, gives you a better idea of the person's abilities. It takes a lot of character to come back from a really bad place.
I'll give you an example.
One of the most intelligent, hard working people I have ever met is my wife. (And she's a knock out, too.
)
She went to the Pre-College Preparatory high school, then a top university, got a degree in Microbio (took a lot of the grad level classes in her major and minor--Chemistry--instead of the easier undergrad level ones...because she wanted the challenge).
And while getting a degree in Micro/Chem full-time, she worked 40 hrs a/week as a waitress (not many other jobs that pay a lot in Gainesville) and commuted about 2 1/2 hours a day, partied like a fiend socially and lived on 3-4 hours a night of sleep during the week days.
She's hard core. Aced her classes, etc.
But in some ways, that was easy for her. She's good at conceptualizing (50% of science classes) and has an amazing memory (the other 50%). If you can get the concepts and memorize all the rules in science, it's a matter of WHAT you want to succeed at, not WHETHER you can.
So, she gets out of school and gets a job. At a dot.com. Okay, you probably can guess the end of this story (except the dot.com is still holding on a little). She poured her heart and soul into that company and really believed in it. Probably like a lot of people did then.
And one of the hardest things I have ever done is watch her live through the experience of having that company start to fail and have her hard work and dreams die. She tried everything, working harder, etc. She wasn't in management or anywhere close to it (just a scientist), but she died a little when that company began lay-off after lay-off.
And then came the economy, 9/11, etc. It took her 10 months to find another job.
And during that time, I think, she had to live with failure day-in and day-out. Before she got laid off, watching the company die and after she got laid off feeling like a fool for investing so much time and dreaming into a corporation and then also for not being able to find a job.
It was probably the first big failure in her life. Sugar coat it how you want, it was failure.
But slowly, she worked her way out of it and overcame a lot of the feelings and trauma associated with it. ("Smart kids aren't supposed to fail, not if you just keep studying and work a little harder. You're trained to win.")
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So, I think while grades are nice, they have little to do with the real world outside of college. They don't say anything about how you will deal with all of the patients and situations that are beyond your (or anyone else's) knowledge.
I think grades and volunteer activities are nice, but failure is the best teacher. I think that is why a lot of people are skeptical about seeing young doctors, the first thought is, "What do they know about living? What do they know about being where I am at? Can they relate?"
Just my thoughts,
Squid J
to Centrum!!!
