Prioritizing Skills or Grades in University

 

It is a fact that academic performance is measured on the basis of grades awarded to students, more so than any other quantifiable method out there. However, once you start going higher up in your academic career and enter university there is a new term that you start being expected to have – skills. A lot of people in university say that you should prioritize your skills rather than your grades, whereas some people say the opposite and that one should focus on grades rather than skills. Given that this is a target for much debate, what should one focus on? The answer is simple; it depends on your goals.

When Grades Are Important

Grades are crucial factors through which one is assessed, up till the very end of one’s academic career, and it is not false to say that they matter. The question here really is; do they matter that much? Again, it depends.

For students whose goals are entering academia and staying in the education sector, it’s definitely important to keep a good record of grades. Oftentimes, for pursuing higher education (such as a Master’s or a Ph.D.) it’s very important for a student’s GPA to be high, as education at these levels is based on research paper writing or researching - which requires one to be able to not only have the ability to read a lot but also retain content learned well. The way this is measured is oftentimes through examination and by extension, your grades. And, if you ever take a look at the entry requirements for a Master’s or Ph.D., they are always looking for students with a reasonably high GPA. The same holds true for lecturer or assistant professor job postings, both require applicants to have a reasonably high GPA and hold a few research papers (or be involved in them) under one’s name. In cases like these, grades are definitely much much more important than skills.   

But what if this doesn’t sound like you at all? What if staying in academic circles is not your cup of tea?

When Skills Matter More Than Grades

Then maybe you are aiming to work in your chosen industry, in which case your skills are definitely what matters more. Working a job either in the private corporate sector or in the public sector requires one to be skilled above all. Here nobody cares if you graduated university with honors or if your GPA is a 4.0 out of 4.0 because this does not assess how well you can do your job.

For example, if you were to be applying for a marketing position (such as a marketing manager) in a well-known multinational company, they wouldn’t want you to be textbook smart and know all the definitions related to marketing and the different strategies you can implement to sell a product, rather, they would want you to have the skills (such as being able to correctly analyze the risks involved in choosing to market a product) to successfully market their products and services.

That is not to say, however, that if this is your goal then grades do not matter. Nobody is suggesting that needing to focus on your skills is reason enough to fail your courses. Grades do matter in this case too. They simply don’t matter as much as if you wanted to pursue involvement in academic circles. If skills are what you are after, then keeping your grades a little above afloat (you shouldn’t be on the verge of failing your courses but you don’t necessarily have to be top of your batch) while working on projects or part-timing to gain experience, is what would suit you the best.       

In Conclusion

Choosing what track you wish to focus on is important. Depending on whether you want to keep pursuing your education till the end, or work in the corporate sector, you will have to determine whether skills or grades are more important to you.