Parents of college-bound students, college-aged adults and their parents attempt to ask me this question all the time, few ever ask the right question(s) to get an in-depth answer from me. Most people just can’t swallow their pride when it comes to things like this. What they are actually trying to ask is “You are clearly far superior than me in living life. Would you please share your secrets to your life’s successes with me and I promise I will pay it forward so the history of the world will honor your legacy forever.” Not only am I not blushing when hearing this, I feel deserving of such compliments. Of course there are likely infinite numbers of ways to answer this question. I typically tailor my responses to the person who is asking the question in this case the end users are usually people who are at an important crossroad in their lives. The reality is, the people who need this type of help the most are precisely the people who will likely not succeed at a very high level. You see, there are around 50,000 universities in the world and approximately 4,000 of these are in the US. The aggregate average of the major ranking lists typically have mostly US universities on their global top 10 list. In my opinion, the top 10 global universities by consensus should all be American.
I won’t dove into my issues with certain non-American centric major ranking lists and their “methodologies” here. To save us all some time, I will only say that generous funding, highest per capita income to largest nominal GDP ratio, growing economy, open society with innovation, strong capital markets, a large market for everything, a free business environment, respect for intellectual/private property rights and human rights and having the wherewithal to defended it all among other elements probably are prerequisites for fostering the best universities in the world. And yes, how can I forget the perfunctory and somewhat gratuitous “trade schools are great” line. Though I am pretty sure having tertiary education means I could probably earn certificates in many skilled trades if I wanted to by learning via watching videos and apprenticeships. I live in America which means I have the rights to exercise reasonable free speech as permitted by the law. All posted content(s) on this website are my opinions only which means they should not be taken as advice of any kind. I am a non-celebrity, non-public figure posting anonymously for my own entertainment on a website that is not affiliated with any individual(s), organization(s) and/or any entity/entities.
Let’s talk about why achieving a relatively high college GPA may be important for career success.
There are around 250 million students enrolled in colleges each year, guess how many attend the top 10 global? Where do the most prestigious and high paying companies in the world recruit many of their top talents from? Wait, why are you telling me all of this when I won’t ever get into any of these schools? That may be very true. The top ten-ers are people who likely and mostly concentrated in private schools in a certain geographical area, work in certain industries and live in a few highly concentrated cities. The chances of someone without that kind of credentials breaking into that circle without “extraordinary talent(s)” are slim to none, even so, they may never truly be accepted as equals. What are you trying to say? It may be much easier to convince someone to give you a chance when you excel at something and being quite good at it even potentially in lower tier competitions. Ever watched March Madness aka the NCAA D1 basketball annual championship tournament? How many NAIA schools played in it in 2026? Probably none. How many former NAIA schools played in it? Many. Why? Because those who are driven typically do the best they can at every level, get seen, get chances at higher levels of competition and may continue the cycle of success. This is how many sports leagues work in terms of promotion of teams and players from lower leagues. Can a NAIA team occasionally defeat an NBA team? Probably not. Can a historically elite NCAA D1 team occasionally defeat an NBA team? Probably. Why? Because most NAIA will never attract NBA ready level talents and some historically elite D1 teams have numerous NBA level talents.
Personally, I would go to the college that is most suitable for my situation while also aiming to attend the most prestigious university. Yes, not all colleges offer free tuition, however, I think in the long run the best overall universities will be near the best at whatever they do regardless of current specialty rankings. Use your potential direness as motivation to outcompete others and eventually you will get a metaphorical “major title shot” too. When you are good, “teams” would want to “trade” for you, in this case get a transfer, get dual degrees, a second bachelor’s degree or graduate degree(s) from the best universities you can get into. With momentum there will be metaphorical endorsement deals like an internship or a job at a Fortune 500 or better that may snowball into getting into top 10 global universities for graduate programs. I personally prefer getting a 3.7 GPA with a few presidencies at various major student organizations, prestigious internships/jobs and engaged in entrepreneurship while in school versus gettting a marginally better GPA of 3.8-4.0. Remember most likely the people who are doing the hiring may most likely subliminally be jealous/envious of you hence will try to cast you as one dimensional or ask you some dumb, irrelevant &€£% about it. Remember Time Machine currently doesn’t exist and traveling back in time will likely be harder than traveling forward in time. Not getting a high GPA while still in school may not be the best scenario from a momentum standpoint and your chance of getting a high GPA later on will likely be stifled due to historical and resource constrained reasons including decrease in motivation, energy and stamina.
You may not have to be the best at everything, you may establish your own path as an intersectional talent. Preexisting path are set up by someone else with their own odor, you don’t necessarily have to walk on the same line. Walking on a parallel line may still allow you to chart an easier path while still being unique enough until you can chart your own path completely. I have never in all my years working in a large number of industries for Fortune 100 companies in major cities across the globe heard of anyone including interviewers, employers, recruiters or anyone else ever say why did you put a 3.7 or similar GPA on your resume regardless how many years someone has been out of school for. When you graduated from a top 10 global, interviewers almost never ask you about it due to internal human nature issues. I typically do not consider any prospective organizations that can’t afford my services at premium or make jealous or envious subtle comments. These employers usually may not attract enough high calibers like me to truly succeed, hiring me is a privilege not every organization will get. Paying me is only step one, I need development opportunities and opportunities to be a champion. I’m not going to get stuck at some small market team without a championship contender lineup metaphorically speaking.
Any employer that treat people like me reasonably or even well at the organizational level, they typically do find more success based on my observations. If I were to ponder to make any type of investment in anything, I would view their starting executive lineup metaphorically speaking, submit my resume and observe from there. Not everyone in the organization has to have my background, they just need to treat the ones who does with the kind of respect they deserve. The funny thing is even though your high GPA, your degree from a top 10 global university, your various presidencies in major student organization or your industry top license never come up much during a job interview or daily corporate interaction processes, people for some reason remember your background every time there is some type of important event like a new promotional opportunity, a major project etc.