Poll of the Day > As a high school student. Does studying hard only take you so far?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Apparently the UC governing board voted to support a measure to restore affirmative action to improve diversity. Some folks I know are less than happy this might screw their children over when they apply for college several years from now.

The high school I attended 20 some years ago was not in a rich community but we did not seem that bad either. Many fellow classmates I know study their arses off and are doing well in life after attending various top end colleges/universities. I think one friend took a year off at MIT and still graduated on time, whatever that means.

All that said, how far can studying hard really take you? If one comes from a poorly funded school, could that influence your chance to get into the top colleges/universities? How much of "selling yourself" fall on the student and not the high school?

I do not doubt some schools better prepare their students compared to others and part of that might be due to better teachers, better programs, better opportunities, etc. In the end though, I still feel a lot falls on the student.

From your personal experience of hearing about it, how far does studying hard really takes you?

Comments and opinions are appreciated,

Thank you


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College is a joke if you can network or pick up a special trade.

I am a network engineer, dropped out of college twice and had a better life style than a friend currently working with a PHD in nano fiber filtering for ocean oil spills.

My best friend, who NEVER sat foot in a college is a director of network engineering, has 12 kids and STILL lives better than me.

So hard work, know someone, or can specialize will almost always beat out college unless you go doctor, lawyer, or something like that.

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I do not view higher education as a joke but can agree it is not a guaranteed to a happy and comfortable life either. I often been told it is more of who you know and less so of what you know and unfortunately some very intelligent college friends are examples of this. I too have a friend who did not finish college and went on to make good money by working for the city.

I feel parents and teachers need to be more realistic about their children/student options after high school. They should not push for colleges specifically but rather something said child can hopefully enjoy and make a living with.

That said, my question was in regards to those you want to attend college. How much of studying hard can make up for a poorly funded school, bad teachers, etc. compared to those attending better high schools?

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It's more about the environment. Being in a rich private school will let you associate with other rich people and learn to act like one. You learn the secret handshake that persuades people to give you money and opportunity for prestige.

Go to a school that's less well off, the adults and students you're around act like people who are less well off. You'll imitate their habits, you won't know the secret handshake that persuades people to give you money and opportunity for prestige.

College isn't there to educate you. It's there to teach you to act a certain way sort people into careers, and gatekeep careers. I learned a lot in my physics and math degrees, but I would have learned more significantly more physics and math on my own. I did learn how to have a personality that physicists get along with, learned to say the secret phrases, and have the opinions you expect a physicist to have. Having a lot of interaction with your professors and classmates is extremely important, even more than getting great grades.

Grad school was a joke. When leaving I told my department head that I haven't had such an easy time since high school. They still love me there because I have papers with almost every professor >_<

I got a bachelor's in IT and all the stuff I learned could have easily been learned from books and the internet in 2 years instead of 5.

I graduated high school in the top 2% of my class with a weighted GPA of 4.5 and didn't get any scholarships I applied for. My parents didn't have a lot of money.

At our worst, my wife and I were $78,000 in debt. We worked 4 jobs last year and now we're down to $40,000 because we busted our asses to get there, AND bought a really small house.

Picking a focus and sticking to it will get you anywhere. I don't think you need a college degree.

I went to college for one semester.

I work as a Business manager for a military clinic now.

I have zero background in healthcare.

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Apology for the confusion if my opening statement was confusing or too wordy. I understand and accept college is not always the best route but is not asking about how useful college is in the real world.

What I am asking is for those who do want to attend college, how much of studying hard can make up for attending a poorly funded high school or coming from a low income family?

blu posted...

It's more about the environment. Being in a rich private school will let you associate with other rich people and learn to act like one. You learn the secret handshake that persuades people to give you money and opportunity for prestige.

Depending on the college/university, I can see this being a thing. But how would this stand out in an application when being reviewed? It has been 20 some years since I applied for college and our application, essay, transcript, SAT score, etc. were the only things we were presenting to an admission office. Maybe certain schools held interviews but most I recall were just done via applications and the required documents.

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Working hard will overcome anything to a degree.

I know a lot of people who work extremely hard and stuck in lower positions because they lack the ability to market themselves or anything like that and thus they stay where they are when ever they deserve promotions, raises, or even a better job.

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studying hard/working hard will get you anywhere you want to be. Natural talent falls completely short of hard work/dedication/love for your career path, no matter what that career path is

that being said... the easy real life stat path is putting all your points into charisma and luck

high school is more of a shortcut really, you can do well without college but there are paths to college either way

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My experience with small schools versus big schools going into college was that I had a lot less opportunities when it came to upper level classes. I literally had to take an online class (and teach myself) in high school to take calculus whereas bigger schools would have multiple offerings of those upper level courses. I was the top student academically from my school, but when I hit college I felt just slightly above average academically. In order to be the top in bigger schools the requirements were higher. I still made it into the college I wanted, but I was the only one from my high school to go to that college ever.

At the same time I was the student that school came naturally to. I never really studied in high school because I retained the information well. I think we push college as the path forward too often when there are other options that lead to just as good of a life. After going through college and figuring out who I was, I learned that I like hands on work like electrical or civil engineering. I could have just as easily when to a trade school and learned hands on how to do those jobs instead of working on a bachelor's for 4+ years to have no experience doing the job.

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First of all, study and hard work will almost always get you further than talent alone.

My biggest recommendation to students is this; if you plan to live where you are or somewhere close by, check the community college first. They tend to offer programs that the local economy needs. They are almost always cheaper and transfer courses to any big university nearby. The larger university programs are much more affordable when you factor in starting at a community college.