Having a good gpa is a dream of every students, but in most cases, this doesn't work out,
Disclaimer : this post is not written to incite students against having good grades, nor is it to undermine a good gpa,encourage laziness or promote mediocrity
But this post is written to encourage students who are currently managing a low gpa or have graduated with a low gpa, it is not the end of the world, to everything there are advantages and disadvantages..
These are the unknown advantages that are attached with getting a low gpa
Note that If you are planning to go to professional school, graduate school, working in academia, or a large corporation, this write up might not be for you because if you don't have a solid GPA, it is going to be next to impossible to overcompensate with your side activities or even internships when applying to these positions, as big businesses are bureaucratic and conservative, while academia really does require excellence in your subjects.
Furthermore, this write up is also based on the fact that you were combining your education with other life benefiting activities while in school ,building your social skills etc and since a good cgpa requires time optimization and 99% of your time, it is justifiable that you get a low gpa
Of course you won't be able to sit for dream companies/placements , apply to top colleges etc etc.
But if you really care, there are lot of things that are achievable without a GPA.
They are:
1) allows you to pursue your passion: having a low gpa gives you chance to think about your other unannexed talents like singing, dancing designing etc..it gives you chance to pursue your passion and who knows? That might just be your purpose in life, we have a lot of world class entertainers in the world today who dropped their school degree to follow their passion and now they are glad they had done nothing else.
2)you have more time to improve your skills: you have more time to improve your skills, more time to learn new skills,like programming, graphics designing etc which might be a huge plus for you because these days a lot of employers donโt ask about your GPA anymore. They are more interested in whether you have relevant work experience so that you can transition seamlessly in the job position. If you have a low GPA I recommend doing multiple internships to gain more hands-on experience in the corporate world.
3 encourages new startups and entrepreneurships: major entrepreneurs leading in the industry today were once dropouts or graduated with a low cgpa, but they didn't let this hitch put them down, they created new businesses, new startups that have generated into multimillionaire companies where first class students even applied for employment into.
A high GPA Doesnโt Mean Youโll Be Good At Your Job - having a high GPA means you are good at digesting textbook knowledge. Textbook knowledge is completely different from a real life work environment. You can be great at studying and get a high GPA but lack the social skills to thrive in a work environment. And as it has been stated before, some employers don't even require your GPA anymore, what they want to know is the skills you have learned that could be of benefit to the company..
If you're planning on working in an industry that focuses more on creativity or is less conservative, GPA doesn't matter nearly as much. In fact, it's even less important than what you do on the side. i.e, if you're a photographer and you can take fantastic photos and use relevant computer software well, that's all you really need. If you're a software developer and you have a rock solid Github account with impressive, impactful apps, then you're golden even without a good GPA.