I Graduated from College with a 4.0 GPA... Was it Worth it?

I recently graduated from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), where I finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA. I don't write this to boast about my achievements. I want to give readers the full picture of my undergraduate experience and determine if the time, energy, and money spent on this degree were truly worth it.

In short... I think so, but I say that with a big caveat.

I spent a total of four years pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Political Science with a minor in Creative Writing. I attended a local community college (Itawamba Community College) for two years and then transferred to Ole Miss. Through tedious study, many sleepless nights, and sacrificing time, I maintained a 4.0 GPA through graduation.

Now, I say that I think it was all worth it because my future goals lead me to believe so. I am planning on attending law school, where one's GPA serves as a stat that law schools consider when admitting students; therefore, a high GPA makes an applicant more attractive.

But, as I tell many people in my life, if I were not planning on attending law school, I would not have worried about my GPA much at all. Most employers don't ask about your grades. Their interest doesn't start to wane when they see you made a C+ in Molecular Biology during your sophomore year. The world does not run on good grades. It runs on skills and how quickly you can acquire and improve those skills.

This leads me to my next question, often posed to myself and other graduates:

What did I learn in college?

Honestly, a lot about myself. I'd say about 80% of what I learned was about me: the way I learn, the way I react to tense situations, the way I cope, and what I actually enjoy doing with my time.

I'd say the remaining 20% of what I learned was about the world around me. Even then, most of that was about the social world. Yes, I did learn a certain amount about certain topics in my field of study, but a lot of the concrete facts and theories are difficult for me to recall.

I believe this problem is the main issue with our educational system. It does not promote true understanding of topics, but rather the "gamification" of education. If I wanted to receive a good grade on an exam, I would burn topics and facts about them into my short-term memory, recall them during the exam, and then move on without retaining much of the information I "studied."

The only times when I truly understood concepts and theories to the point where I could soundly teach others about them were when I forced myself to take a pseudo-interest in the topic and do my own research.

This is not to say that all of my classes were like this. One of my professors was very good about teaching us enough to spur genuine interest and then providing sources to aid in our understanding. But even then, he still had to provide exams that were subject to the same "gamification."

In this gamification mindset, I became less fulfilled by studies and began losing interest in college altogether. I would sit in class and feel like I was wasting time. However, I think what saved me was my minor in Creative Writing.

Once I started taking classes aimed at my minor, I became very involved. I think this is largely because it tested my ability to write and improve that ability, rather than the ability to cram information into my short-term memory.

I don't say all of this to suggest that standardized testing has no place in academia; however, I do think it should be limited to areas of study that require technical information that must be known to successfully operate in a future job. I find that testing a student's ability to communicate an idea is far more important and useful to the student and society as a whole.