Many students falsely believe that obtaining a great GPA will make them a shoo-in for success later in life or school. In fact, there are many instances of students being accepted to colleges or jobs who possessed lower GPAs but had some other positive attributes. For example, a student may get into graduate school with a less-than-stellar GPA over a student with a 4.0, because the previous student volunteered or demonstrated valuable team skills. College applications and resumes must be balanced with good grades and a show of willingness to lead and volunteer and desire to help the community.
Time management is a crucial part of academic success. Aside from the average 12 or more hours a college student will spend in classes a week, students must make time to study at home and complete assignments. Couple this with a part-time job or any amount of social life, and it is easy to let academic fall behind in importance. Dedication to an academic schedule and coursework is an absolute essential virtue that must be followed. In many cases, a student only gets one chance at college success, which can be squandered as early as freshmen year.
Extracurricular activities allow for students to not only partake in learning experiences that often help their community, but also allow for crucial social networking opportunities that may prove valuable later in life. Showing your instructors that you are willing to take what little extra time you have and dedicate it to your education greatly enhances your ability to receive recommendations. Furthermore, instructors often look highly upon students who put forth the extra effort in their academic careers. Extracurricular activities may very well be the factor that turns a close B into an A.