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Just want to clarify that Harvard offers many different typs of honors, and everybody (in particular graduate schools) knows the difference between "kept his nose clean" honors and "this guy's a genius" honors.
Cum laude means you kept your nose clean; magna cum laude means you did a very good job; Phi Beta Kappa means you kicked ass (top 10% in grades with a tough curriculum); summa cum laude means you're not merely a genius, but a hardworking genius.
The newspaper articles lump all these together and say everybody gets honors...well, technically it's true, but it doesn't mean what people take it to mean.
I agree that grades are not the reason to be in college, but I also think that the choice between grade-grubbing and real learning is a false dichotomy. I had a wonderful time in college, but I also did the best I could grade-wise, which enabled me to go to my first-choice law school. You don't have to choose between fun and success. The most successful people seek both.
Ivy
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