[quote=JonLaw]
I like the explanation that school is a place to "demonstrate their intelligence by means of a number."
[quote]
Unfortunately, in the legal world, this is how many big firms view it as well. My own experience bore this out. I had a horrible 2nd semester in my first year at law school where I earned my first and only "C"s in my academic career. This dragged down my GPA to 0.2 below the magic threshold where law firms would consider you for summer internships. The career counselors advised me to only apply to second tier firms. I barely managed to get a summer job at the last minute. My second year in law school, I had better grades. I pulled my GPA up by 3-4 points (don't recall the exact number anymore). I had tons of interviews and had people treat me completely differently. Seriously, the only significant difference was my GPA. Sad but true, numbers count.
