For my topic I will be examining how post collegiate success is most effectively achieved. I will be researching the correlation between success after college in relation to connections and how a student involves themself with clubs and opportunities opposed to their grades. I want to prove that it is not good grades that get you job opportunities, but rather the people you meet and the social skills you develop while being enrolled in college.
Sources:
Background: This Forbes article goes in depth about a study conducted that shows that college GPA relatively has no correlation to IQ as well as salary post-college.
How I will use it: I will use this source to show that GPA and salary after college are not correlated. This supports the idea that grades do not make you successful
2. Interview
Background: For this source I will interview my dad, who was in college and has been employed for 16 years in an industry for which he did not use his major or diploma. I will ask him questions about what skills and connections helped him succeed in life rather than his grades let alone his unused diploma.
How I will use it: I will use an interview to get a first hand source of why grades don’t determine success after college. My dad has a lot of insight on the topic and can help me use real life references in a credible way.
3. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/13/more-education-doesnt-always-get-you-more-money-report-finds.html
Background: The article talks about how the higher your education doesn’t guarantee you more money. Many people with just a high school diploma make more money than people with bachelors degrees, and there are studies to prove it.
How I will use it: These studies show that your grades in college let alone enrolling at all do not always have an effect on income. I will correlate this to the idea that success can be found outside of grades alone. Preparing yourself straight from high school and developing connections and networking is more beneficial than going to college.
4. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/networking-is-important-to-students
Background: This article doubles down on the fact that networking is more essential to being successful than getting good grades. However, this one talks more about joining clubs, associations, internships, etc. rather than just social networking alone.
How I will use it: I will use this article to talk more about the extra-curricular clubs aspect of networking, whether it is joining a fraternity, sports teams, and internships. I will correlate this to the theme of meeting people to get a head start on career affairs and obtaining a better salary through networking alone.
Background: This Harvard study found that employers are hiring based on social skills rather than grades at an increased rate. The study shows that high social skills and low math skills are more likely to get a job than low social skills and high math skills.
How I will use it: I can use this to evoke the importance of learning how to connect with others and socialize to be successful after college. Employers are not looking for knowledge skills as much as they are social.
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
You’ve been more straightforward, and clearer in your explanations, than many of your classmates in their Proposals, TonySoprano, but there’s some squirminess here to pin down.
For the most part, you concentrate on Salary as the indicator and measure of Success, but not always. Many would dispute the characterization of “more successful” as “earns more money.” You don’t have to use the word success at all if you prefer to keep your focus narrow: networking is a better preparation than good grades for a higher-salary career.
[Unrelated by tangential: The Nobel Prize for Economics this year went to an economist who has debunked the common explanation for the “Gender Pay Gap” as evidence of discrimination against women. According to massive data research of all the employment categories on the US census, 75% of the explanation for the wage gap (which is real) can be explained by the life-work balance women negotiate for themselves, often following the birth of children or the infirmity of parents. Those women earn lower salaries than men who prioritize work first, but they might NOT call themselves less successful. Food for thought.]
So, you’ll have to pin down what you claim are the benefits of networking, or clubs, or extracurriculars of any description. Have you found anything to indicate what SORTS of networking or bridge-building are most beneficial? Also, is it connections WITH FELLOW STUDENTS that qualify as best? Or is college maybe mostly a good place to meet connected adults (professors, counselors, coaches, administrators, visiting lecturers, etc.)? Maybe being in the environmental club is mostly a waste of time except for the contact it provides with local politicians, lawyers, fundraisers, activists, and so on? There’s a categorical argument in there somewhere.
I hope you find these observations helpful, TonySoprano. Please let me know.
Graded.
Revision are always encouraged, particularly on this assignment, which we will update repeatedly throughout the semester.
Regrades, too, are always available following substantial improvements.
Should you revise, your Beloved Professor will not automatically notice.
So, if you desire a Regrade, put your post back into Feedback Please and let me know you’ve earned fresh consideration.
I’ll decide whether the improvements are substantial.
(Try not to make things worse. 🙂 )