This is amazing to hear. I was focusing my semester on this and landed an internship with a prestigious firm in NY for this upcoming summer. However, I resultantly got a B+ in studio along with many other B+'s and A-'s. I actually asked this question because I felt as if I was prioritizing all the wrong things. Thank-you.

Is that internship a paid or a slavery gig?

Paid, thankfully. I would’ve gone for an unpaid internship if it came to it in all honesty, though.

Never take unpaid gigs. No excuse. That should be item 1 through 3 in the top 5 items.

Dokuser: At one time or another I received every possible grade in an undergrad studio, except F. Life wasn't noticeably better in the semester that I got an A. The world didn't end the semester I got a D. In the end it all affected NOTHING. Grades are just... grades. They have almost no long-term meaning outside of that one institution. I got into my choice of grad school (plus all but one of the others to which I applied) with a merit-based scholarship! I did fine there! I graduated, and nobody ever asked me about my grades again.

Besides not worrying about grades, the other thing I wish I'd done differently in college is not wasting any elective credits on software courses. The only thing being on the cutting edge of software knowledge gets you once you graduate is the position of CAD or BIM expert for a year - which usually means you clock less billable time than others, because you're spending so much of your time developing standards or doing pretty renderings for marketing proposals - which makes you the first target of any layoffs that come along - and if you aren't laid off then you're still there to see all your standards get replaced the next year anyway, by the now-more-cutting-edge fresh grad they just hired.  Don't take any software classes. Take philosophy, political science, welding...

+1 to welding. I learned how to weld in 3rd (or 2nd?) year undergrad. Made my models extra nice and gave me an early appreciation for the poor tradespeople.

@eeayeeayo, good point. Interesting how much long-term leverage certain subjects have over another.

Sounds like a fun time

learning psychology is one of those things that will pay back in spades. I you understand it well enough, you'll never be mad at another person, which will cut your stress and add years to your life.

You can't call people narcissistic when they only have higher standards than you.

Narcissism has little to nothing to do with "higher standards" in regards to quality of work. In fact, it usually creates the opposite effect as it only serves to appease one person's ego over the success of a project team or office in general.
You sound like one yourself.

If you are in an office filled with narcissists, it's either a bad office or people do not respect you because your standards are not high enough.

You’ve missed my point. Narcissism does not equal high standards, they are totally different. You have the “think they know it all types” and don’t care to improve or will even because again narcissism is all about ego.

*Wtf Edit: ...The “know it all types” that don’t improve (because their ego knows best!) or will even put others down (unwarrantedly) to make themselves appear better. My point to OP is even in the greatest offices these toxic co-workers can exist and you must learn to work with them. If the work environment all together is toxic then it’s time to move on.

Agreed. Its college; you'll have an entire career to deal with real world realities / limitations.

^Correct. On my last guest critt invitation... I tore into one student who used a (incorrect) firetruck access route to organize a whole housing complex instead of... I don't know, focusing on the views to the river and historical neighbouring buildings? The same student also copy/pasted a 1:5 lag bolt detail and pinned that up as their only drawing.

In the same project?

Yes

WTF? How is that even possible?

Chad, I don't recall exactly, but I do remember the student to be very obsessed with how one part of their project was anchored to an existing 100+ year old building. No consideration for design or structural integrity/conservation of the existing fabric... but hey, who cares when you pin-up what looks to be a architectural detail?Eugh, not the worst project during that day of crits, but close to.

This survey addresses the importance of GPA according to employers. I've never personally had any conversations about GPA, but apparently some find it important to very important

During the interviews I attended I never had to provide my GPA. Then again, it probably depends on the employer. I'll still care about my grades--I find it nearly impossible not to, but I won't fixate on them.

Interesting.

I've had about 15-20 architecture job interviews over the years, and I was never asked about my GPA.

Maybe just your first job out of school?

Yes, that's true. When we interview students for summer positions or recent grads, they will usually list their GPA on their resume. We don't pay a lot of attention to it unless it's really low. We never ask for transcripts.

For some reason I read this in my mother's lecturing voice. But I agree that this is definitely important.

+++++++

About #2, my most recent critique featured 2 male guest jurors who stretched a 5 minute crit. to somewhere near 18 minutes. It was a fun time, haha. Except, I filtered out 50% of what they said in one ear and out the other. The other 50%, however, I did in fact use to "fix" my work.

That last one could've saved me...or screwed me over even more than I already was. Oddly enough, our building is in fact 5 stories tall.

Attitude counts for more than aptitude.

I was about to say this myself - go meet people outside of the architecture faculty. Other architecture students can be your friends, but they're unlikely to be your employer or client. Connections matter.