Why do straight-A students flounder in the professional world?

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I spent most of college feeling like I was floundering. I was in an honors cohort, I got decent grades, and I probably seemed like a straight-A student. But I knew that I almost failed Pre-Calc. My sloppy study habits meant I got A minuses and B pluses in courses that weren’t really that hard. (At the time my ADHD was undiagnosed). Looking around at my friends, who all seemed like academic rockstars, I felt like a fraud. Everyone always treated me like I was top of the class, but I knew that wasn’t true.

Given my general feeling of mediocrity in college, I was surprised that when I graduate I found the professional world much easier to navigate. Of course, my career hasn’t been smooth sailing, but in the first few years after college, something just clicked. I felt like I knew what to do. I knew how to wiggle my way into interesting jobs, convince people to hire me, and most importantly how to wayfind in the professional landscape.

I was also surprised to see that some of the straight-A students from my college seemed to flounder. While I’m sure many of them ultimately found their way, in the first few years after college, a lot of them seemed to struggle to get the kinds of jobs that would propel them forward into meaningful careers. Of course, some of the over-achievers just kept on over-achieving. But then there were the ambitious business students who retreated into the world of off-the-grid permaculture. Or the all-star social butterfly who took a multi-year low-level administrative job. Or the would-be federal judge who worked for years at a coffee shop.

It’s not my intention to judge these people’s life choices. But I got the distinct sense that they were not actually happy with what they were doing. They were just lost.

At first I thought this phenomenon might have something to do with my college being pretty middle-of-the-road: a great school, but not exactly an elite institution. People at elite institutions may have more family connections or alumni connections that can help propel them into better roles early on. But then I got a job at the New York Times and met a lot of people with ivy league degrees. Of course, being at the New York Times might seem like the definition of early career success, but that’s not exactly what was happening. A lot of these people arrived at the New York Times and immediately stalled out. Face with almost zero possibility of upward mobility at the New York Times, they didn’t know how to leave. Some of them couldn’t even conceive of leaving. With a B.A. from Brown and The New York Times as the first line item on their resume, where could they possibly go that would be better? It was just unimaginable to them. People would literally say, “I can’t leave; It’s the New York Times!”

I was shocked at how remarkably unambitious (for themselves) these ivy leaguers were. Later I would meet extremely ambitious ivy leaguers in other professional spaces, so this clearly isn’t a problem that afflicts all ivy league students. But I’ve encountered enough of them to know that no matter how elite your education, you can still flounder in your professional life. You can still get stuck. You can still lack the skills to get yourself from point A. to point B.

What you study in college doesn’t seem to impact your ability to navigate the professional world much either. I’ve seen business majors phone it in, and even engineering and computer science students fail to gain traction. Some of these students might land an amazing first job, but they don’t know what to do next. How do you get a second job? How do you craft a career that’s going to work for you? Then there are others, like me, who studied arcane, esoteric topics (like history, philosophy, and antiquities) and somehow managed to find our way in the professional world.

So what’s the deal? Why do rockstar college students flounder when it comes to finding their way in the professional world? I think the answer is simple. Being good at exploring the professional landscape, identifying opportunities, and capitalizing on those opportunities, is a distinct skill set. It’s not taught at most colleges, most of which spend too much time teaching students how to format their resumes. Some people learn this skill set through osmosis, either from their parents or other family members or mentors. But if you’re not exposed to this skillset, you’re kind of screwed. Because the skills that help you get good grades are not the same as the skills that will help you get jobs and ultimately cultivate a career that really works for you.