I totally agree that they’re not useless—prestige/signalling in general is useful! And I think the median student is probably not going to be the kind of person who can fail out and still be wildly successful.
But, I think they are way overvalued. If the choice is between getting straight A’s and honor societies and awards, or getting B’s and also getting paid to do research, I think too many people choose the former over the latter.
I totally agree that they’re not useless—prestige/signalling in general is useful! And I think the median student is probably not going to be the kind of person who can fail out and still be wildly successful.
But, I think they are way overvalued. If the choice is between getting straight A’s and honor societies and awards, or getting B’s and also getting paid to do research, I think too many people choose the former over the latter.