JR Smith named Academic Athlete of the Year (4.0 GPA)

[Snakebites]

I think it's really cool that JR is doing something outside of basketball and has found success doing so.

Oh, and I don't feel any need to make baseless claims about the legitimacy of his academic record, nor do I feel the need to take shots at him based on things he did while he was playing in a thread that isn't about those things.

That really wasn't hard, guys...

[DFolks]

What's GPA and how impressive is JR Smith's accomplishment to put some perspective?

People on here like OP think because he's black its shocking that he got a 4.0 and need to point it out.

They look at him like he's a puppy that did a trick that deserves a treat.

Strike: Trolling/Derailment

C'mon it's always a white man being racist in your eyes.

When you remove your racial agenda lens, you can objectively come to the same conclusion that the rest of us have. That is, we are hella surprised JR Smith could get a 4.0 gpa because of his past behavior and actions.

[Raptors_Dynasty]

As a mature student who went back to school, previously sucked at it, this is the most impressive thing JR has ever done

RESPECT

[shakes0]

What's GPA and how impressive is JR Smith's accomplishment to put some perspective?

assuming it's on a 4.0 scale that means he got all A's in his classes.

Impossible to really appreciate if we don't know what classes he was taking.

Was he taking real college classes or was he taking basket weaving? But even if he is taking all easy athlete classes it's still a very nice accomplishment and requires work.



He's just proving what I learned during my second try at college after failing out the first time. College is actually really really easy if you go to all the classes and do the assigned work. It's not till grad school that things get hard.

[DFolks]

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

Damn, is the American education system lenient in grading? A 4.0 would be the equivalent of straight A's here, and only 2 people in my class did that. A lot of the smartest people come out of the US system, so I'm kind of surprised how they rise to the top if straight A's are that simple to get. Would be helpful to know his major I suppose.

First couple years at most universities are not too difficult like the poster is saying. However, at top 200 (public and private) universities, it is not easy to get an A for most upper level classes.

[shakes0]

Nice, 4.0 GPA and you're still putting him in a box

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

[CobraCommander]

15 years ago the idea of reading this headline would have been completely unbelievable. dude made some egregious mistakes but respect for turning it around. never too late to pursue knowledge and growth

Uh maybe but turned it around is a stretch- grew up more like it. Imagine going back to first grade with knowing how valuable time and effort is...JR knows it

[Clyde Frazier]

People can get their jokes off but I still think it's cool what he did. I remember him saying he was struggling early with the classes too. It'll be interesting to see if he sticks with it.

[CobraCommander]

4.0 GPA for a famous, millionaire ex-athlete is probably the equivalent of a 3.0 GPA for your average student.

Don't tell me JR Smith isn't getting some serious breaks here.

Look at all of the supposed 'college' educated athletes across all the sports that have college programs. Many of those guys would never have made college, let alone passed a single grade if they were your average person.

There's no meritocracy for athletes in college - well there is, but it's not the kind earned at the desk.

I'll give it to JR though, even if that 4.0 GPA is equivalent to a 3.0 it's pretty good, and more than I would have expected given what we've seen from him in his career. Clearly he's not dumb. But I need more data before I crown him a top 5% mental performer, like a 4.0 would imply.

@Lockdown504090 made a good point. Athletes know how to work hard. I can see how someone like Jr with a lot of time, money and top notch work ethic could do this regardless of how he presents himself on court - assuming this isn't law school.

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

Uh yeah UMD ain’t let us just show up and get a grade...or maybe I’m stupid and shouldn’t picked comp sci as a major...grad school was a breeze...

[dhsilv2]

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

Uh yeah UMD ain’t let us just show up and get a grade...or maybe I’m stupid and shouldn’t picked comp sci as a major...grad school was a breeze...

Comparing comp science to 90% of degree isn't a fair comp lol.

[bigbreakfast]

impressed with JR's growth and maturation.

if you wanna comment on his gpa i'm gonna have to ask you to disclose your gpa, your major and where you went to college first.

[shakes0]

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

Uh yeah UMD ain’t let us just show up and get a grade...or maybe I’m stupid and shouldn’t picked comp sci as a major...grad school was a breeze...

my experience was complete opposite. Undergrad poli sci degree was very easy at DePaul. Law school at DePaul was a whole different animal. First couple years were about 100x harder than anything I did in undergrad. Things settled down a bit the final year, but still ridiculously hard by undergrad standards.

Law school made undergrad feel like nursery school.

[CobraCommander]

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

Uh yeah UMD ain’t let us just show up and get a grade...or maybe I’m stupid and shouldn’t picked comp sci as a major...grad school was a breeze...

Comparing comp science to 90% of degree isn't a fair comp lol.

But I’m gonna take the school at their word that JR is a 4.0 student and he did the work...this like asking Brown-Jackson for her LSAT...we all have dumb friends that get good grades—-and smart friends that struggle in school...

[shakes0]

impressed with JR's growth and maturation.

if you wanna comment on his gpa i'm gonna have to ask you to disclose your gpa, your major and where you went to college first.

I'm not criticizing him at all, think it's a great accomplishment. But just for fun my first college GPA was 0.00 from University of Oklahoma

I can laugh about it now because I turned it around and became a lawyer, but it sure didn't start out looking good.

[CobraCommander]

this is 100% true. I remember failing out of college at 19 and complaining how hard college was while at the same time I was ovesleeping and missing my 1:00 pm class and not doing 50% of the assigned reading and work.

Then on my second attempt I went to all the classes and did 100% of the assigned reading and work. Ended up graduating with honors. Amazing how easy college actually is if you simply attend and do the work. It's basically just reading and memorizing if you go for a liberal arts degree.

Uh yeah UMD ain’t let us just show up and get a grade...or maybe I’m stupid and shouldn’t picked comp sci as a major...grad school was a breeze...

my experience was complete opposite. Undergrad poli sci degree was very easy at DePaul. Law school at DePaul was a whole different animal. First couple years were about 100x harder than anything I did in undergrad. Things settled down a bit the final year, but still ridiculously hard by undergrad standards.

Law school made undergrad feel like nursery school.

Undergrad UMD made Fuqua look like nursery school....I guess it’s what you do....but academia is what it is.....we know who JR is...he high right now...with his classmates that are going off to medical school lol

[CobraCommander]

impressed with JR's growth and maturation.

if you wanna comment on his gpa i'm gonna have to ask you to disclose your gpa, your major and where you went to college first.

I'm not criticizing him at all, think it's a great accomplishment. But just for fun my first college GPA was 0.00 from University of Oklahoma

I can laugh about it now because I turned it around and became a lawyer, but it sure didn't start out looking good.

Going to Law school so what....


but passing the bar ?


Hope you making enough for good seats at the Miami hawks series and not struggling doing the lords work as a Public defender

[LakersLegacy]

Impressive - what classes though

[CobraCommander]

impressed with JR's growth and maturation.

if you wanna comment on his gpa i'm gonna have to ask you to disclose your gpa, your major and where you went to college first.

This is one thread where no one should get in their feelings.....it’s an ex nba player that did the dumbest thing and created the best meme ever



What I hate is that this dude better at basketball AND golf than me....f jr smith for that....

[JonFromVA]

A 4.0 in undergrad is like 99% if you show up and do the work....something 99% of college students don't do. Hell, I had classes I don't think I attended even 3 times outside of the tests.

Damn, is the American education system lenient in grading? A 4.0 would be the equivalent of straight A's here, and only 2 people in my class did that. A lot of the smartest people come out of the US system, so I'm kind of surprised how they rise to the top if straight A's are that simple to get. Would be helpful to know his major I suppose.

a 4.0 is straight A's and to do that for 4 years is pretty impressive in most majors. But if he's in his first 2 years, most of those classes are designed to have most people 3.5 or better GPAs. As it's hard to get a job out of school without well over a 3.0...so schools inflate grades to assure that happens.

Grades and IQ I doubt have any real correlation. MAJORS and IQ's likely have a HUGE correlation. Good grades means you picked a major you're smart enough to complete and you put in the work.

One way to achieve a 4.0 in any curriculum is to take subjects you already know, and when that's not the case monitor the course before taking it for real, or otherwise invest yourself in the subject beyond what's presented in lectures.

At the better universities where certain professors may pride themselves on their class having a 'C' average; they achieve that by asking exam questions meant to trip you up, waste your time, or that explore areas that were not explicitly discussed and at best can only be inferred.

Grades open doors in certain areas, but they are not the end all be all in the US. Having a passion for your major and a true feel for the subject is a lot more important IMO.

[celtics543]

I think some of you are looking at this wrong. You're looking at it as if JR Smith needs to pass for some reason. He's not someone looking to make the league and just needs to get through college, he's already a multimillionaire former NBA player who WANTS to be in college and get a degree. That's a powerful difference.

With no knowledge of courses he's taking I'd be willing to bet he's not in basket weaving or underwater knitting or whatever, otherwise why bother? There's no reason for him to be in school other than he wants to learn something so I'm sure he's taking legit classes and doing the work. It would be cheaper and easier for him to just drop out if he was going to have someone else do the work anyway. Not like he needs a degree to get a job and support himself. Guy could do whatever he wants all day for the rest of his life and never run out of money.

Good for JR, glad he's found something else to be passionate about.