Grades can be misleading as well, because they don't necessarily signify that a person understood what they did, but that they managed to deliver within that grading system (e.g. by learning things by hard, by preparing for a very narrow topic, etc).
Working in a very free university/art school (without grades and with little pressure), I often see people who had good grades before completely fall apart when nobody tells them what to do and how to do it. Grades are nice and all, but don't take it for given that they correlate to actual performance. Additionally there are field where this is even truer: how do you grade art? Will a gallerist buy your art because you had good grades in art school? Will a festival screen your film because your professors gave you the best grade?
Grades should be taken with a grain of salt unless you know the system within which they were created very well and what these grades indicate. I think actual projects and experiences are worth more. If you e.g. mixed the sound for 10 movies and there are more people asking you to do it for them (and they are willing to pay), this might be a good indicator that you actually know what you are doing.
Working in a very free university/art school (without grades and with little pressure), I often see people who had good grades before completely fall apart when nobody tells them what to do and how to do it. Grades are nice and all, but don't take it for given that they correlate to actual performance. Additionally there are field where this is even truer: how do you grade art? Will a gallerist buy your art because you had good grades in art school? Will a festival screen your film because your professors gave you the best grade?
Grades should be taken with a grain of salt unless you know the system within which they were created very well and what these grades indicate. I think actual projects and experiences are worth more. If you e.g. mixed the sound for 10 movies and there are more people asking you to do it for them (and they are willing to pay), this might be a good indicator that you actually know what you are doing.