The richest man in China said; if you put bananas and money in front of monkeys, monkeys will choose bananas because monkeys do not know that money can buy a lot of bananas.
In reality, when job and business is to people they would choose job because most people do not know that business bring in more money than wages or salary.
Similarly, Robert kiyosaki author of the best selling book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and also business partner of Donald Trump said: one of the reasons poor are poor is because they are not trained to recognize entrepreneurship opportunities. They spend too much time in school, and what they have learned in school is to work for wages or salary instead of making money to work for them. Profit is better than wages or salary, for wages and salary can make a living but profit can bring you a fortune. Think investing and stop fighting over increments of salaries, it still won't be enough, hear this from a professor to freshmen and women during their orientation (actually he is an acting DVC academic at a small/new University in Kenya ) academic excellence is overrated!
Being top of your class does not necessarily guarantee that you will be at the top of life. You could graduate as the best student in finance but it doesn't mean that you will make money than everybody's else. The best graduating law student does not necessarily become the best lawyer. The fact, life requires more than the ability to understand a concept, memorize and reproduce it in exam. School rewards people for their memory and Life rewards people for their imagination, school rewards caution and life rewards daring, school hails who live by the rules and life exalts those who break the rules and set new ones. So do i mean you shouldn't study hard in school? Oh, no, you should.
But don't sacrifice every other thing on the altar of first class. Don't limit your self to classroom, do something practical.