These days, if all you have to show is good grades, I don't think you're going to achieve the immediate success you are seeking.

You see, as the parent post stated, there are young kids who are knocking balls out of the park, so to speak, in the actual real world of open source. These are the people you are competing against. If it is your perfect marks in school vs someone that is pumping out good code on a real-world open source project, and (perhaps in an interview) you give me any sort of a feeling that you don't respect his work, or consider it not particularly relevant, I would send you packing in a heartbeat.

I think you are missing the most important point, massively.