Obsession over GPA, Worth it?

I'm studying aerospace engineering. Yea.. its a hard major.. It's going to take me 5 yrs to graduate( could have done it in 4 but that would have meant 19 crs every semester w/ no breaks... i love life too much to do that to myself)

i dont have a perfect gpa, no where close... I'm by no means have a low gpa (i have a 2.73 currently)

There are some ppl that have well over a 3.8 in aerospace engineering that have NO social life, which i believe is ridiculous.

Recently... i received information that confirms my standing(one of my friends who is also in aerospace engineering has a lower gpa than me and got a job for over $56k/yr)

Whats the big deal w/ gpa?
It in NO way shows which person is the best engineer... just who was the best at taking tests... not necessarily who knew the material better.