Don't go ivy if you want to enjoy college. I know some people that run for an ivy league school and they are buried in work, and ivy league academics aren't as athlete friendly as major D1 schools.
Don't go ivy if you want to enjoy college. I know some people that run for an ivy league school and they are buried in work, and ivy league academics aren't as athlete friendly as major D1 schools.
When people say they're buried in work all the time, watch them work. They tend to sit around in the library cafe bullshitting an hour for every hour of real work. I was an engineering major and a runner, and college was a lot of fun. Yeah, a lot of work, but if you're overwhelmed with work all the time you're doing something wrong.
Azaleas wrote:
When people say they're buried in work all the time, watch them work. They tend to sit around in the library cafe bullshitting an hour for every hour of real work.
Truer words are rarely spoke.
If people, just as a one-week experiment, kept track of the time they actually spent *doing* academic work--shoot, include the time spent in class--I think they would be amazed. Not many put in more than 40 hours of actual work.
I think being on a team helps a person see the waste time (screwing around on the Internet, BSing with dormmates, etc.) and avoid it. Which could be one of the reasons why those who are on teams have (as a group) a higher average GPA than those who are not.
Here's where some of you are getting confused. You think that the fact that GPA averages at Ivies are high means that it is easy to get a high GPA at an Ivy. You are forgetting that the student body is full of intensely motivated and extremely smart and talented people--the country's best and brightest--who are used to working long hours on little sleep and are accustomed to studying their brains out in high school.
These are kids who not only took all of the hardest classes at their high school but also self-studied for 5 or 6 AP classes, took classes at the local college, and taught themselves Greek and Arabic during the summer. These are kids who won Intel science competitions and were on national level math teams and who already published novels and started their own companies. They continue to work really, really hard in college. The effort that would have earned them an A in high school, now only earns them a C or B- so they simply step it up and work harder because they are driven people. And while some may procrastinate and be occasionally inefficient because that's human, do you really believe they waste more time than the average state school student?
nordicmama wrote:
Here's where some of you are getting confused. You think that the fact that GPA averages at Ivies are high means that it is easy to get a high GPA at an Ivy. You are forgetting that the student body is full of intensely motivated and extremely smart and talented people--the country's best and brightest--who are used to working long hours on little sleep and are accustomed to studying their brains out in high school.
These are kids who not only took all of the hardest classes at their high school but also self-studied for 5 or 6 AP classes, took classes at the local college, and taught themselves Greek and Arabic during the summer. These are kids who won Intel science competitions and were on national level math teams and who already published novels and started their own companies. They continue to work really, really hard in college. The effort that would have earned them an A in high school, now only earns them a C or B- so they simply step it up and work harder because they are driven people. And while some may procrastinate and be occasionally inefficient because that's human, do you really believe they waste more time than the average state school student?
this just isn't my experience. My experience (humanities major at Dartmouth) is that it was quite easy (and this was back in the 80s) to get a B or B+. You do the reading, write a careful essay, proofread the thing, and you get a B.
I am smart, but not brilliant - just top 10% in my HS class, average GPA at Dartmouth. I probably only got in because I applied early, was a legacy, and had bussed myself to gifted programs in inner city schools from 6th grade on, so they could tell I cared.
I just didn't see the insane work that you imply - except the pre med people. I am sure many do work insanely hard, but I did not see it as widespread as you imply.
Google sleep deprivation in college students. Here's one quote I found:
"A recent survey of Stanford undergraduates revealed that their number one complaint was not getting enough sleep! I heard a validation of this complaint from the lips of a well known alumnus, Tiger Woods, who said that one of the best things about his choice to leave Stanford for the professional golf circuit was that he could now get enough sleep."
I agree that it isn't that terribly hard to get a B, but the issue is that Ivy athletes are also top students who want to go to med school, law school, top graduate school programs in their fields, or land a job with a top company, and for those things you need better than than a 3.0 You need a 3.8 or higher, and getting that is tough. For lesser opportunities, you need a 3.5. Just read some job ads and you'll see that the better companies want a 3.5.
I know a set of twins who both wanted to be lawyer. One was smarter and a better student in high school than her sister. She got into Princeton. Her sister went to UDel. Tbe Princeton sister did not get into law school, while the other one did.
nordicmama wrote:
Google sleep deprivation in college students. Here's one quote I found:
"A recent survey of Stanford undergraduates revealed that their number one complaint was not getting enough sleep! I heard a validation of this complaint from the lips of a well known alumnus, Tiger Woods, who said that one of the best things about his choice to leave Stanford for the professional golf circuit was that he could now get enough sleep."
1. Did the study survey people at other schools?
2. Did the survey say WHY they weren't getting enough sleep? Could be studying, could be too much socializing. I'd bet that most college students at every school don't get enough sleep. Not just Stanford.
There's a difference between staying up late because you want to hang out, watch TV, party, you procrastinated, etc. and staying up late because your work load demands it. But athletes need more sleep and actually want to go to bed early so they can feel good the next day, and simply can't because of their work load.
I think a lot of kids don't want to admit how hard they are working because it seems uncool or nerdy, or they think they must not be as smart as their peers if the work is hard for them so they act like it isn't. Secondly, things have changed a lot since the 1980's. A lot of people who were admitted then wouldn't be now. And while I don't want to make this a race thread, the fact is we now have in the northeast a lot of Asians who are notoriously hard workers and are willing to sacrifice everything to succeed academically.
Maybe I'm wrong, but speaking for my own kids and their friends who are all at top schools, I can tell you they often feel very stressed by the workload and are studying long hours. One kid had a perfect SAT, was valedictorian of our high school, and was the smartest person we ever met, and he says Princeton is very hard for him. Tells my kid he doesn't understand how he can be an athlete too, and he quit his eating club to have more time to study.
On my daughter's team, there are a lot of girls with stress-related issues like eating disorders. They might seem to be handling things, but they're not.
Flagpole wrote:
c'mon Flaggy wrote:The OP is Flagpole pretending to be his daughter
Nope!
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0/10 Ignorant post.