Academics

University of Richmond is my top school right now, but I am concerned about Academics. Currently I take all IB classes and manage to get A’s in them, but I read online that Academics at U of R are difficult and not many students get A’s. How hard are the classes?

UR academics are difficult, and upper-level classes can be hard to get A’s in, however, many, if not most, students still get more A’s than B’s. If you are in all IB’s and getting A’s, you’ll be able to handle UR’s rigor just fine. Some subjects/classes are harder than others. My math and CS courses have generally been harder than my music and dance courses, for example, but some of the music courses I thought weren’t hard, many people struggle with. I’ve been able to maintain a gpa >3.5 while taking the equivalent of 18 credits of academic classes, and an average of more than 20 hrs a weeks in extracurriculars (working, music, theater, honor society commitments, etc).

It’s all relative. People have different ideas of what makes a class “hard” or not. One person’s challenge is another person’s cake walk. College, you strive for top grades but you may not always get them.

Fwiw, our eldest is a senior at UR and is between a 3.7/3.8. Mostly A’s but more than once she’s jumped for joy because she managed a “B” in a course she felt was a real struggle. She’s always worked on campus, done school year internships, been involved with campus activities… it’s been manageable. She has know kids who have struggled but they were kids who weren’t fast to seek help when needed.

You will be fine and don’t be too hard on yourself if you hit a wall once in awhile.