<p>I have to agree with blossom. I don’t think kids are “dropping” out of STEM due to toxicity; they are more likely dropping INTO another field. Kids and parents are pretty narrow in majors: Med school aspirations? Study biology, chemistry or some derivation thereof; Law school? study history or poli sci; Business school? Econ. Pre-college, a child may think “okay, I’ll be biology because I want to be a doctor”. Then the child gets to college and finds there are 67 other majors she never even imagined. Urban Studies! That’s what catches her eye and she decides to major in that instead of biology.</p>
<p>When I was at Penn, back in the day, You could definitely be premed without being a biology or chemistry major… There were students who were non-STEM majors but making sure they fulfilled all the pre-med requirements. This was actually seen as the smarter way to be pre-med. There is serious weeding in the science majors and/or the pre-med curriculum. </p>
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<p>I’m unclear what this statement even means. I didn’t feel it was up to my classmates to teach me how to study. I had to figure out what worked for me, not mimic others. There were study groups but no one shared study habits. Some students found study groups useful; others did not and preferred to study on their own. </p>