<p>From umdclassof85 parent, your dd will get a very good, if not great, education where she is attending. She will also come out with a very good job. She will not have any debt. Don’t let these people frazzle you. They don’t know what they are talking about. It really doesn’t matter that she is not at CMU. She is at a good rated college with very little cost. She is getting internships that matter. She will get a job and do well. </p>
<p>I know a kid over at her college that is very bright like your dd and started his masters degree in computer science before he even turned 19. He has companies asking him to work for them. Hopefully, your dd will get a jump start on her masters. You kid had to be very bright for her to get her scholarship.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your words of encouragement. Some of the people who post on CC seem to think that if their child doesn’t go to an elite college, they are doomed to be a failure.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone was telling you that she should have gone to CMU. Nobody could know her specific situation except for you and your daughter, and what she values. But if you look for offense, you will surely find it, though none was intended. </p>
<p>And here is the thing about stereotypes. They often have a basis in reality. I personally am in a profession that is about 98% male/2% female. It’s mostly because women aren’t interested, the job can be high pressure, sometimes hazardous, and everyone has a massive ego. But I don’t walk around with a chip on my shoulder because those stereotypes don’t bother me, and I am confident in my abilities. It sounds like the stereotypes that I was talking about for CS don’t fit your daughter, so why be so defensive? I was specifically talking about a study that I read about CS at CMU. The problem being that many of the women don’t have the same background in CS that men do (the years of programming experience and classes), and the intimidation factor does exist.</p>
<p>The hardest part about my high school were the amount of material we had and the lack of time to complete it. I can master concepts and learn material, but I need time to do it. I’m not a good crammer. Classes from 8-4 leave take up SO much study time. I believe college will be easier because there is more time to complete what is asked of you. Also, by only having one to two classes a day, I can focus on those subjects. I hate being in classes all day and cramming in all that unrelated information. Just some thoughts.</p>
<p>Exactly why my son feels college is ‘easier’. In terms of depth and breadth of material it is not but there is a lot more free time to study, write papers, etc. There’s very little ‘busy work’ in most classes.</p>
<p>My friend’s kids as well as my D agree that college is easier , coming from a prep school backround . Because classes don’t meet every day , she just feels she has more time to prepare for her classes . Ironically her first year German class is tough because it meets every day , and there is a lot of work , much of it "busy work " with a lot of listening labs .</p>
<p>Reading this thread makes me feel so much better at the college preparation my high school is giving me. Whether or not college is actually easier for me depends, partly on the school I end up going to, but it’s nice to hear little success stories. My school is crazy hard. I hope that it all ends up being worth it.</p>
<p>My D was Valedictorian of a very competitive prep school and got into Harvard . The work is hard ,but the amount of reading is unbelievable ! She had a 3.8 GPA until this semester but the science is really tough and demanding ,even though she had AP Physics and AP Chemistry . The difference is being on your own in college ,and having many things that compete for your attention .</p>
<p>Our kids had a MUCH easier time in college than HS because they have/had MUCH more control over their own schedules and could customize classes to let them sleep later and have breaks between classes instead of having EACH school day start at 7:45 and run straight through until 3pm, M-F.</p>
<p>S’s grades were better in college than HS, because he had this added flexibility. D has been able to attend many more of her classes than ever because of this flexibility. S did find the coursework in college to be much easier than had been rumored; his major was EE.</p>
<p>This is splendid. A lot of kids have trouble keeping up with their academic work when they’re faced with the freer lifestyle and the massive distractions of college life. It sounds as though your daughter has a lot of self-discipline. And that’s definitely something to be proud of!</p>
<p>Our oldest found the first two years of college to be easier than high school. There is more “homework” but also a lot more time to do it. I isn’t that the work is harder, just more. I remember thinking the same thing when I was in college. Talking to friends of ours, their experience varied though. Our friends that went to small high schools that didn’t offer a lot of class choices have all said that freshman year in college was very difficult because they were not up to par with the material or the amount of homework. Once they got used to that they were fine. Those that went to larger high schools with many more options for taking difficult classes felt that college was easier, again because of the time to get things done. I also think that learning in general is just easier as you get older. Your brain is more mature and picking up concepts is just easier for the most part.</p>