I was just posting this to get it off my chest. I’ll be attending of Oxford of Emory next fall but I’m dreading it. I know this sounds bad but I just am so nervous about starting college. I was very, very excited at first but when I read the tiny enrollment at the college I became concerned because I just finished 4 years at a small high school filled with cliques, gossip, lunchroom drama, etc. I don’t want to go to college only to have more rumors circulating around me wherever I go. Also, I plan on doing premed and I heard that’s a nightmare at Emory. I struggled in my science classes in high school so I really don’t know how it will work out next year when I heard about how super intense those classes are on campus. I’m concerned also that it’s a HUGE premed school. I’m not worried about other people being competitive, I’m concerned about me! Competition really gets to me and I become super cutthroat (what it I become the “ugly premed?”) Everyone else there seems super intense too. Like there’s no other way to describe it. In the Facebook group this chemistry professor is already helping students review over the summer!! Is anyone familiar with Professor Parker? He’s REALLY stressing me out and only playing on my fears (I love my relaxing summers and really don’t want to have to study sig figs.) I do work very hard and I hope you don’t think I’m lazy, I just value balance between work and relaxing and I’m scared that Emory will take that away from me! I could have gone to to a state school for 1/4 the cost and probably had an easier time! I think I’ve made a huge mistake!! Any advice is appreciated, thanks so much!
Not specific to Oxford/Emory, but I’m concerned that if you struggled with science classes in HS, doing well in the premed requirements will mean very little relaxing.
@yaupon Even though I had a lot of trouble in those courses, I thought they were very interesting! Although I barely skidded by in honors chem with a -B it was my favorite class that year. Am I going to die in those classes next year though?
@awesomet47: Okay, let us be real here. The professor is doing them a failure. It is actually scary the number of students coming to main who stress “themselves” out because they didn’t review stuff for that stupid GCAT, start it at the very last minute, and barely complete it or do not complete it at all and then decide they’ll take a 3% hit. As for competition…I think people are intense because pre-med is very much about grades. I hear most Oxford courses do not curve (and the grades kind of show it) so the incentive for stereotypical competition levels is limited. Main campus has some courses, particularly the chemistry courses, where there is a curve because of low exam means, and sometimes this can breed a mixture of unhealthy and healthy competition. However, if you have a group of friends take the instructor with you, it won’t be a problem. Another thing about Oxford (as judging by its syllabi) is that science courses are much more than minimally weighted homework and exams. This already eliminates some of the competition and may allow for more group work. Main is much more about prepping for the exam. Usually any other graded assignments are just side-shows and minimally weighted. The only class I can think of where students and instructors take the p-sets they give really serious is maybe ochem and gen. chem. I don’t even know if physics has them anymore, and whether or not p-set engagement correlates with success in biology on main remains to be seen since often the exam format is much simpler.
BTW, if you really like science, you need not be pre-med, there are other options where careful planning and experience in research or internships matter more than grades and cookie cutter EC’s…do not restrict yourself…Being pre-med often means passing up the better and more rigorous instructors to preserve your GPA…by the end of it, you be convinced that you don’t actually like science and just jumped through hoops…just don’t make the mistake of assuming…“liking science=be pre-med”, Furthermore, there are other health related professions and jobs that may allow you to use a scientific background…do not let the environment of “pre-med or bust” at Emory confuse you. As for HS vs. college, you’ll just have to work harder. I’ve seen people change before. Also, some schools are just harder than others so a B at your school could be an A at many. You won’t know until you actually start doing the work. Just know that, in general, gen. chem for example is a very standard college course. Even more challenging professors (like Mulford on main) in it aren’t doing anything particularly special other than making sure you can manipulate equations better than normal. They aren’t asking one to understand challenging applications or anything (even the application level problems are plug and chug cloaked in a word problem: Hopefully if/when the new chemistry rolls out in 2016, that’ll change and students will be asked to solve more relevant or meaningful problems). A challenging biology instructor on the other hand…is doing things that most students aren’t used to (typically more short answer and essay than HS biology exams, more problem solving oriented, more data analysis, and tricky multiple choice).
Wow…long day, I meant the prof. is doing them a favor (not failure…clearly grading so many darn quizzes and exams has fried my brain)…though the forms thing is a bit ridiculous. However, I suspect that many students have helicopter parents that may want those things. Whether facebook should be the medium to find that out, I am unsure.
You struggled in science class but want to do pre-med, in a school that has a reputation for creating med-school ready students by setting a tough standard.
You are anxious about going to a school that is very competitive, yet you applied to Harvard, the very definition of a competitive school.
You want to keep your summers free to have a balance between work and relaxing, yet you want to go into medicine - a field that is famously intense. The people who are going to med school spend their summers either working to earn money to pay for med school or working to get experience for med school.
It’s water under the bridge, but it seems as if you didn’t really do much homework on the colleges you applied to- how did you not know the size of Oxford? that your state U does offer your major?
What I can’t tell is if this is cold feet: you are about to leave the known for the unknown- or if you are in fact recognizing a real mis-match between you and the school. But you say you liked the feel of the school, and it is quite possible that the supportive environment of Oxford will help you figure out your path, while the maturing that happens for every single first year college student will help you find your feet.
Also, if you find the standard of work challenging, use the resources that are on offer early- there is a lot available. Do not think that you are the only one struggling or that you will be able to sort it out on your own. Neither are likely to be true
@collegemom3717 : Really, applied to Harvard? That is a thing that baffles me about Emory students all of the time. Many students who are pre-business or pre-med are upset they did not get into Harvard (Columbia, Yale, Princeton…insert tippy top intensive school), yet often complain about the intensity of courses and instructors at Emory. It is as if they have been convinced that Harvard is easier because of the rumors of grade inflation. The reality is, Harvard is much more difficult than most top 20-25 schools in terms of the content. I could go into specifics, but will spare you.
And thank you for telling them the thing about medicine, and it honestly applies to most careers in science (especially academically related ones). I am merely in a masters program in chemistry and can tell you that it is straight up work around the clock (whether it be the lab, which I love) or the TAships…Medical school, from what I see from a friend who is doing his MDPhD (it is now summer of his 1st year) is constant studying (and when there is a “break” offered during summer, often it should be used to intern or something if the program does not have a research requirement integrated into it) pretty much, they do not get much of a “break” until it is time to study boards (which is basically after/during the second year BTW) kind of like how I student might gets a “break” to write a thesis or science doctoral (my eventual goal) student may get a little time to study for qualifying exams (or cumulative exams if in a chemistry program…nothing like exams that throw the most random things in your discipline at you where you basically must read, read, read primary literature constantly, even in subfields not related to your research to only hope that you have a chance of understanding enough prompts to get a 50% or so, which is considered passing at most programs like Purdue, Emory, and other intense chemistry programs…but either way, it is good intellectually despite being a change from undergrad, where you are essentially told what will be tested)…or NOT, usually you must just schedule in that study time around your TA duties and research time. If in science, it is an intense road ahead, pre-med (like medicine) will take lots of discipline, and grad. school takes lots of discipline and a desire and willingness to learn things on your own with hardly no guidance (I personally just figure out what I am to be doing, and hit the internet for manuals and the library for books that will teach me either how to do them or the theory behind them…If one is always being spoon fed what to do in grad. school, then it isn’t really going as it should).
OP…if you’re looking for it to be a little more relaxed in sciences than normal, then a places like Emory are as relaxed as it gets for an elite school (maybe minus Brown)…that is not an Oxford thing and it could be much more intense.
@JustOneDad : Well done…I’ve honestly never seen “true” cut-throat behavior. I’ve seen hypercompetitive behavior like some A students straight up avoiding collaboration in curved classes or constantly comparing their scores to others/creating rivalries. These types are capable of some unsavory behavior in terms of the way they treat and talk to others, but they do not sabotage others. Perhaps the OP does the comical stereotype of a “cut-throat” person…you know a completely different level.
Wow, I had no idea people on college confidential could be so mean. Just as a follow up, I talked to a former student from my high school at Emory and he gave much more encouraging, KIND advice. He thinks I should be just fine for next year!
@awesomest47: We weren’t being mean, just more so wondering what there is to get all bent out of shape with and being blunt in telling you that Emory/Oxford is no exception to the rule and telling you what to expect. Also, you’re going to get more bluntness here than a person you “personally” know of who you are specifically contacting to clear up things in the middle of a freak out. It is less likely that you contacted the person with the tone you did here. Most people who have specific questions about how things work and perhaps simply list what they want to no about get more warm and direct receptions. If you sound kind of whiny, then people start wondering and the responses show it. Also, saying things like: “other cut-throats make me cut-throat too” opens you up unfortunately. Again, I really doubt you told that to the person you contact. Before you criticize how we responded, always review the tone of your post. Even if it had less of that stuff, we have no reason to give answers that are simply just meant to cheer you up, because the truth may get lost in such answers and then you get to Emory/Oxford, medicine, whatever and find that we were a bit “soft” or dishonest.
Honestly, I reviewed the posts, and there was really only one “mean” one (something about your HS performance and expecting to rest very little…the comment was off base because many have an easier time managing college workloads than a rigorous HS workload) and perhaps this one. The others weren’t particularly rosy, but were definitely trying to give you insight while offering you encouragement to just try it (as in do not freak out because of what you see now: Trust me, finding paperwork will not give those students an advantage over you. Also, most will not review chemistry over the summer no matter how much they claim it on a facebook thread. It will end up like main campus, where many of those same people will be in a frantic rush to complete placement tests or something), see how it goes, and to use resources (as one poster said). Go back and re-read them and try to view them more objectively.
