<p>A's are certainly possible to get, but by no means are they given liberally. In general, if you do good work, keep up with the reading, and do some studying, you will get a B/B+. A/A- usually requires some originality/creativity, or going the extra distance. But I would say at least among my friends that A's are rare, B's and C's are common, and D's and F's are rare.</p>
<p>i would agree w mighty. if u worked hard in high school and get into w&m in the first place u will get at least a 3.3 for most majors. maybe science, or some other majors...i don't know. i'm econ. you will have to spend some serious time in the library for anything beyond that...but guess what? w&m rocks! u won't even care because everyone is so chill. u can groove in the library, and hit some parties after. believe me u will have fun.</p>
<p>I agree with Mightmeals and DreamBig, but I would change the GPA to 3.1-ish.</p>
<p>... yea I never go to the library, heh.</p>
<p>second that, esp if you join a frat...named KDR :)</p>
<p>But seriously, I wouldn't worry too much, I don't think it's that much harder to do well cc to other colleges. Just don't expect a 4.0, bec that's impossible.</p>
<p>P.S. soccerguy, why wouldn't you go to the library? 2nd floor is the most happenin place to be!</p>
<p>As a Freshman, I admittedly have limited experience here. However, I didn't find my classes to be much harder than I really thought. To give some of the prospective students a little hope, I probably did about <2 hours of work a night (mostly reading). Of course there were the nights when a paper was due, but for every one of those there were nights when I didn't have any work at all, because it was easy enough to read ahead at times. </p>
<p>To be sure, I studied my ass off for finals, but it was managable. My best friend, who works comparably hard compared to me, though he studied less for finals, got a 3.92 his first semester and I got a 4.0. By no means do I expect to keep a gpa near 4.0, and I'll be the first to admit that my classes were mostly introductory courses, but it's certainly possible to do well and have plenty of time to relax and have fun.</p>
<p>Western Michigan is the cradle of knowledge in all of michigan...be prepared for breathe-taking lectures and lost of out of classroom work</p>
<p>yea, I don't think the workload is bad either. It's just that if you are taking science type classes, some of them will end up being very very hard. If you are taking a more "liberal arts" major, you will run into the professors with very very high standards and give you a B on the best paper you have ever written. It's just the way it goes.</p>
<p>mightymeals... that's what I hear. I also hear that it's very entertaining to go on the 3rd floor during finals and have a conversation and observe people's reactions... if you don't mind getting text books thrown at you, lol.</p>
<p>My friend said she was too afraid to go to the library at all during finals week.. :)</p>
<p>The library was filled to its max during finals week. I couldn't find anywhere to study so I started to utilize my dorms study lounge.</p>
<p>mightymeals... that's what I hear. I also hear that it's very entertaining to go on the 3rd floor during finals and have a conversation and observe people's reactions... if you don't mind getting text books thrown at you, lol.</p>
<p>you know you're at W&M when.... ;)</p>
<p>Some guy screams at you for talking on your cell phone near the stairwells/elevators on SECOND floor...(true story!)</p>
<p>Mightymeals...did you have two guys from the Naval Academy sleeping in your basement on Friday night?</p>
<p>Of the Frat house I mean</p>
<p>Probably...my friend had two guys from annapolis come down to visit.</p>
<p>Well, they were my son and his roommate....it's a small world! Mine was the tall one. My daughter got accepted ED so she'll be there in the fall</p>
<p>I wanted to throw out a new stat that I don't think is officially released. A 3.4 GPA (roughly, sometimes slightly higher, sometimes slightly lower) will put you in the top 1/3 of the class.</p>
<p>Good to hear it, atrmom...If there's anything I've learned, it's that it's a VERY small world...</p>
<p>And soccerguy, thanks for that stat. It's encouraging to think I might be in the top half of the class (I guess?)</p>
<p>It seems highly unlikely that a 3.4 is the top 1/3</p>
<p>I dunno, I know of very few people above the 3.3 mark</p>
<p>
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It seems highly unlikely that a 3.4 is the top 1/3
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</p>
<p>It fluctuates every year. The last few years the cut off has been between 3.38 and 3.46.</p>
<p>Grades aren't really talked about much in my experience here, at least not among the people that I hang out with, but here are people who study a lot who are in the 3.1-3.3 range. My roommate took a physics class last semester where the final exam resulted in 1 A, 2 A-, and 2 B+ out of 26 people. My roommate was not one of those (he got a B), and he studies a crap load. He's in the library every day. To consistently get top grades is quite difficult. And keep in mind the average freshmen year GPA is in the 2.9 range, at least according to the literature I got my freshmen year.</p>
<p>A 3.4 means you are consistently getting B+'s and higher, and there aren't that many people who do that. One the other hand, 1/3 of the class is a fairly large portion.</p>