Very concerned about the grading at Midd as I wouldn’t like to fall flat on my face my first semester. Also, GPA is really important for, not only grad school, but the first job after grad. Any insights?
I can’t answer you but provided Midd holds above it’s weight in grad school apps and career outcomes, I wouldn’t be too concerned.
I mean you’ve yet to get to school and you already are putting too much pressure on yourself.
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What are you worried about in particular?
If you were accepted to Middlebury, that means that you did very well in high school. If you were able to maintain a GPA that is good enough for high school, keeping up a high GPA at Midd would not be all that difficult. My kid’s GPA is high school was lower than most students’ there, and it was likely lower than yours. However, she has been a College Scholar every term so far.
How are you doing so far? How were your midterms?
Also, first term is very different than later terms, and, as a Feb, you are probably taking classes with students who are on their third term, so they are more settled in. So even if you don’t do as well as you hope, it doesn’t mean much about the rest of your college.
Good luck and enjoy the spring weather.
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In college other elements start to weigh in, and the relative weight of a GPA is different.
For law/med school, the first cut is GPA + LSAT/MCAT, then experience
For PhD programs they typically look at both cGPA (cumulative) and sGPA (subject, meaning the subject you are applying to study further) + research experience
For jobs, many don’t pay any attention to your GPA, others will note if you are graduating with honors, and others will care about GPA- but all will be interested in your skills and experience.
Two things you can know for certain:
- No college wants their students to fail
and
- Middlebury has so many extremely strong applicants that they don’t need to take anybody that they aren’t 100% confident will do well in their school.
How you do will be up to you- and how you use the resources available to you. There are no gold stars in college for not needing or getting help, so ask for help early and often- find the math lab, the writing lab, the student tutoring center. Learn your profs/TAs help times and use them. Read the syllabus for the whole semester on the first day. Put dates with a lot of deadlines in your calendar app, with reminder flags. If there is a reading assignment on the schedule for Tuesday the 12th, arrive to class with it already read, don’t plan to read it after class. The more you get in the habit of working ahead the happier your time in college will be!
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At any school that accepts students who were almost all in the top 10% of their high school class, 90% of them are going to be experiencing something new to them.
With that said, most schools of this caliber offer students many ways to distinguish themselves-- in these department, throughout research, at conferences.
You really need to figure out his you can use the opportunities you have to be the best you , not how to best the incredible people around you who can make the experience more interesting.
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Thanks for the replies! Have been feeling a great sense of imposter syndrome ever since I got in because I know how high the standards are, especially for int’l students. I’m a high school student from Ontario and our public schools only let us take ap classes in grade 12. However, I feel that I got a pretty good education especially considering that the quality of teaching is quite constant across public high schools in the province.
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If you got a high GPA in the Ontario secondary education system, you got an excellent education, and you are good enough for Midd.
The reason that students in the USA take AP classes is because they are often the only classes that a college knows are the same level across the USA. In Canada, that is much more national and province-wide adherence to standards, so a colleges can trust the rigor of the high school classes.
Many high schools in the USA which have a national reputation do not offer AP classes.
As you obviously know, only being able to take AP classes in the 12th grade did not keep you from being accepted to Midd.
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