How "stressful" is Vandy?

<p>According to an online ranking, Vandy is the 8th most stressful school in the nation. I will be majoring in Secondary Ed. at Peabody, which means that I'll be doing both an Education and subject major from A&S. Is it really that stressful? I wouldn't want to go somewhere where I'm constantly bogged down.</p>

<p>Thanks for any input!</p>

<p>Vanderbilt has a bit of a reputation for grade deflation, but I’m pretty sure those stress rankings are nonsense. Vandy is stressful just like any other top university due to the academic rigor, but is actually less stressful that many because there’s an attitude of camaraderie rather than competition here. </p>

<p>Peabody does not have a rep for grade deflation like the School of Engineering or A&S. Peabody majors tend to come out with a very high GPA. Wouldn’t be worried!</p>

<p>By the way stress at Vanderbilt is usually just from the amount of studying required for exams. It’s pretty rare to be “bogged down” by assignments unless you’ve been putting them off.</p>

<p>Pancaked hit the nail on the head.</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies!
Do you know how often exams are and if 1-2 assignments could make/break grades? Or does that completely depend on the prof?</p>

<p>Usually about 4 exams a semester including the final? Something like that. One assignment won’t make or break you in most classes, but it’ll be clearly defined in the syllabus how much everything is worth.</p>

<p>My D had more papers than exams … lots of papers!! She was CAS, though. She had one class in Peabody & didn’t care for it, mostly due to the projects involved. What she doesn’t like would probably be right up your alley, though, given your intended major. Different strokes for different folks. If you like what you are doing, it will be hard but not stressful. D loved the academics!!</p>

<p>Relative to the courses I took in A&S, the Peabody classes were appreciably more oriented towards in-class discussions, small group projects and papers. It just seemed like Peabody was more collaborative, whereas A&S was more independent. In terms of workload, I felt like my courses through Peabody had more small, consistent assignments, whereas in A&S, I tended to have less frequent and larger assignments. For example, I had an HOD class where my grade might have been comprised of several short (3-4 page) papers, a few projects and a few tests, whereas an Econ class might’ve been comprised of three exams and a hw/quiz grade. I felt like the A&S classes were a little more stressful because each exam/paper/project was typically worth a larger percentage of my grade than an exam/paper/project from a Peabody class.</p>

<p>Thanks! :smiley: That makes me feel better. I’m looking forward to Peabody.</p>

<p>I actually didn’t do a whole lot, and I was still able to graduate.</p>

<p>10char…</p>

<p>Engineering - suicidal.
HOD - Complete Joke…</p>

<p>Math/chem/physics/bio also killer.</p>