<p>are classes difficult</p>
<p>the admissions officer came to my school [he graduated recently] and made a note about the school being relatively difficult.</p>
<p>he said even if i have ap credit, i should retake the course anyway instead of heading off towards the higher level classes because of how tough it is</p>
<p>this is not a blanket statement. there is a section of students each fall who do organic chem as freshman who made fives on AP Chem. If your labs were weak in hs or your grasp was just barely good…you might opt even with a 5 to do General Ghem in the Stephenson Building and pace yourself…taking on Organic later. You have to make judgments at any college re the value of AP vs the value of a college level course and lab as a foundation. My son made good grades in his foreign language back in hs but realized while taking it that he is not good at speaking or auditory learning in language. He opted to place out via taking his SATII at Vandy…but lets face it, mastery of a foreign language is always good on a resume or any career path. If he had more talent, he would take more courses in college in that direction. However, his brother…taking an all new foreign language and going abroad to master it was the right plan. Motivation, the X factor you are the judge about, and drive are all factors re accelerating or pacing yourself in a more conventional way.
Vandy does not allow a five on any AP to substitute for a class with a writing composition component…some schools do. re how tough it is at Vandy? Visit classes, don’t just tour. You also have next April for final visits. Don’t intimidate yourself early on…you don’t have to decide now. Students are motivated at Vandy and generally have good work habits to match.</p>
<p>Vandy’s 4-year average GPA (3.31) is relatively lower than at many similar institutions. There was a thread last year about academic rigor at Vanderbilt - you might find it helpful:<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vanderbilt-university/651873-academic-rigor.html?highlight=academic[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vanderbilt-university/651873-academic-rigor.html?highlight=academic</a> My d, a 2009 grad, found that she could do well if she put in the time and effort. She was a Classical Languages/Poli Sci major, though, so no one was trying to weed her out of anything! :)</p>
<p>That depends a lot on your major and the classes you take. If you are pre-med taking all the general science “weed out” classes, it will be tough. Even this, however, is doable, but you will definitely need to work hard if you want to do well.</p>
<p>vandy has a policy about taking a course over that I think is pretty great. Your original not great grade remains on your transcript for all to see…but your doever goes into your GPA…this is somewhere in a handbook. I like the fact that students are encouraged to master rather than quit…sometimes it really does come easy the second time or maturity or bad health was the issue first round</p>
<p>asking about level of difficulty is a legit question however look at a school’s graduation rate and take heart…the admissions people know what they are doing. Finding your talent and your weaknesses…is part of life at college…ie mastering high school math will not equate to math major status in college for many kids…I like that Vandy encourages people to try difficult courses rather than avoid things that might threaten their GPA</p>
<p>Just to clarify, the rules regarding AP credit and usage are different for the various schools within Vanderbilt. The engineering school (VUSE) has different rules than A and S, and even within VUSE, the rules differ for different majors.</p>
<p>My son, a cs and math major, studies hard for his grades. Nobody is handing out As easily, and math may be among the stingiest fields.</p>
<p>His girlfriend, in one of the premed fields in A and S, works long and hard and is not thrilled sometimes with the grade that results. </p>
<p>I don’t know for sure how VU compares with other top private schools, but I will venture that it is a tough school for many majors.</p>
<p>But it is a great place. Just don’t attend simply because you think it is a great place to party-hearty.</p>
<p>I have 2 kids at Vanderbilt. Both took numerous AP classes in high school and got more or less all 5s. The public schools they attended are widely considered “the best” in the nation. They are both A&S at Vandy, and have had an EXTREMELY hard time getting As. They can get A-, B+, and Bs with hard work, but As are rare. I don’t know what the problem is. I am certain they are trying, and just as certain that they are intelligent and educable. My guess is that Vanderbilt has a tough grading system.</p>
<p>I have posted about this before but I think it’s worth repeating if it can help someone. My D (now a Vandy junior), had a terrible first semester at Vandy because she was not adequately prepared for the courses she took and we did not realize how rigorous they would be. Rather than Math 150 (Calculus) she should have taken Math 140 (Survey of Calculus). Rather than Bio Sci 110 (the more rigorous Biology) she should have taken Biology 105 (Human Biology). She failed both the Calculus and Biology courses (even with tutors) and has had to dig out from under that terrible gpa. </p>
<p>More importantly, the stress of that first semester really affected her physically and emotionally. When her younger sister started college this year (at a different, but very selective, school) we encouraged her to start out with an easy schedule. What a difference that made. She had a great first semester and came home at Christmas happy, confident and excited to go back for a more challenging spring semester.</p>
<p>I agree with lion0709. The classes were so much harder than I expected. The advisor recommended BSCI 110/111/ Chem 102/104/106, Math 155B, and Span 201W first semester freshman year. I had so much work and it was too much for a transition to college. Since I needed full year of calculus for premed so I wish they had advised me to take Math 155A and give up the AP credit. I never got a B in my life so imagine my shock when I ended up getting a C in Math 155B, did not feel prepared to take Math 175 so I ended up giving up the AP credit second semester. Bottom line: Vanderbilt is very difficult!!</p>
<p>the average gpa is more like 3.15. i recalled reading an article in the hustler that showed that vandy, with the exception of 1 or 2, had a lower gpa than just about all the other schools in the USNEWS top 20.</p>
<p>^^^ According to the membership statistics in the Office of Greek Life, for Spring 2009 the average undergrad GPA was 3.35. For all men, it was 3.27; all women, 3.42; Greek men, 3.32; Greek women, 3.49.</p>
<p>I am math-incompetent and have no idea how to extrapolate the overall 4-year GPA (if that can even be done), so I posted incorrectly in #2 above. It seems the figures used in the Greek Life Academic Report considered the GPAs of all Vandy undergrads. You can see the report here: <a href=“http://www.vanderbilt.edu/greek_life/Spring%202009%20grade%20report.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vanderbilt.edu/greek_life/Spring%202009%20grade%20report.pdf</a></p>
<p>I think that includes GPA’s accross all schools. The average GPA in A&S and Engineering seems to be much lower than in Peobody. The 3.15 that was mentioned seems more accurate for people I know in A&S and Engineering. I rarely hear of A’s, occasionally hear about A-, and usually hear about people earning B+/B/B- in my classes. I can’t speak for averages in Peabody.</p>