<p>People told me they died to get in there by working so hard in high school, only to die even more when they enroll. They all said they wanted to leave, and it wasn't worth all the pain. Any ideas? I always wanted to apply, but now I'm getting second thoughts.</p>
<p>well, it really depends on what your friends chose to pursue while they were here. although cav302 will likely disagree, i think every major can be hard if you choose to make it hard, but you definitely can skate by in certain programs without killing yourself. don't expect to come in as a math/physics double major though and skate by, you come here to work.</p>
<p>sometimes i do wonder what people think when they come to college--especially a top school like UVa. do they think high school was the hardest part of their academic life?</p>
<p>i don't think that statement is true. all of my friends are total slackers. we work hard but we play hard too. uva is a top school and you should know you're going to have to work at a certain level to maintain the kinds of grades you want. however, it is also a state school, so it isn't all academics. honestly, i think i worked harder in high school than i work at uva. then again, i'm not aiming for a 4.0 at uva like i was in high school... it really depends on your major, too. like jags said, some are harder than others, and the grades you need depend on what you want to do after uva. i'm sure it's harder to get a 4.0 at uva than it was in high school, but i don't know a lot of people who aim for it opposed to high school where 1/3 of my grade was in nhs so a lot of people were aiming for 4.0's.</p>
<p>Hmmmm?? I don't feel like I'm suffering?? I love UVA. I do work very hard at studying, but I have very high standards for myself personally and academically. I'll finish my exams next week, but the early signs I'm getting from grades that are coming in, verify that my hard work has paid off nicely.
In all seriousness Mister Sinister, I have just never heard that kind of talk that you describe. Really NEVER!<br>
I hear of lots of folks transferring at other universities, but I haven't encountered anyone who is trying to transfer out of UVA.
I love the architecture and history of UVA, the school spirit, the work hard and party hard way of life, the mountains, The Corner. My classes and professors have been excellent and yes, challenging, but that's what I expect at such a top notch university. It's a great place to be!</p>
<p>I know dozens of people at UVA, and hey have a very balanced academic/social life. Whoever told you that must have not had their priorities straight. Of course, it's going to be a lot of hard work but the qualified student who go there know how to complete the work and have loads of fun after. Believe me, UVA is not a school that keeps you in the books all day.</p>
<p>I don't even know how to respond to the OP. Lol.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
They all said they wanted to leave,
[/QUOTE]
How many people are we talking about here? </p>
<p>There are students transferring out of almost every college in the country. However, the retention rate at UVa leads one to think that fewer UVa students experience something so unlike what they expected that they decide to leave.</p>
<p>I'm in the e-school and although i hate it, I don't want to leave UVa. Maybe just switch majors =P</p>
<p>Shoebox, how much work is the engineering school compared to the other schools?</p>
<p>It depends. Really, there is no solid, true, hardcore answer to this. Obviously, it will vary person to person, year to year.<br>
But, overall, in a general sense: e-school requires more work than the college. Pre-med majors and some of the science majors rival e-school work, but overall, the e-school classes are much more rigorous.<br>
The flip side though, is that it's not a lot of reading, but concepts, and if you understand/ace the concepts/formulas in 5 minutes, you're done. But it usually takes hours of work to master the material. </p>
<p>Do I believe my major (EE) is harder than most majors? Yes. Is it necessarily more work? Not really. Some majors are far less work, but I don't think the e-school dominates all majors.</p>
<p>Do you have any idea on how rigorous the biomedical engineering program is?</p>
<p>It sucks trying to get in, because first year you need a really high GPA (3.5+), recs, ECs, etc. Once you apply and get accepted though, it's not any harder than other majors, unless you're doing pre-med and BioE, or planning to get into med-school. It's kind of agree upon in the e-school that in order of major hardness, its EE, BioE, ME/AOE, ChemE, CivilE, SystemsE</p>
<p>It all depends on your major. For instance, the average GPA in the commerce school is around 3.5 but in the e-school (or for those taking math, econ, bio, etc.) the average GPA is much lower.</p>