I'm not studious, I'm quite lazy... would I die at William & Mary? I need advice

Colleges and Universities A-Z College of William and Mary
1

<p>Hey,</p>

<p>I've never had to study much during high school. I have occasionally studied a lot, so it's not totally foreign to me, but I tend to be lazy. I also go to an easy high school, so that's a problem. </p>

<p>Would I die at W&M? </p>

<p>On students' review they say students found the coursework to be "harder than expected", which is rare on that website. On College P rowler, W&M's not designated that students found the coursework manageable. I see reviews saying that the workload is "insane", "enormous", and adjectives such as that. I hear about people crying due to stress. I of course saw the post on here posted a few days ago telling me not to go to W&M.</p>

<p>This doesn't sound attractive to me. However, I like the campus culture and feel like I would fit in with the student body better, as I'm fairly quirky and introverted. I need the good advising that I hope is there, and would like the close contact with professors. I feel like W&M might be more helpful to the undergrad, and might help one get a job or research experience or other opportunities more easily. Is this true?</p>

<p>I've heard that the workload's really not as bad as described, and is equal to the other school I might be considering. I know the GPA is fairly normal and doesn't seem to be deflated too much (3.28 in 2013). However, that may be because they work harder for the same grades. </p>

<p>I need reassurance from someone who went into William & Mary as lazy with no good study habits.</p>

<p>I need someone to tell me that the school changes you and that I will become studious. I'm not necessarily a slacker, I just never have had to work extremely hard, so I'm worried. Are there any stories of people who became studious while at William & Mary, who learned to work hard and ended up all right?</p>

<p>Thank you. </p>

2

<p>Not a student, but I think the experience one of my daughters had might be helpful to you. I’m going to assume that you’re naturally very bright, since you’ve been accepted at a highly selective school like W&M without having done a lot of studying in high school. </p>

<p>My daughter was very successful in high school without ever seeming to study. She wrote well - always turned papers in on time, and seemed to write them in one draft. She also had a talent for math and science, and never really hit the wall that would have told her “time to learn how to study.” So when she got to W&M, which does have social distractions even if it isn’t an Animal House kind of school, she was brought up short her first two semesters. Her fellow students were all really bright people. She learned that even really bright people have to study for a B-plus or higher. She finally wound up with a 3.4 something as a bio major (enough for a nice job at a pharma company).</p>

<p>The advice she gave her sister - don’t take 3 sciences in the same semester. (If she hadn’t done that, her GPA would have been a good deal higher. ) That same sister, not as academically gifted, wound up graduating magna cum laude in history, in large part because she went in knowing how to manage her time and expecting she’d have to continue to work hard, just as she had in high school. </p>

<p>It’s insightful of you to realize that you don’t have decent study habits now. Don’t count on William and Mary teaching you those study habits - you have to decide you’re going to develop them yourself, which you certainly can do. Best of luck! If you don’t choose W&M, what school will you attend?</p>

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<p>Thanks, Frazzled. At any college I know I will have to develop study habits. It just seems a bit intense at William & Mary, or at least that’s the reputation, and your daughter’s experience helped me a bit. </p>

<p>Does anyone else have any stories of lazy people turning into hard workers?</p>

4

<p>It’s a good question, and I don’t really have an answer for you. Only that I’ve heard from a number of students who went there that came from similar backgrounds - that they were smart enough to just kind of skate through high school, and never really felt like they had to work hard.</p>

<p>I think in some cases, those self-descriptions might have been exaggerated, but I know a number of students struggled at first - not just in learning time management skills, but suddenly being surrounded by people who were just as smart as they were. That expectation of just getting an “A” for just showing up was quickly blown out of the water - and receiving their first “B” or “C” in their lives in their first semester was a blow. </p>

<p>DD’s case was a bit different - not “lazy”, by any stretch - but she <em>needed</em> the pressure to do her work. Give her a month to do something, and she’ll start on the 28th day. In many ways, W&M was easier for her than high school, which she packed with a lot of extra-curriculars like sports, work, etc, all of which were very time-consuming. </p>

<p>What made high school even harder was she found many of her teachers to be useless as teachers - she literally had to teach herself some AP courses from the textbook and elsewhere because her teachers didn’t know the material - and AP Exams don’t care that you had a bad teacher. This led to a great deal of stress in high school, whereas the quality of instruction at W&M was much higher - so in her case, yes, she literally did not work as hard at W&M as in high school, and graduated with honors.</p>

<p>I don’t think she’d ever claim W&M was “easy” - but I’ve heard a number of students claim it <em>was</em> easier than high school - which I’d take with a large grain of salt without some context, like my story above. </p>

<p>I suspect frazzled is right on this - that there’s something in your records that tells Admissions that you can do the work there - they’re not really interested in having students fail. So, really, a lot of kids who’d describe themselves as “lazy” do fine there - but there’s a whole spectrum to that word. I doubt you’re truly lazy - you wouldn’t have gotten this far if you were. </p>

<p>But it’s a good idea to consider carefully what you expect out of college, and what you realistically will put into it. It’s a cliche, but you’ll get out of college what you put into it - not just W&M, any college.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>I was one of those smart but lazy students that Squiddy describes, who did well in high school without having to work very hard or develop time-management skills, and who subsequently was in for a shock at W&M. I did terribly academically (for me) my first year, which looking back I chalk up to emotional immaturity, being far from home (I was OOS), and a weird kind of perfectionism: I feared failure so much that I preferred not trying to trying and failing. But through some combination of peer pressure, maturation, and plain hard work, I was able to right the ship and ended up making dean’s list my last few semesters. Though I don’t know if I ever developed good time-management skills; there are plenty of other things I should be doing than writing this post.</p>

<p>A number of guys on my freshman hall were just like me in high school: OOS, good-but-not-great grades with little effort, and test scores that indicated some kind of latent academic potential. But instead of feeling entitled (like me), these guys approached W&M as a kind of reprieve: here was a chance to prove themselves in a way they had not in high school. So they dove right in as soon as they set foot on campus. One of them was such a fixture in the study lounge that we still make fun of him for it today. He walked on to the cross country team, graduated PBK and summa cum laude, and then went to a T14 law school. Another guy, also an undistinguished high school student, also graduated PBK and summa cum laude, and got his PhD from an Ivy League school. Another one didn’t get into Princeton, but was also PBK and summa cum laude, and has done very well for himself as a software consultant. I can think of many other examples among my friends.</p>

<p>None of these guys were Monroe Scholars, just smart guys who were extremely disciplined and applied themselves while they were at W&M, and who then got to enjoy the fruits of their labors.</p>

<p>To answer your question, yes, you can learn habits that will make you successful in college–but only if you want to. W&M obviously believes you can handle what’s in the books. What trips people up is what’s around the books–homework, study habits, time management, etc. Honestly, the fact that you’re worried is probably a good sign. It indicates a conscientiousness that will hopefully motivate you to work hard, ask questions, and take advantage of the multitude of resources available to students. The college wants its students to succeed, after all.</p>

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<p>I think you will work hard when you need to. You will rise to the occasion when necessary.</p>

<p>Personally, I didn’t do too much (relatively) school work outside of class at W&M. My GPA was slightly below the average posted in this thread when I graduated. I didn’t prioritize my GPA, and I acted accordingly. If you want to get a certain GPA, I’m confident that you will figure out how to get it done (if you actually want it… not just dream that it would be nice to have a certain GPA).</p>

<p>That said, there were some things that I poured huge amounts of time and effort into while I was at W&M, and I’ve poured huge amounts of time/effort into my jobs after graduation, and all my performance evaluations have been very good. I just say this so hopefully you will see that you are smart enough to achieve what you want/need to achieve, if you decide in your mind that you really want that and make the commitment.</p>

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<p>My son was top 5 ( they top 5 were separated by only .008 gpa at a very competitive non-VA HS. He studied hard but it was pretty easy for him. He was his school’s scholar athlete, the highest GPA and most Varsity Letters ( track, cc-captain, baseball, football) and set his schools’ record in the mile. He was recruited to run at W&M and the Ivy’s chose W&M when he did not get into Pricneton- it felt the most like P to him ( blew off Columbia because the track team was a joke.</p>

<p>Well he called me half way through the first semester talking about quitting the track team and how he did not want to let the coach and the team down but he was struggling to get all As like HS. He then said "dad, all the kids here are SOOO smart!!! He never ever felt that way in HS…</p>

<p>THe cream rises to the top at a school like W&M, be prepared for that…</p>

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<p>Read the posts of wmstudent14…a W&M senior.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/1644021-do-not-go-to-w-m-advice-from-a-graduating-senior.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-william-mary/1644021-do-not-go-to-w-m-advice-from-a-graduating-senior.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;