<p>Even the most diligent workers need some off time. Alot of people who have had the "must always work work work" mantra engraved in their head tend to burn out and have problems towards finals week first semester.</p>
<p>There really needs to be a balance. Exactly where you find the balance is up to the individuals, but it's almost never a 100/0 or 0/100 combination of work/party.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Yes, to me, one of the MOST important things each of us learns is how to find our balance & adjust it over time. My college & grad school experiences were useful for me in figuring out my balance & watching it change over time, depending on what else was going on in my life. I hope my kids learn this important lesson as well.</p>
<p>Almost never, true. Though, consider Norbert Wiener, say - one of the leading mathematicians of the last century. The amount of "down time," as you put it, that he took was exceedingly minimal. Did he do it because of a "must always work work work" mantra? Well... not really. He was extremely dedicated simply because he loved mathematics.</p>
<p>I do look to people like Norbert Wiener and John von Neumann for inspiration, and they do provide good material! It is true that very few people can truly find themselves within academics, but some of them become the true forefront of comtemporary paradigm shifts within science and mathematics.</p>
<p>True. His balance involved more work and less play and he was fine off with what he chose. Good exception :)</p>
<p>High school is nothing like college. In high school, there are thousands of deadlines and every day is sort of a challenge. You're always in your teacher's line of sight. In college, most days are just up to you to decide what to do. Classes only take a few hours of your day, the rest is yours. Lectures are interesting and not very rigorous at all. There are discussion sections in my school that are just like high school, and I always hate those because you're forced to participate and talk about the material when you could be doing something better. There are midterms, finals, maybe some problem sets, and maybe a paper or two. Those are the only crucial things you need to ace to get the A. You'll either love the independence or will find it very challenging to stick to your own schedule.</p>
<p>Well... it's been my experience that college lectures are actually much more rigorous than high school lectures.</p>
<p>I agree about the quiz sections, though!</p>
<p>I know how you feel. For one thing, in high school you're still trying to preserve your reputation. If you have a rep. for straight As and high ACT/SAT scores, then you are trying to preserve that reputation whereas in college it might not be as stressful, because no one really knows you much less your grades. I think people party too much in college, because they're away from home. I plan to avoid this and I think I'll be alright.</p>