<p>Is it true that those who were not so good in high school or just average do better in college and those who did better in high school typically struggle with no being the "top dog"?</p>
<p>One thing I've noticed is that those students who did very well in high school do horrible in college (I've known a valedictorian to be nearly kicked out of a STATE university and another who was put on academic probation). On the other hand, I was an average student (3.3/3.4), and I have done much better academically in college than in high school.</p>
<p>I guess so. I managed around a 3.8 GPA in school but my school was such a joke. Now after my first semester of college I’ll probably end up with a 2.4-2.6.</p>
<p>^^^I think it holds true for a lot of people. Personally I did well in high school (top 5% etc) but in college I am just one out of many “smart kids,” maybe top 25% at most (I have a 3.4 GPA - good for my program, but just mediocre overall). For me, in high school I was one of the few kids that actually cared about grades so it was easy to seem smart. But in college, we all have different priorities - whereas grades used to be more important to me in high school, now I have different responsibilities such as work/social life so my studies tend to slack a little. A couple of my other friends did rather terribly in high school but are doing fantastic now - once again, different priorities. They didn’t come into college expecting to get good grades like the “smart high school kids” did, they knew that if they wanted to get good grades they would have to work for it. Smart high school kids sometimes forget this principle when they get to college and get distracted by parties! Boys (or girls)! Or forget how to study. But a lot of smart high school kids still end up to be really smart in college…and generally the ones that continue getting good grades are the ones that remember that grades aren’t the only thing that matters for their future.</p>
<p>to OP, it varies…most of my “smart” friends are still doing well, though a couple I don’t know as well seem to be majoring in partying. Some of what the above poster said is definitely true, but on the other hand, most smart kids in HS did well not just bc of IQ (that maxes out for most people in HS) but also through hardwork and knowing how to study. That work ethic and those skills work well in college too.</p>
<p>I’m wouldn’t surprised whatsoever. I know a guy who got a 25 on his ACT, but he just scored 98% on his ochem 2 final. I scored 78%, but what can I say, I still got an A.</p>
<p>As for me, I started out pretty strong in high school but my grades fell apart when I turned 17. In college, started out slow, but my grades are on the rise. Not real happy about this semester though. Worst case scenario I get A’s in 7 credit hours and B’s in 11 credit hours.</p>
<p>I guess it all depends on how you transition into college. Most of the people I know who did well in high school are doing well in college. I graduated high school with somewhere around a 4.1 or 4.2 and I got a 4.0 my first semester. Granted, my schedule wasn’t all that challenging, but still.</p>
<p>It was recommended classes for first year in computer engineering, but still. I’ve switched my major anyway, I didn’t really understand engineering until my engineering seminar, and now I see I’m interested in other things. Hopefully I pick up my GPA next semester, I’m taking a lot of Gen Ed’s.</p>
<p>Maybe this has been the case with some people you know, but it certainly isn’t the case for all. Most of the students in my current school did well in high school - they had to, i order to get in. But a lot of them are doing fine right now. Maybe some of them struggled with “not being the smartest kid anymore,” and I know it was an interesting adjustment for me, but I like it, and I think a lot of them do too. I think the first half of this paragraph is an unfair generalization, and it really depends on the situation.</p>
<p>I will agree, however, that I think a lot of students who didn’t necessarily do well in high school do flourish once they get to college. Many of my friends from home are doing really well in college, even the ones who didn’t necessarily apply themselves as much in high school. Some of them are struggling, though. It’s an interesting trend, but I thinkit’s ultimately different for everyone.</p>
<p>Being here, EVERYone was in the top 5-10% of their high school class, so it’s weird being average, but you have to look at it at “average” being the 94th or 95th percentile of students nationwide.</p>
<p>And a lot of people (myself included) that do well in high school do it because we retain information easily, but college is taught in a different way, so adjusting to having to study was a pretty big blow last year. In high school, I could just go to class and remember what the teacher said, and get a 98 on my test, whereas here, there’s just so much complex information that my brain can’t possibly handle it all.</p>
<p>It really depends on the person. Doing well in high school takes effort and that about all. Save a few classes, high school’s purpose to teach you some facts and then you repeat them on the test. With college most classes teach you the basics and you have to apply what you learn on the test with questions you’ve never seen before.</p>
<p>If you can problem solve then college becomes less time consuming and for the most part easier than high school. The reverse is true if you are not a good problem solver, but rather rely on working hard.</p>
<p>Everyone here is missing something. A smarter person will most likely go to a harder school. However, an average person will go to an okay school.</p>
<p>People with 4.0+ in high school tend not to get the same GPA in college; people around 3.0 may often do better than they did in high school. But I don’t think there’s any evidence, nor is it reasonable to assume, that people getting around 3.0 in high school tend to do better in college than people getting around 4.0.</p>
<p>It honestly depends on the person. I did pretty well in HS (not top of the top, but pretty close) and I have a 3.8 in college. My friend was a similar student and has the same GPA. My other friends didn’t do as well in HS and don’t have 3.8 GPAs. They have 3.3s or so. </p>
<p>But there are cases of what you’ve demonstrated as well.</p>
<p>It has to do with priorities (school is really important to me) but also with study skills and the ability to handle college work. Also your major can affect it as well. My HS was very good at preparing people for college. I had no trouble with the academic transition, unlike other people whose HSs did not prepare them as well. As for study skills… Well if you have them, they will help. A lot of people develop them in college when they can’t get by on brains alone. </p>
<p>But hey, if they don’t care as much anymore it’ll certainly show.</p>
<p>FWIW, I flunked out of HS and now am a straight A student. Empirical data on this is hard to Google, so anecdotal evidence is all ya got. My edumacated guess is that there are a lot of people who “blossom” in college, and a lot of people who “wilt” in college, if ya catch my drift. The empirical data (if it exists) may not show this if it doesn’t track individual students. I imagine it kind of averages out to where people who did well in high school also tend to do well in college.</p>
<p>I think people who took AP classes and did well in them are better prepared for college. High school classes are so laughably easy in this country, only the AP type classes even approach a real college class’s rigor.</p>
<p>Not necessarily true in all cases. The valedictorians that I was talking about attend the same state university that I currently attend, and yet, taking the same classes as I did, they did worse.</p>
<p>I think this is true especially for public, inner city schools. AP classes=regular prep courses in these public universities. Also, it sometimes depends WHERE the person went to high school.</p>
<p>I think part of it might be that people who struggled in high school will go to college, and study something they are actually passionate about, which makes it easier for them to get up for doing the work that their majors require. </p>
<p>I think a lot of the high achievers in high school lok at the money, and not at something they really want to do, which causes them to lose a lot of the motivation when they’re doing something they hate. It’s just really hard for someone to do something they hate at a high level for a prolonged amount of time.</p>