I’m wondering if WashU is any more stressful than equivalent institutions. I’ve seen it on some “high stress” college lists. My son is interested in computer science and engineering, and these fields seem to have stressed out students at every top school because they are so competitive in nature. I think he’d do best at school that provides some balance, but also has enough classes so that he can explore and really figure out where his interests lie. Does such a place exist? He has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, but doesn’t handle stress well (causes illness, anxiety, etc.).
I’m not sure where you would find low stress for those majors. Your best option might be to find a school where you could afford for him to take 5 years to finish so he can take fewer credits each semester.
Computer science in particular is very time consuming. Projects with due dates etc.
“He has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, but doesn’t handle stress well”
This is more common than you might think. We have some experience with a very similar situation.
For the very smart kids who don’t handle stress well I think that it is a somewhat difficult art form to try to find a balance between schools that are too stressful versus schools that are too easy and therefore boring. Frankly our society and our education system puts an enormous stress on our high school students. It is not obvious to me whether VERY smart kids are more likely to understand and worry about the implications of some of these problems, or if something else is going on. However there clearly are a lot of very smart kids in the US who are having a lot of trouble dealing with stress.
I do have many memories of computer science classes where trouble with either hard to find software bugs or slow computers or a failure on my part to plan sufficiently caused efforts to go well past midnight, and in a few cases past sunrise.
I agree with @intparent that one thing to think about is the possibility that a very smart stress-adverse student might find that they need to cut back to 4 classes at a time rather than 5, which implies that you better be prepared to pay for 5 years of university, or four years of university plus 3 or 4 summers. Of course financial aid typically runs out after 4 years.
Most likely a small school is likely to be a better bet than a large school. For example you are likely to have smaller classes at a small school, and it at least should be hard to disappear and possible to find help at a small school. Also I think that the small size can give a more friendly atmosphere.
Unfortunately at least where we live looking for a small school rules out our in-state public schools. The need to be able to afford 5 years on a reasonable budget makes small schools in the US at least very risky. Our solution was small schools that are relatively nearby but not in the US. So far this appears to have worked out very well. I am not sure what the right solution is for you or for someone else.
Regarding your original question: I thought that WUSTL was beautiful when I visited and thoroughly enjoyed my visit and my interactions with students and professors there. However, I do suspect that it is similar to other top ranked US schools in terms of the stress that students are under. Typically some very smart students at academically challenging schools love it, and some are very stressed out, and some just can’t handle it. A high intelligence does not seem to be a guarantee regarding which category a student will fall into.
While I’m not going to tell you that WashU is a stress free environment, the stress does not come from competition here. WashU has a highly collaborative environment, unlike many other schools of its academic caliber. The stress that does exist involves meeting deadlines and making personal grade goals; students are encouraging towards each other, not stress-inducing.
WashU midterms just ended last week. My son mentioned that he did pretty well, but the avarage for General Chemistry and Calculus 2 were pretty low. He’s in Calculus 3, but mentioned to me during Parent’s Weekend that most people he knew didn’t do so well.
He also mentioned that most people in his Chem and Math classes do work with each other. College is completely different in that you are expected to not just know the concepts, but learn to apply them. The questions on midterms will usually be nothing you saw from your homework,
but that is the case for any college. WashU has plenty of resources for students who may be struggling to balance the workload.
My son is a computer science major from a very small rural high school. Our school offers no AP classes or computer programming classes and yet he is thriving at Wash U. He is currently a sophomore. Last year he managed to get straight A’s as well as play football. Although at times, he has been stressed, I would not say it was anymore stress than his friends at other universities. Computer science is time intensive. He says if you stay up with the work and seek out help when needed, anyone should be able to have a normal college experience. He also says the school and community are open to exploring other interests. He has currently picked up a earth science and economics minors. In my opinion as a parent as well as a teacher, WashU is as stress free school as you will get for a school of this caliber.
Freshman fall semester is a very stressful time for most students. They are away from their support system and friends. They are making new friends, balancing time demands and their new found freedom. They are also not the smartest kid in the class for the first time in their life. Average grades in science classes are often times in the upper 70’s. This is a painful punch in the face for most overachieving 4.0, 1500 SAT scoring kids to adjust to. Students need to be ready for this adjustment. This is stressful and difficult for all students and very difficult for students that do not handle stress well. You are wise to recognize your son’s potential challenges. I agree it may be worthwhile to consider other U’s that are smaller, not full of brainiacs, and less competitive. If he attends a top 20 U encourage him to do his best but let him understand he should not expect a 4.0 GPA. He should expect adversity and setbacks and to be at peace with his grades in a big ocean with lots of big fish. If you believe this will create too much stress for him look to place him where he will thrive. You want him happy and thriving.
Yes, use summer sessions wisely to lighten the load. Also start off with a lighter load fall semester. Students need time to adjust to the new class rigor and their new social situation.
From what my son told me, the average grade for the first General Chemistry midterm was 60% and anything above 70% was in the B+/A- range. He said that the 2 lowest scores were 8/100 and 16/100. Calc 2 was worse-average score was 45%. He did say that most people got an A on the Chemistry Lab midterm. Calc 3 was around a 75% average, but he got 95% on the test.
A lot of parents on the WashU parents FB group were complaining and were thinking about complaining to the administration-I am not kidding, but college is something completely different. Students who were at the top of their class in high school with over 1500 on their SATs experienced failure for the first time. However a lot of parents were unwilling to let go and wanted to give the administration a piece of their mind (and these were not your typical Asian tiger mom types-I would call them soccer moms).
Unfortunately part of the learning process in college is how a student can cope with adversity. That being said, WashU does have a strong support system and most students are collaborative, unlike for example Berkeley or some of the top schools that have grade deflation.
I don’t think I agree with @DadTwoGirls that it’s such an art form to find a university that is inexpensive enough to allow someone to spread their coursework over multiple years, and also has challenging courses. State schools (though under-staffed in terms of faculty/student ratio, and though willing to fail students without blinking an eye) certainly have plenty of challenging courses and they cost so much less than private schools that it’s actually common to take a reduced load. The students who attend state schools are quite varied in their academic strengths; almost uniformly, large state schools have a stratum of students of the caliber of WUSTL.
Though I am not sure that the OP really wants to the flexibility of fewer credits per semester, plenty of students take a reduced course load for a variety of reasons at state schools (including not being able to afford a full course load or being time-constrained due to a serious job, or needing to live in a specific region due to family). And yes, due to anxiety, depression, or any number of health reasons, private school students actually transfer into state schools. Taking longer to finish is not as stigmatized in a state school as in a private school. Private schools (and some public schools) often have rules like not allowing students to be part-time, even if they initially enroll as full-time.
@quarkpie you might look into state schools that have an honors college structure inside it. Students get much more attention than the “generic student” gets, and they often have special privileges like living in a dorm room together or getting priority registration. At a large state institution, there will be both undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science, and they will SURELY have the advanced coursework to challenge your son.
On a side note, having looked at many LACs carefully, I noticed very few have a serious program in computer science. Be careful to check out the actual offerings if you decide to go that route.
That said, I think WUTSL is appealing precisely because its faculty seem to care so much about the students. It’s an expensive place to need an extra year (and it does seem to require that students take 5 courses a semester, which could put some students at risk), however over here on the East Coast it does not have the reputation of being a pressure cooker. That could be because all of our high schools are already pressure cookers, so college looks comparatively easy. It also has enough computer science to challenge even pretty advanced kids.
I would like to point out that the averages listed are uncurved. In Gen Chem, a 70/75 is an A. In calc, the average is curved to a 75 if the raw average is below that, and an 85 is an A-. So what you might think of as an awful grade really isn’t. Not everyone is failing, as you might think from the numbers.
My daughter does not attend WUTSL, but she did an overnight visit there since it was one of her top 2 college choices. She attended 3 classes and spent the night in the dorm. My daughter had an unweighted 4.0 and 9 AP classes. .She decided against WUSTL because she thought the students were too stressed and the classes were too big. Her host (a pre-med) was up on Friday night until 3am studying. She attended a Chemistry class with 200 students and most of the students were confused. My daughter breezed through Honors Chemistry and had no idea what was going on.
Obviously, the information from the actual students is more important that my anecdote, but I thought it might be helpful to you.
I agree with @SymGol that an honors college at a state university (depending on the ranking) might be a lower stress option. Worth looking into.
Also, jobs are plentiful in computer science so going to a Top 20 college isn’t necessary to get a job. If not a public university, consider a college where your son would be a big fish. Consider colleges that would offer him a merit scholarship. There is much to be said for the confidence that comes from being near the top of the class and getting extra attention from professors.
@Hippo21, thanks for your post. It came down to Wash U and Barrett Honors College for my son. And for the exact reasons you cited, he chose to go with the honors college. Plus honors colleges tend to give substantial merit money. He’ll still receive the individualized attention, some smaller classes without the pressure cooker. Work/life balance is the holy grail at any stage in life.
I’ve pretty much limited my college choices to between either WashU or the University of Iowa (my state school, pretty much full-ride). My parents are in a good income bracket (~200K) so they say they are perfectly willing to pay for me if I decide to go to WashU. However, since I’m probably going to follow a career in medicine, how much of an advantage is it to go to a quality undergrad school? Could you guys fill me in on the pros and cons of selecting a more prestigious school over my full-ride state school, especially since I could just be applying to these medical schools four years later? This has been a very difficult decision, but I need to make one soon. I’d deeply appreciate any help guys. Thanks.