<p>Post #77, I dropped out of Physics in high school thinking I was not good in science stuff. I did transfer to a STEM major after taking some college classes so it can work out. You just need to work really hard going in and don’t overload yourself with lots of hard classes at first. I started out with 12 then I moved up to 17 and then to 19 units till graduation.</p>
<p>Inpersonal, the bottom line is really knowing you and the type of person you are. How risk adverse you are, how competitive your are and whether you will ask for help early if you need it. The rest is everyone else’s opinion but yours.</p>
<p>So your ego needs to be okay with maybe being in the bottom third.</p>
<p>When the going gets rough, do you step up to the challenge or do you avoid it and hope it just goes away or you can figure it out later.</p>
<p>Are you more type A and reach for those "A"s or are you more laid back and are fine about "B"s. </p>
<p>How competitive is the environment, how cooperative is it?</p>
<p>Spend some time on the WUSTL forum or see if you can connect with students in your interested major and have a chat.</p>
<p>@krug</p>
<p>Thanks for the first-hand account. WUSTL is one of those institutions that seem to be more academically challenging than other high(er) ranked institutions. That’s why I am so concerned.</p>
<p>Financials are being worked out, although I am not sure about the 5th year… I think I will need to talk to the finaid office about this very issue.</p>
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<p>Good thread, inpersonal, because it applies to lots of students… at least in my world! It sounds to me like you want to graduate with a high GPA and want the option to go to graduate school. And you would prefer to study a subject where you will need to do some catch up work to be competitive for graduate school. (#57 sums that up very well)</p>
<p>I am not at all sure when we tell young people what people our age were able to do with regards to getting into grad school, professional school, etc that we are giving them good advice. Maybe others disagree, but I think the current situation is totally different. Just yesterday I heard about a student who is widely regarded by her professors as one of the best undergraduate students they have ever had, at a top university, and she didn’t get accepted into a single PhD program. (not in math/science but in one of those area studies/foreign language fields ;)) And she spread her net really wide. Professors had called colleagues to support her application, and introduced her around at conferences. She had an extremely impressive application. She has lovely manners, is very poised, attractive, and always makes an excellent impression. Sorry if that is discouraging, but that is the new reality as far as I can tell. Last year two cum laudes didn’t get accepted to the state dental school. None of their professors could imagine why. They regularly write letters of recommendation for dental schools and this had never happened to their top students before. The students seemed to think there was too much competition from science PhDs who were tired of endless post-docs.</p>
<p>If you were my child, I would tell you that everything shouldn’t be about getting into grad school and that you need to keep as many options open as possible for as long as possible. And that this is the time to study what interests you!!! I would ask, why can’t you start out studying one of the hard sciences and some Area Studies or even some foreign language? Why can’t you do that, semester by semester, and see how it goes? Possibly you can be a double major. Maybe not. You don’t have decide before you get on campus. You just need a plan for first term, and a tentative plan for freshman year. You get to make a new plan every term. Just make sure you graduate in four years (okay your parents may not say that but it was real important in our house :))</p>
<p>I think you should go to the school you like best. Good luck - Have fun!</p>
<p>I agree with alh - have fun, and therein lies the rub. Even though my kid loves WUSTL, the other students and the professors, it’s difficult (not impossible) to have an active social life, get involve in clubs/sports/community services, and keep up with the workload (if you want to maintain a high gpa). For many science courses, labs that are 1 credit on transcripts are usually 3-5 hours of contact time. It’s a question of time…</p>
<p>@alh</p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestion, alh.</p>
<p>The problem with Math intensive subjects is that they build on each other, and one really need to know the basic foundations before going to the more advanced courses. For instance, I know that it is impossible to take differential equations if you do not know differential and integral calculus. I think that some languages are like that too (it is impossible to learn how to do composition in Italian if you do not know the words and grammar). On the other hand, some of the humanities courses seem to be more flexible. I would be much more afraid of jumping into the aforementioned differential equations course than, say, a course in “Urban migration in the XX century”.</p>
<p>More recently I am feeling like trying to make WUSTL work for me, but I am still not sure. I am thinking about diving into a ton of Khan Academy courses before classes start in the Fall.</p>
<p>Great thread. My son has a similar decision. He challenged himself with some really hard courses in high school, but tended to get Bs and some As in the AP hard sciences and calc BC. He has a good work ethic, but is a slow reader. This resulted in lower test scores. But he does love to learn, he just doesn’t obssess over his GPA. He has been accepted everywhere he applied including an ivy, in large part to his strong essay and unique ECs. ( and I think his application showed that he liked to learn even if he wasn’t getting straight As) Can he be successful there? He is interested in grad school but not med school or law school. He likes engineering and biology. Not sure how he would react to the level of competition at his reach school. But, it is a great fit in so many ways. I just don’t want him stressed out for 4 years. He will have to choose…</p>