Parental input, please--a "slacker" kid in HS who is at an "intense" college now?

<p>Katie--</p>

<p>I take it you are a junior in high school. </p>

<p>A long time ago, I went to a mediocre suburban high school. I studied, but it wasn't really necessary to do much work to get good grades. Then I went off to college. I studied a LOT more --and got good grades. I was also incredibly happy because I loved most of the "studying" I did. Most of the "studying" was reading about things that interested me. So, instead of devouring a couple of novels a week, as I had in high school, I read the reading assigned for classes. I spent a lot more time studying than I had in high school, but I'm not sure that if you added together the time I spent studying and reading for pleasure in high school that it would be much less than the amount of time spent studying in college. I did have to WRITE a LOT more, but it sounds like you can do this quickly and well. </p>

<p>So, while I would agree with others who said only you can figure out if you can do this--and, after all, you may not get accepted--I would suggest that you figure out how much pleasure reading you do in a week, add it to your study time, and if totals at least 20 hours a week, I think college will be less of a transition than your dad fears.</p>

<p>Since you apparently don't attend a particularly difficult high school, you might want to pick up and read through one of the many books out there about how to study smart in college. </p>

<p>How much other people study has very little to do with how much you will have to study. Light years ago now, my kid and I went on a tour at UChicago. We ended up talking to our guide for a few minutes when we ran into him later. I asked how much he studied. He sort of blushed and started something like "on average, UChicago students study about..." I interrrupted and asked how much he studied. Answer: about an hour a day, sometimes less--well, not on Saturday, when he didn't study at all. GPA --he was a junior--4.0. (Yep, he had a free ride to UChicago. )</p>

<p>Now, obviously, the kid was a genius and few people can do that. But that's why one person's experience isn't really a bench mark for how much work you will have to do. If you can do your work FASTER than your classmates--it isn't that everybody at your school can do the little amount of work you do and get the same results gpa-wise--and you enjoy ideas, then tell your dad to quit worrying. You'll be fine.</p>