<p>Is anyone else hesitant about college and it's academic rigor? I'm fine in my high school. I have a good rank, my extracurriculars are fine, and my standardized testing scores are good. In all I could probably get into schools like Rice and Duke; however I'm not sure I would be able to handle the academic difficulty that everyone says it is. I want to go into medicine, so I know you need a good GPA. I'm considering going to a smaller state school to stand out. Also, I'm eligible for a lot of scholarships if I go to an instate school</p>
<p>Is college academics really that hard for those schools? And would it be better to thrive in a small state school or be average in a more prestigious school?</p>
<p>@6ofhearts : It’s competitive, but there is plenty of grade inflation and learning resources past the introductory courses/pre-health core to help students succeed (or at least make them appear as if they succeed) at these sorts of schools. I wouldn’t really be afraid. Just go do your best. These places have high med. school placement and the science curriculum is problem stronger which means you’ll learn how to think about science better at schools like those 2. Medical schools don’t really care about what you learn so much as the grades you make in classes, but the MCAT certainly cares, and most of all, so should you. Don’t go to any school and just have “pre-med syndrome” the whole time where literally everything you do and every course you choose has medical school admissions influencing you. Get your money’s worth and come out stronger than what you are now based on you HS background. This isn’t easy (balancing the need to get a high GPA and actually attempting to challenge yourself and learn), but is totally worth it if you are actually willing to do the work or think hard without viewing it as the “teachers making it so hard for us to be a doctor”. They aren’t, they are just trying to develop students’ minds and toughen them up along the way. Also, don’t underestimate some state schools. Sometimes there can be much less room for error because they won’t curve more difficult science courses as generously. Rice and Duke will typically curve pre-health science cores to B- or B just all the other reputable southern universities, whereas some state school instructors will surprise, make the course harder than what you may have gotten at the private school and then set the curve at C or C+. Even a student far above average incoming stats. wise may have a hard time getting an A because clearly difficult college courses are not like high school and usually are not giving completely objective exams (multiple choice, matching, fill in blank, pointed short answer), so your SAT will not really end up mattering (SAT problems are readily predictable. In difficult college courses, they are trying throw “curveball” or very challenging applied problems where deep learning is needed as opposed to the methods more commonly used to study in HS or for the standardized admissions tests). </p>
<p>As for those 2 schools (I checked their courses out using coursehero or stumbled upon course websites online) I would more or less watch out for the physics and math courses. Biology is fine at both (though intro. biology at Duke is annoying because with some it’s multiple choice, and not the easy multiple choice. Not much room for error there and no partial credit available. Advanced courses are like most top schools…where you still have a decent chunk of faculty teaching pure lecture style and designing HS like exams that focus on lower cognitive skills and then you have some that are definitely focusing on problem solving and building analytical ability. You should take a mixture. If you have done well in HS, you may have to adapt to the latter courses, but they will help train your mind for MCAT passages and then you can use the other classes to GPA pad if possible). Gen. chem at both is pretty standard (harder at places like WashU and Dartmouth). OChem at both is somewhat challenging but places such as Harvard, Chicago, Northwestern, WashU, Emory, Princeton, Stanford, Caltech, and MIT are much harder as (probably because of who they have teaching. Also, many of these schools give intensive evening exams whereas most Rice and Duke instructors are clearly designing shorter, less thorough in-class exams) those schools are much more about the tedious and curveball prompts on assessments. Advanced courses beyond that are anyone’s guess. But this is what I can gauge about the pre-health core at both. Outside of physical science and math, they appear as doable if not more doable than other top schools. They are challenging but not overwhelming, which is honestly good for you. If you do what you’re supposed to do, you’ll learn a lot and be competitive for med. school. These schools are clearly among the pre-med friendly whereas some (namely HYCPCtM) of the schools listed above are more “science/pre-grad” friendly and science courses across the board are almost unusually challenging (the only protective factor you have at those places is the inflation because the content will really really make even a solid student sweat at many of these places and on top of that, P, M and C have not that much inflation) and there usually are not “easy” instructors to run to if you feel uncomfortable about a certain course. If you’re worried about stuff like that. Those 2 schools put you in a better position than many others. </p>
<p>What do you mean when you say you could “probably” get into Duke? It’s a reach for everybody.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats : Don’t entertain their opinions on the admissions chances…we know what they said is not the case, but neither is it important here. They were asking about rigor (pre-med as well), which beyond a certain level of selectivity doesn’t even seem to correspond with selectivity (I don’t even really knows what this means anymore because now places like Vanderbilt, WashU, and Chicago have almost identical SAT’s and yet the students at each are so completely different that it’s unbelievable. There is clearly great variance in attitudes toward learning among high achievers as well and it plays out in the selection process and subsequent academic environment/orientation of each campus. In terms of academic intensity of both students and level of instruction, those 3 are not equal and there is clearly a gradient among the 3. And that gradient in terms of most to least intense seems to follow a north to south pattern geographically-hint, hint) at all. I think this person just wants to know what they are getting into if they were to get into these sorts of schools. In many cases, the “rigor” primarily comes from the competition levels (as in a more uniform and qualified crowd than in HS). Places like Vanderbilt, ND and Penn have higher/equal SAT scores than Duke and Rice now, but I would have to say that I believe that 2/3 of that trio is less rigorous content wise than Duke (and maybe even Rice). I think that’s what they are worried about as in: How do content rigor and competition levels combine at such schools to affect potential success of the student (especially pre-meds)?</p>
<p>How well any student makes the transition from big fish/little pond to little, middle, or big fish/big pond is often a result of their personality. Almost all high school students have some anxiety about this transition, and parents, teachers, family, and friends can be a big help in aiding the student in making this choice between the ultra-challenging schools and the less challenging schools. So OP should raise this question with the cohort of supporters who best know her and can help her make a choice. She should also understand that almost every student has the same trepidation about college and that almost every student had a lesser version of the trepidation about the transition from middle school to high school. OP very successfully overcame her trepidation about high school, and that bodes well for the transition to college rigor. On the spectrum between loves cut-throat competition with peers to fears offending anyone by her achievements, brains, and hard work, where does the OP lie? If she’s closer to the former, she shouldn’t be overly fearful of the most rigorous colleges. If she’s closer to the latter, she might need to be a big fish in a smaller pond. This is all part of the fit, OP.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize how well my high school had prepared me for college until I took my first tests in college and aced them. I was part of a rigorous IB program and was used to things like pop in-class essays. I was somewhat concerned about the rigor, but my fears were unfounded. It’s definitely different from high school, and it may take some adjustment, but if you challenged yourself in high school, there’s no reason you won’t be able to succeed in college.</p>
<p>I took two AP Courses in High School and honestly, they were harder than my college courses that I’ve had so far. If you’ve taken AP courses in High School, then you probably have a pretty good idea of the college rigor, but then subtract the homework. Though some professors hand out homework, it’s usually more projects and readings than fill in the blank worksheets or research type stuff. </p>
<p>It depends on the class, but I wouldn’t stress. I don’t know about anyone else, but I felt that the difficulty of college coursework was exaggerated. Some nights you’re in the library for 5-6 hours, others none at all. Generally though, apart from exam week, you’ll just have a couple hours of reading and that’s it. </p>