<p>i've heard from a variety of sources that there is VERY INTENSE competition between the students at Stern. a lot of SERIOUS backstabbing between "friends" take place, apparently. is the competition supposedly due to some ridiculous grade deflation?</p>
<p>anyhow, i had really wanted to enjoy my college experience, and this whole environment filled with backstabbing really worries me. i wish i had known about it a lot earlier, like before i sent in my housing deposit and confirmation to attend nyu. =(</p>
<p>PLEASE COMMENT! even if all you can do is confirm my suspicions. at the very least, i want to know what i'm getting myself into. =(</p>
<p>you must be talking about the infamous stern curve...I've asked my advisors about that, and no official curve exists...so any grade deflation (usually it's grade inflation, unless it's a really really easy class) is based on the teacher alone...while I have not had too much experience with stern classes (I've just finished my freshman year), I'm involved with stern clubs and I'm also in scholars, so I see a lot of stern kids, and I haven't had any personal experience with backstabbing. Of course, that may be explained by lack of stern classes. But the student compeitition is mainly the fact that the stereotype of the stern student is to work in the computer lab until 5 in the morning and get 3 hours of sleep. If you want to have fun in college, being in stern isn't going to subtract from that.</p>
<p>Well, you have to take into account that Asians make up a significant chunk of Stern. And umm...we're competitive people? I would go so far as to say "backstabbing" though...</p>
<p>It's a common stereotype, but I've found it to be a lie. Yes, the classes can be difficult; yes, it can be hard to get an A, but almost everyone I've met has been nice and helpful. Anyone I didn't like was because they were annoying or didn't contribute to groupwork - and you'll find those people at any university. I think what's happened here is that people have sort of built up this sort of self-perpetuating Stern stereotype of the super high-strung, ambitious, ruthless suit which has only a very small basis in fact (since I'm sure there ARE kids like that, but they're overwhelmingly in the minority) because people who aren't in Stern will always ask about it. Don't worry, the truth is much better than rumored :D</p>
<p>And if you're worried about kyang's post, after I finished WTE, I don't think I remember a time where I've consistently had to stay up until 5am to finish work and I've done just fine academically :D</p>
<p>No no no! There Stern suit stereotype isn't ruthless nor high-strung. They're absolutely ridiculous without any sort of ego check.
That aside, Asians are not "pretty competitive" people, I know there are plenty of failed, unmotivated Asians in the world just as there are of every race. Stern is a pretty competitive place though. The truth really is its very hard to get an A, but that pretty much goes for any top notch school in general. And Stern professors don't usually give below a B unless you've been a really bad boy. Backstabbing almost never happens. Stern classes get harder sophomore year but there's plenty of time for having that idyllic "college experience."</p>
<p>In reply to Custum: Yea.....that always sorta confused me too. I mean, there's that popular and FALSE rumor that a teacher at Stern told all the kids to pick up an assignment at place X, and one student went there first and threw all the remaining copies in the trash or something, but yea...</p>
<p>However, I DO hear about people at MIT doing stuff like that. My Chem teacher went there and she said that people used to screw around with eachother's experiments in the lab so that they would get screwed up data, and since the grades were on a curve, the people with the more accurate results would get better test scores. </p>
<p>Kuvy: haha...yea....there are plenty of failed asians. For some reason, people always seems surprised by that though. Although I think that Asians, on average, are definitely more competitive.</p>
<p>How do you succeed without competition? I find that only intense competition can bring out the best in me. Besides, you are in NEW YORK CITY. Not some small college town. </p>
<p>BUT i am by no means a backstabber. I am one of the most loyal friends you can ever have.</p>
<p>Yah, I agree with IVYPoison, this is a biz school, the more competition the better. In the real world you can't just expect people to play fair. As for backstabbing, I guess you could sabotage someones project or presentation, but if I'm gonna stab someone it's going to be in their face not back.</p>
<p>as is wharton and all good business school. these classmates are the kind of people you are working with everyday. if you are gunning for a job in wall street be ready for the competition.</p>