Regarding math classes. I expect top schools to have more material/more difficult calculus than offered at the HS/AP or even typical college. UW-Madison does. I also suspect one reason students may start out well in some classes is that they already know a lot from HS- it gets more difficult when new material is presented. Some students do not have the study habits they need- too much misuse of time…
Celebrating a kid’s completing courses required for medical school? Wow. I would have taken that vacation just to take it. Wonder if the student will succeed in getting into a medical school? I do not think the vacation rationale fits the poster’s justification criteria. I was a chemistry major who did become an MD, even today less than half (1/3?) of premed students get into a medical school. Harder for us women in my day, btw. Most physicians are not geniuses as well. Most are hard workers- look at the grad students for the most intelligent thinkers. It takes willingness to memorize much more than the ability to think outside the box.
More than enough said.