<p>For a student with mostly As and a few Bs on his transcript, a good student but never in the top few of the class, would Earlham provide a challenging enough of an academic experience?</p>
<p>Earlham is my top choice and is perfect in all aspects, except perhaps for the difficulty level of its academics (it's an important aspect i know).</p>
<p>I'm looking for a challenging experience, not quite as challenging as the ivy leagues' obviously, but challenging enough for me to have to push myself.</p>
<p>Looking at Earlham's stats, I'm afraid its academics might not be rigorous enough for what i'm looking for.</p>
<p>my high school: one of the best in the state
Grades: As save for a few Bs (APs and such)
SATs: 2220
GPA: 4.0 weighted, somewhere around 3.5 unweighted</p>
<p>stats can only give a limited picture; i'm looking for an account from someone with experience. what are Earlham's academics actually like? would it provide the rigorous academic experience i'm looking for?</p>
<p>My daughter visited with a women who was on faculty at a prestigous liberal arts college and had attended Earlham as an undergrad wondering the same thing. She indicated that Earlham did a far better job of preparing undergrads academically for grad school than the other college did. I know several Earlham grads that are now professors at liberal art colleges and from what they say it is the pentultimate academic experience.</p>
<p>My daughter, who just graduated from Earlham, had entry stats very similar to yours. She was definitely challenged academically. The professors regard teaching as their profession and devote extraordinary efforts to giving students a deep understanding of their subjects. The 4th year exercises of senior seminar, written and oral comprehensives, a capstone experience, and oral examination by an outside professor rival the grad school experience. The professors get to know their students very well and can write meaningful letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>The elements of the capstone experience vary by major, but the goal is to integrate knowledge gained from course work in the major. In the Biology capstone the seniors organize themselves into student-led seminars in various areas of interest, like animal communication or immune biology. The seniors also spend time in study groups to review the field of Biology. </p>
<p>In April they take a written test, answering several essay questions most of which are posted several months in advance, followed by an oral examination where a non-Earlham biologist assesses the student’s grasp of biology.</p>
<p>If this sounds like an intimidating experience, it can be for those not well prepared. Earlham students get an excellent grounding in Biology so it’s very rare for a senior to fail comps.</p>
<p>Other departments may have written tests, require a thesis-paper, or expect a research project.</p>
<p>The challenge of the academics is up to you. The proffesors usually lay out work so that it’s up to the student to decide how much they want to put into it. Sure, you can study a little bit and get that C, but (at least in the science courses) that A is going to require a lot of extra time spent outside class.</p>
<p>But that’s the sciences. I’ve taken some upper-level English/Philosophy courses and to be honest those were easy. The only time I had difficulty with a philosophy course was when I decided to disagree with Socrates. Hint: If your proffesor’s PHD is in “Acient Greek Philosophy”, don’t diss Socrates. </p>
<p>I think it’s generally recognized that the science programs at Earlham are the more difficult courses.</p>