And what can that student do to adjust, if at all?
Become competitive? Otherwise that college may not be a good fit for you.
Okay if you are okay with C grades.
Lack of competitiveness doesn’t necessarily equate to C grades.
Everyone learns to adjust to any particular environment. That’s not the issue. The most important issue is what YOUR tolerance level is for such an environment without hurting your mental health and overall well being. No one can determine that except you.
@eb23282 At the college level, unless you are a lot smarter than your peers (unlikely at the schools I’d call competitive), you better be ready to work your tail off for Bs, and crazy hard for As. Otherwise, you will get Cs. Which isn’t the end of the world. But mellowing out if everyone else is pedaling hard has consequences.
Eh. A lot of elite/top schools have grade inflation and don’t hand out Cs very often, so I wouldn’t say that an average student has to be “ready to work your tail off for Bs” - it really depends on the college and on the individual classes.
I’m not saying that OP shouldn’t expect to work, though.
I think that this is going to depend upon the specific student, the specific university, and the situation.
When I was an undergrad at MIT, I do recall a small number of students who just couldn’t take the pressure and dropped out. A few others struggled at some point but then put in a strong effort and “got it back together”. A few students took a bit more than four years to graduate.
As far as I can recall most students worked very hard for four years and graduated on time.
If you get accepted to a university that has a reputation for being a lot of work, then I would expect that admissions knows what they are doing and you can do it. Plan to work very hard, learn a lot, and graduate. If you got all A’s in high school, don’t expect that you will be able to get all A’s even at a “pretty good” university.
It depends on what “competitive” means in this context.
Is a “non-competitive” student one who originally applied to the college as a “reach” due to academic credentials at the low end of the range of students there?
Or is a “non-competitive” student one who does school work for his/her own learning purposes, rather than being motivated mainly to be at the top of the grading curve (although a strong student may end up at the top of the grading curve anyway even if s/he does not have a “competitive” attitude)?
And is a “competitive” college one which was a “reach” for the student as described previously, or one where many other students are motivated mainly to be at the top of the grading curve? If the latter, how does it vary by academic goal (e.g. are students trying to get into competitive admission majors or medical school more “competitive” than other students?)?
All true. I was assuming competitive was a Johns Hopkins, UChicago, etc type schools. Where they do give out Cs.
Ha, you’ve just voiced my fear for my son out loud. He’s just not a competitive person…in academics, sports, life. I worry about him going to a competitive school, and am trying to figure that out as a part of school culture, as he is applying and will be making decisions in the spring.
I wish I had advice; I’m not sure it’s possible to change your nature/driving forces/personality. I suppose taking some time to really examine what is important to YOU, for your own reasons, and strive towards that rather than looking at others’ achievements to set your goals. Good luck.
I’m going to add to my above comment that I don’t really look at this as a weakness. He is a strongly empathetic, kind person and while not overly ambitious and driven, succeeds in the areas that are important to him. He already seems to self select non-competitive interests to immerse himself in. There is room for non competitive people in this world to succeed, for sure!
I would love to hear from current college students on this topic. I can say that I have one non-competitive kid who is above average but not super brilliant at a very competitive private high school, and the super-competitive kids flock to him. He’s extremely well loved, often finds himself at the center of social groups without really trying to be “popular.” I think that the kids who are super competitive are under so much stress, and they like to spend time with him because he lightens the mood. He’s not a class clown, but he’s funny, and he is quite empathetic to his peers. His teachers have even commented to me that he brings a healthy dose of perspective to the room. He won’t end up with the highest GPA, but I’m hoping (fingers crossed–we can talk in a few years!) that the likability factor will take him far in life. I think this personality factor is very innate, and there’s little chance that an ultra-competitive environment will ruin your kid. In fact, it might be just the opposite.
OP, why do you ask? In another thread, you imply you’re already in college.
Imo, one should always aim for a college where he/she can be empowered. For some, B grades still allow you to grow and stretch, learn and accomplish. For others, they never stop running to catch up, so miss some of the personal growth and sense of achievement.
“Competitive” as a style may be different than “competitive” as an outcome. My daughter did not want to go to a school with a rep as a place with a cut-throat, competitive academic culture. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t prepared to work hard for her grades or that she would be complacent with mediocre academics. It meant that she preferred to work with people rather than against them. For her, it was how she wanted to relate to classmates rather than how she planned to relate to classwork. She’s quite happy at a school that is known for a rigorous but cooperative academic environment. I think she would have done fine academically at one with a more dog-eat-dog approach, too. But she might not have been as happy there.
@ucbalumnus I was leaning towards the second definition of “non-competitive,” one who learns for their own purposes rather than to be at the top of the grades.
@lookingforward Could you perhaps elaborate on what you mean by “being empowered?”
@EllieMom I really envy your daughter-mother relationship. Good on her for realizing her plans early and good on you for supporting them!
Some students may find competitive behaviors like grade grubbing and cutthroatism to be annoying. Whether or not that is bothersome depends on the student.
It may be hard to avoid some of that if the student is in a major with a large pre-med presence (e.g. biology). Or if the student is actually pre-med. In other majors, it may depend on whether the major is competitive admission after students enroll at the school, so choosing a school where declaring the major is non-competitive would be preferable.
@EllieMom: That is wonderfully written.