<p>Following up on a previous thread about academically most stressful colleges, I'd like to ask:
Which selective college is academically the most relaxed with students still excelling at their work? Or in other words, where do students learn and work at high levels but aren't totally stressed out about it?</p>
<p>Schools with grade inflation, probably.</p>
<p>Harvard used to be, with 90% of their students receiving honors degrees. However, they've officially changed that policy, so perhaps it no longer is.</p>
<p>does anyone have the link to the previous discussion about the most stressful colleges?</p>
<p>
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Or in other words, where do students learn and work at high levels but aren't totally stressed out about it?
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</p>
<p>How can students learn "at high levels" without having to work hard at it? Do you think Tiger Woods could have made it without hours of pounding balls on the practice range?</p>
<p>Ask the question honestly. What are some brand-name gut schools?</p>
<p>At my D's college all students work pretty hard but the science students, especially pre-med, are very stressed out, whereas the humanities and social science students are under moderate pressure but not "totally stressed out" all the time.</p>
<p>You can relieve academic stress by balancing your course load, combining heavy lab or writing intensive courses with some that mainly require weekto week reading and by choosing courses in subject you genuinely care about and enjoy--then you will work at a high level but it won't be stressful.</p>
<p>"Totally stressed out" is probably more of an individual choice. Most good college students learn, very early on, that it is not possible to do all the assigned work, all the time -- kind of like the real world. Therefore, part of the educational experience is learning to prioritize and focus on the important stuff in the allocated study time.</p>
<p>ID's got it right. It's all about time allocation. Procrastinators will seem to be more stressed out because of the number of last minute projects they have but will in fact have spent less total time working.</p>
<p>I suspect that what the OP is trying to ask is NOT what the respondents are replying to. tryingtorelax, am I correct in that what you are trying to ask is "At which schools do students work hard and at high levels without the competitive cutthroat environment common at such schools?"</p>
<p>My D finds that Yale has turned out to be such an environment for her. She has worked her tail off this semester (2 science classes, a freshman writing class, a science lab, music theory, and a keyboard/ear training class), but told us of the support she received from professors, TAs, and fellow students all across the board. Sure, she had the stress of getting work in on time, and the stress of exams. But she had many study groups with other students in her classes, meetings with professors during office hours and after, and group work on lab reports and loved it all. </p>
<p>Interestingly, her good friend who is a freshman at Princeton (took a science class, a French class, and two large humanities classes) shared that students did NOT share information with each other and did NOT study together...that she found Princeton far more competitive with her fellow students than their small private high school had been.</p>
<p>I was interested to learn that while my d in high school brought her books and her sister certainly was very busy over the xmas holidays when she was at Reed, that both a Princeton freshman & a Smith sophomore didn't bring their books home over break, and were able to do lots of pleasure reading. :)
( however the new Tiger did make comments about the Smithees lack of dictated requirements)</p>
<p>I agree that it is mostly about time allocation at most schools ( I am still not entirely sure about CalTech :eek:. It just may be too big a firehose for normal folks. ;)) but, I do think the "gunner" element of the student population has to be addressed. The truly cooperative learning environment may be a utopian fantasy but I do think some schools foster such an environment better than others. (I happen to think Olin is trying to build such a place.)</p>
<p>I am the father of a highly competitive kid so don't get me wrong, when I say "gunner" in this one instance I am attaching an entirely negative connotation. I am not talking about a kid competing against an ideal, or against the subject matter, or even for that matter against each other in a fair fight. I am really only talking about the true gunners that I knew along the way. Those that would check out the research books that everyone needed and not return them to the library. (That one still burns me up.) Intentionally undermine the confidence of classmates. Engage in disinformation campaigns. Grrrrrr. If you ever had occasion to be around one of these folks you know the type of student I am talking about. </p>
<p>I contrast this to my D this way. Last semester in Bio D was in a study group. She came late. When she arrived they were struggling with something she knew backwards and forwards so D drew it out for them (so she could move the group on to something SHE needed LOL ). Next topic - it happened again. D said "Well, it would be faster if I just drew it all out" so that's what she did and they made xeroxes. The next class period and everyone in the class (all 75) had the same papers . The Prof said "What do you have there?" "Oh, ______ made us all study guides." That's the difference. "She'll offer you a helping hand and then (try to) beat you anyway" (to paraphrase what one of her recommendation writers said). </p>
<p>Anything more than just a couple gunners of the negative type I'm describing can really rot a whole program. In a hurry. Programs or schools that tend to attract those folks would be very stressful indeed.</p>
<p>Edit: crossposted with qg. I'm a s l o w typist. ;)</p>
<p>Before someone turned out the lights (Rog. Pay the hamsters. The wheels are slowing down.;)) I was trying to agree with qg, both on what she thought the OP was about, and her thoughts on the subject.
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Sure, she had the stress of getting work in on time, and the stress of exams. But she had many study groups with other students in her classes, meetings with professors during office hours and after, and group work on lab reports and loved it all.
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This has been D's experience also. Both in Bio and Chem group activities seem to prevail but unlike high school she was not left doing all the work.</p>
<p>Brown. You can repeat a course as often as you like, without it appearing on your transcript or take it pass fail.</p>
<p>I agree with scidoc, I was a grad student TA at Brown--way back--at least at that time it was a high quality non-cutthroat environment.</p>
<p>To clarify: First, it's a given that the kids at selective colleges are smart, work hard, and are competitive. Second, stress is not the result of working hard but rather the result of certain learning environments or cultures (see some of the examples listed on this thread). With that in mind, are there selective colleges that try to create a productive environment (faculty support, student-directed learning, cooperation, etc.) rather than a climate that focuses on doing well on tests, strategizing, padding your resume, etc. at the cost of other students (i.e. you look good by making the other person look bad)?</p>
<p>I will repeat: Yale. I know there are other such schools as well. In my daughter's opinion (one of the reasons she eventually chose Y over H), Harvard is not one of those schools.</p>
<p>My impression is that all of the schools in the Colleges That Change Lives list would meet the standard of rigourous curriculum but balanced perspective and a collaborative and service-oriented attitude. (Some might argue Reed is an exception but my data wouldn't support that). My son (not a Reedie) is at one of these schools and chose it primarily for the sense of collaborative community. He says he has never worked harder academically in his life and never had more fun. Students I know who have gone to other schools on that list echo the same kind of perspective.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Harvard and has had numerous study groups with other students in her classes. She finds the atmosphere far less cutthroat than her public high school was. The perception that Harvard is cutthroat, elitist or all the other garbage that people throw around is total nonsense.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say Reed is cutthroat, but I also would say that a college can have a generally stressful academic personality, where the stress comes from the demands of the course, not from competing with other students.</p>
<p>@ Reed, D did have study groups especially freshman year,when her dorm would gather in the common room to discuss HUM 110, but it isn't uncommon for students to sleep in the library during end of term, and not get back to the rooms to shower ( which results in the increased use of Febreeze in and around the library)... that doesn't sound relaxed to me, nor does not being about to have free time for pleasure reading till after graduation.
However, she did make some very good friends there, and was able to find enough support to * eventually* graduate.</p>
<p>They do have a big party in the spring, before finals, but compared to some schools that don't even have class on Fridays, its a fairly heavy work load.</p>
<p>( and why don't some schools have class on Fridays?)</p>
<p>( I also however, wouldn't call Reed selective as the term is often used- re USNEWS ranking- while the GPA and SATs and high, and their admittance rate is getting lower all the time, the graduation rate isn't as high as other schools ranked higher-& I think didn't USNEWS just bump Reed down into next tier?)</p>
<p>This thread for most stressful schools might be interesting
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=222450%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=222450</a></p>
<p>I second quiltguru's comments about Yale. My freshman D, while working very hard this past semester and with her share of stress over exams and papers, has told us many times about study groups, kids helping each other out, and the generally collegial atmosphere she's found there. She says she's met some extraordinarily brilliant people, but no one seems to be trying to outdo anyone else. She loves the atmosphere at Yale, which is both intellectual and fun.</p>