<p>Grades drop because they must. When 90% of your student body were in the top 10% of their HS class, then at least 80% will be disappointed, right?</p>
<p>Statistically, most people find their grades go down, but for some it’s the other way around (almost always it’s just regression to the mean–it’ll fall for valedictorians and it’ll rise for the crappy HS bums). The real question is: who cares? The amount of work goes down, classes are more interesting, and you spend more time reading and/or learning than doing busywork. </p>
<p>Personally, I just study and the grades pop up in my transcript at the end of the semester.</p>