<p>I'm a high school senior that was admitted to WM. I'm an intelligent student; I have maintained a 4.0 all through middle and high school. But I haven't taken the most rigorous courses. Of course I took all the honors classes I could, and a total of 6 AP classes (Enviro Sci, Calc AB, Physics B, Lang, Macroecon, and Stat), but I know that compared to some people out there, my schedule is nothing. My APs are generally considered to be the easier ones.<br>
I'm scared that WM will be too hard for me academically. When you put all of the A students into a school, someone has to get the Cs, Ds and Fs. I'm afraid that I'll either spend all my time studying my butt off, or just not be able to keep up and fall behind to begin with.<br>
Can anyone give me some insight into just how hard WM is, especially from the point of view of the average smart student? Thank you.</p>
<p>It’s true that W&M is full of students who achieved great things in high school. It’s also true that students are again differentiated and some don’t get good grades.</p>
<p>You were admitted because you are capable of doing the work that W&M requires. Some students find their early years at W&M to be easier than high school (I did), and some students have to work harder to adjust. Either way, W&M is not such a terribly challenging environment that the average W&M student finds it to be unbearable. There’s less handholding than in most high schools, but the work level (for the intro level courses you’ll be taking at first) is comparable to what you’ve already experienced in AP.</p>
<p>Most people who have trouble keeping up with the work are those who designate other priorities ahead of academics. Partying, etc. There’s a time and a place, and it is possible to have a normal social life and college experience at W&M, but misplaced priorities - rather than intellectual inability - is by far the greatest reason students at W&M fall behind.</p>
<p>Also, I’ve yet to have a course at W&M that grades on a bell curve. If you meet the minimum percentage for an A, you get an A. Minimum percentage for a B, you get a B. Doesn’t matter if the whole class gets a B range grade or better… you’re not directly competing for grades. W&M isn’t an easy A school, but the typical W&M student in the typical W&M class doesn’t have much trouble pulling off a B.</p>
<p>For reference, my GPA at the end of three years was within 0.1 of what it was in high school. I found intro level courses to be incredibly easy and coasted through with A’s even in subjects I was unfamiliar with. I didn’t really have to start working until junior year when I began taking higher-level courses in my major.</p>
<p>If you don’t have at least a 3.0, I would hazard to say you probably aren’t working hard enough on your schoolwork. I don’t mean that to say that those with sub 3ish GPAs ‘should’ work harder, but that if they wanted to do better, they probably could. You would just have to give up something in return, as java said (partying, copious extra curriculars, etc).</p>
<p>You will not get a 4.0, but you are definitely capable of doing fine at W&M.</p>
<p>I think what inchoative said is pretty accurate too.</p>
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<p>I’ve taken exception to this poster’s similar comments in the past. This is the sort of absolute pronouncement that idicates an intelligence that makes book and classroom learning easy, limited experience of the real world (which is typical for those in this stage of life), and an overconfident attitude that all combine to result in a failure to understand different learning styles and different intelligences, and a lack of empathy with anyone different in any way from oneself. There is also a bit of self-ego stroking – “Yeah, it’s almost too easy for me.” </p>
<p>There are plenty of W&M students who work extremely hard to earn whatever grades they get - sub-3.0 or 3.0+. There are also some who coast to whatever GPA they get, even some of those with 3.0+. In four years of undergrad at W&M, three years of graduate work at two different universities (and a graduate education degree), and 26 years work experience in education at all levels (17 in postsecondary, four in secondary, and, now, three in elementary), I’ve seen that it is more important how persistent you are and how hard your effort is than whether you earned a B- or an A in Math 317.</p>
<p>I will agree that giving up extracurriculars may help some students improve the GPA somewhat. But then, they are not getting the full and complete education that makes a William & Mary education (or that of any college) so worthwhile. And there are many students for whom education would be drudgery or even unbearable if it consisted only of going to class, studying, taking tests, and writing papers. I’ve seen that with my own son, a current junior at W&M, as his major extracurricular is where he is getting the most practical and most enjoyable part of his education and is certainly as significant a part of that education as is English 385 or Econ 410.</p>
<p>Taysel: You will do fine. W&M has been doing this a long time (since 1693!) and if you were admitted, then you have the ability and the aptitude. Your HS record sounds pretty good and there must be other non-quantifiable qualities that made you stand out above all the others with similar quantifiables who were not accepted. You will do fine.</p>
<p>Go Tribe! Hark upon the Gale!</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to argue that the vast majority of people with sub 3/ 2.75 GPAs aren’t going to be posting on CC about worrying about their grades.</p>
<p>That being said, I should qualify that it would be extremely more likely for someone to work very hard and still do poorly if they are majoring in something they are terrible at. For instance, I am sure that if I were to have majored in Mathematics or something along things lines, I would have worked much harder and done way, way worse.</p>
<p>Why someone would choose a major in their worst subject isn’t really something I’ll get into (though I imagine that has a lot to do with either a) wanting to make a lot of money, or b) letting your parents/others heavily influence your selection), but, in cases like that, I would certainly agree with k9.</p>
<p>Balance, balance, balance.</p>
<p>You have the ability to do well. If you also have the time management skills and discipline as when to play and when to work, you will do great. Good luck and enjoy.</p>
<p>K9</p>
<p>I think if all the students at W&M made academics their #1 priority, that they all have the ability to get over a 3.0. On the other hand, I do not think (in my opinion) that sacrificing all the other stuff you do to try and get a couple more tenths on your GPA (whatever your GPA is) is the right way to go through college at all. You might end with a higher GPA, but you won’t have enjoyed your time.</p>
<p>Maybe you play a club sport and therefore you have less time to work, so you get a lower GPA. There is nothing wrong with that at all. If person A gets as much satisfaction out of a 3.1 as person B gets out of a 3.7, I will not argue that person A should work harder to try to match person B.</p>