<p>Look at the bright side: Someone has to be in the top 1%, 5% etc. Why not you?</p>
<p>Be assured too that there are real rewards for those that do exceptionally well at UofC. </p>
<p>I know one kid who was asked at a national fellowship interview how they performed so well at UofC, knowing their tough grading. The Harvard kids certainly would not be asked this question. </p>
<p>So I would say that the UofC grading makes it easier for the top students to stand out and perhaps offers a bit more anonymity to the weaker students. Is that so bad? Sounds like a win all the way around.</p>
<p>Neltharion,
Go to class. Take notes. Do all the labs. If there is a textbook, get it. Core Bio classes have different emphases depending on the prof, so make sure the class you’re signed up to take interests you. S did not care for his prof and thought he could get through by cramming and looking the prof’s power points. He had done extremely well in all his other classes fall quarter (and that winter quarter), but he never engaged with this course and it bit him.</p>
<p>The only time I ever wanted to pout about a grade I received was for a class with an “easy” professor in an “easy” discipline. This class was not all that challenging, but it came clear to me that the information was intuitive to other people in a way that it was boring/counter-intuitive to me.</p>
<p>It also really depends what classes you take, the context in which you’re taking them, and your own view of yourself a student-- I was a meh student (for Chicago) my first year, but hard work and taking classes I was interested in made my academic performance soar my third year, and my third year grades are filled with letters I had never received in high school. Like your senior year, I’m sure, my senior year has proven to be more busy and stressful than I would prefer, as things are due and I have a lot of out-of-class obligations to fulfill.</p>