<p>D is an aspiring scientist looking to attend a LAC before pursuing a PhD. Grinnell looks like a potential fit, though we couldn't make it for a visit during a spring break midwest swing. She is a meticulous student and takes a lot of time to complete her assignments, though she produces quality work. Grinnell has the reputation of piling on the homework. Is a bright but inefficient student likely to be swamped?</p>
<p>…Is a bright but inefficient student likely to be swamped?..</p>
<p>That is where a good LAC will out shine a University. LACs will bring out the brilliance in your D and help her become efficient. If any college can do that, then it is likely to be a good LAC… Just my 1/2 cent.</p>
<p>TBH, the workload can be a bit overwhelming at times, but there are always ways to get it done. I’m taking 18 credits this semester, so I have several hours of homework even on light days. The best thing you can do is to get things done ahead of time so that you’re not totally screwed when your professors conspire to make two papers due on the same day that you have to take a chapter test in a different class.</p>
<p>My son didn’t seem to have trouble with the workload and I wouldn’t call him terribly organized or efficient, but very bright. He never took more than 16 credits and only took courses he was really interested in. No math, only one science course. He was able to do really well, Phi Beta Kappa, and had a nice social life. He didn’t do sports and had only one EC, I think.</p>
<p>My D is a science major and since these are lab courses there’s extra class meeting time plus the work load is intense. She’s managed it all very well - but it does get intense. She also plays a sport so she has had to really manage her time. On the plus side - there is no commute - everyone has a lot of work so classmates form study groups - it’s supportive not competitive, and profs are available to help. Good preparation for PhD work.</p>
<p>I think that a student that moves through subjects thoughtfully, and who needs to move through subjects at their own rate, will have to carefully choose a course of study, but that does not mean they would be happiest at the school that gave them the least to do. It does mean that they will need to choose a course of study at whatever school they attend that will allow them to give attention to what they study. This means thoughtfully choosing classes once you are at the school. My Grinnell student was painfully slow getting through high school assignments, but she has not found Grinnell to be as burdensome as high school. In high school she took honors and AP classes and they had a lot of work that had to be done for every class, every day. At Grinnell she has found that thinking matters more, and that she can focus on what matters to her. She has one class that she has decided is uninteresting and she treats it like a high school class, but her others she finds compelling and she is able to get the work done for them, and pursue her interests in these areas beyond the requirements put forth by the professors. She works a few hours a week, continues to write her own stuff, and has 1 volunteer commitment. She does have to study a lot, but the campus is very convenient, and she does not find it as wearing as high school.<br>
I think that for students who really think, high school and college can be very different games. For example in high school teachers will assign 7 similar science problems for homework, and test students on the speed with which they can do this type of problem. The speed will let the teacher know if the student did indeed do the practice problems and get some understanding of the problem. In upper tier college they assign two different types of problems and then present the students with a test where they merge the two problems on a test. Students who did those two assigned problems carefully, and who understand them completely are at an advantage when they take the test, and they are no longer weighed down with doing 7 nearly identical problems.</p>