You've worked your butt off for 4 years in hs, will you live up to expectations?

<p>Okay this has been something on my mind for a while now, so tell me what you guys think.</p>

<p>I, like many other CCers, have worked hard for the past couple years to get everything i needed in order to get into a top university (ecs, gpa, grades, etc.). I have applied to many elite schools (stanford, ivies, duke, etc.) and I would love to attend one of these fine institutions, but I am worried that I would not do well at an elite school, where the competition is stiff. I know they would only admit me if they think i am qualified, but does anyone else worry that they wouldn't be able to handle the difficulty at these elites schools? </p>

<p>Discuss.</p>

<p>sure do but last year i felt the same way with undertakin 4 aps concurrently(maybe not that much for u ccers but junior year was my first year with aps and ill admit i was intimidated), my teachers had to recommend me for it but i still thought it was a lot and that i wouldnt be able to handle it. well last year was a lot of work, probably most of my life but i got a 4.0 and 5s on the tests. i too am feeling this anxiety with similar colleges, save stanford, but ill not be heading west, but i took 7 aps this year without a second thought. i think we just need to learn to trust the adcoms, they know what they are doing just like my teachers do, and IF you have represented yourself truthfully on your apps to these elite universities i have to trust that we will all be fine</p>

<p>great topic by the way</p>

<p>I am currently taking 6 AP classes at school. My teachers "say" that these classes are college level equivalent, but i really doubt that this is anywhere near college difficulty. </p>

<p>How many classes (units) should an incoming freshman take on average? </p>

<p>^just to add to the discussion.</p>

<p>Well you've got to remember that while you may have been one of the most intelligent or hard working at your high school, you're now in a place where almost everyone else is just as smart or dedicated.</p>

<p>no im not saying that AP classes are college level, from what i have seen in the history classes my history aps are more rigorous than the uofm intro history classes they are suppossed to be replacing. w/e tangent</p>

<p>my point is these people like our teachers are experienced and if they say that you are good enough for admittance and you represented yourself completely truthfully you should have nothing to fear. </p>

<p>honestly i dont expect to be #1 anywhere i go, id rather be somewhere in the top 10% and do less :)</p>

<p>Elite schools will push you, no doubt. You'll no longer be a "big fish in a small pond," but a "small fish in an enormous pond." You'll work harder than you ever did in HS, but you'll learn a lot more. If you're admitted to an elite school, save for financial issues, I'd definitely take the offer(so long as you like the school, of course!). I'd never turn the offer down because I thought I couldn't succeed. Don't come into MIT expecting to get As, but if admitted, there's no doubt that you can at the absolute very least earn a C average. Remember, "average" by MIT's standards qualifies as amazingly brilliant by the US's standards. So, DO NOT worry about the academic rigor when applying to schools. So long as you have done well in high school, and performed (reasonably) well on the SATs, you will be qualified to attend any of these elite schools.</p>

<p>azngamer54: AP classes are a personal gripe of mine. I mean, yeah, they look great on your transcript, and they're slightly harder than their honors equivalents, but they are not TAUGHT as college courses, nor do they cover the same time-span. AP Chemistry credits you for a semester, yet you spend an entire YEAR studying it(plus another year for honors chemistry, depending on your school). A semester of a college course should be equivalent to a semester of an AP course. </p>

<p>Moreover, I really hate the style of the AP classes. AP classes, at least in my HS, are taught exactly like HS classes. Right now, you come to class as frequently you do an honors class, and do the same homework, which often counts for little or none of your grade. What I'd like to see would be a lecture-style class(meeting 2 times a week for an hour or so), and a recitation meeting(optional, meeting ~2 times per week) for people having problems. I despise classes where we spend 1/2 to 3/4 of the class discussing the HOMEWORK. It really is annoying; why should I be required to sit in class listening to homework discussion if I understood the homework perfectly? In-class time should be dedicated solely to learning new material, not hashing over previously learned material. Most AP classes could easily be cut down to a semester if taught in a true college style lecture.</p>

<p>Would anyone else agree with my comments about AP classes?</p>

<p>most i do agree with, the rehashing is very annoying. ap chemistry however depending on the school gets you more than a semester . at um ann arbor for example i would get 8 credits, 1 years worth for my 5 in ap chem, same with bio, and some others. truly this is just 1 school but i think the value you describe is not always correct, plus what value do u put on acceleration, which many elite schools give rather than credit for aps, to me that is worth all the annoyances in the world. at my hs we come everyday but we arent taught to the test, it just so happens that we do well anyway. i can understand your complaints and i do experience the hw thing in calc and french very frustrating indeed. however for me at a public school im pretty sure the couple meetings a week thing wouldnt fly regardless of its true value.</p>

<p>To answer the main question, no, you may not live up to expectations. College can be very difficult, and some people aren't cut out for the intensity. Whether you are or not is something for you to determine, but I've had several friends leave in the middle of the semester, because it just wasn't working for them.</p>

<p>In practice, AP courses aren't really meant to be exact equivalents of introductory college courses. The amount of time spent to cover material isn't really relevant, as long as everything is covered thoroughly. That's why institutions grant credit for them. </p>

<p>Having a lecture/recitation class structure has its benefits, but it also has its drawbacks. One of the advantages of the high school class (if you have a good teacher) is that they can lead classes flexibly. In my chem class, for example, the students could sort of lead the discussion/ask questions/etc, and this benefited a lot of people. We learned everything in greater depth than we could've in a regular semester-long college course, and the vast majority of the students got 5s on the exam (and this is in a typical HS). So taking time has its benefits.</p>

<p>As some people said, the problem is that if you're unlucky and have a bad teacher/class, or if you happen to be a cut above everyone else, this can be a waste of your time. Regardless, the college structure would not be a good idea in high school, because its purpose is to serve the majority. If, by popular demand, a considerable portion of class time is being dedicated to going over homework, then the time is still well-spent for the majority.</p>

<p>I'm not worried at all. I think that after working my ass off for four years in high school, I'm much more motivated to do well in college. I think this should be applicable to everybody as well. Even at the elite schools, I just don't see myself not being able to handle the work load...at worse case I would be finding help from professors, going that extra mile to understand stuff I don't get, etc.</p>

<p>Also, presumably, the reason you want to go to an elite school is for the intellectual rigor you'll be exposed to. If you have what it takes to be accepted, as long as you are mature enough to balance academics against the social aspects of college life, you should have no problem. Remember, there are also less "academically qualified" people who are accepted because of their legacy status, atheletics, etc. If they can handle it, you should be confident that you can, too.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I know they would only admit me if they think i am qualified, but does anyone else worry that they wouldn't be able to handle the difficulty at these elites schools?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Having recently graduated from one of these elite schools myself, I wish people would think more about this...not so that they will be scared away, but so that they will be at least vaguely prepared. </p>

<p>Too many high schoolers get so focused on getting into college that they start to see it as an end, start to believe that if they can just get into that top college, they've jumped through the last big hoop and everything will fall into place. It is very difficult to resist the temptation to think that way.</p>

<p>There's a famous story at MIT about how, at some point in the past, an entering freshman class was asked whether they expected to be in the top quarter of their class at MIT or not, and 75% of them said that they did. That means that at least 50% of the total class had a very rude awakening. You take an elite school, where everyone there has heard for their entire life that they are brilliant, and then you realize...a quarter of those thoroughly brilliant people will be in the bottom quarter now, by definition. A tenth will be in the bottom 10%. It will be rough for them. People going for elite schools need to understand that this is a real possibility if they attend.</p>