Rigor gone wrong?

[Anonymous]

In response to the other post about rigor, I’m interested in hearing how families dealt with a situation where their child ended up not liking an extremely rigorous environment at all!

For context, DC’s childhood friend is a whiz and did amazing in high school, landing later at UChicago. She is currently on academic probation and struggling to the point of losing passion for education. The rigor got to her and ate her alive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In response to the other post about rigor, I’m interested in hearing how families dealt with a situation where their child ended up not liking an extremely rigorous environment at all!

For context, DC’s childhood friend is a whiz and did amazing in high school, landing later at UChicago. She is currently on academic probation and struggling to the point of losing passion for education. The rigor got to her and ate her alive.

I wouldn’t want to have someone like OP as a friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In response to the other post about rigor, I’m interested in hearing how families dealt with a situation where their child ended up not liking an extremely rigorous environment at all!

For context, DC’s childhood friend is a whiz and did amazing in high school, landing later at UChicago. She is currently on academic probation and struggling to the point of losing passion for education. The rigor got to her and ate her alive.

We know a couple of students at UChicago and they were top20% at their private HS, not top 10%, great but not very top rigor, mix of 4 and 5 on AP, 1500ish, and have found Uchicago to be reasonably easy to get above a 3.5, more work if one wants a 3.8. Academic probation there is very rare. The student may have mental health or other issues, or had an extremely weak high school.

[Anonymous]

OP, you could stand to take a rigorous writing course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In response to the other post about rigor, I’m interested in hearing how families dealt with a situation where their child ended up not liking an extremely rigorous environment at all!

For context, DC’s childhood friend is a whiz and did amazing in high school, landing later at UChicago. She is currently on academic probation and struggling to the point of losing passion for education. The rigor got to her and ate her alive.

and this made your day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In response to the other post about rigor, I’m interested in hearing how families dealt with a situation where their child ended up not liking an extremely rigorous environment at all!

For context, DC’s childhood friend is a whiz and did amazing in high school, landing later at UChicago. She is currently on academic probation and struggling to the point of losing passion for education. The rigor got to her and ate her alive.

That's not about "rigor". That's about adjusting to college and navigating the curriculum and building a work-life balance as a coming-of-age adult.

[Anonymous]

OP, it is not unheard of for academically-gifted students to not do well in a rigorous environment. For some, high school was really easy and left little opportunity to deal with challenges; for others, it’s just a mental game.

[Anonymous]

I know lots of students who were high achievers in HS and flamed out in college, mostly for reasons unrelated to academics. They have trouble managing their own schedule, studying without "homework," not staying up too late or partying, etc. Or, they have mental health or eating disorders or developed drug issues. The only person I know who had actual academic problems did fine in his major but blew the foreign language requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you could stand to take a rigorous writing course.

It was readable. Do you only accept Ezra pound responses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you could stand to take a rigorous writing course.

It was readable. Do you only accept Ezra pound responses?

DP. Would love to see an Ezra Pound response; take a shot.

This could depend on the rigor of the major. It's not unusual for even stellar HS students to struggle with engineering or pre-med reqs, for example.

[Anonymous]

Various people fizzle out of the stem programs. They are hard and require critical thinking.

A sadder reality are mediocre humanities students. Often they aren’t told by their profs and advisors until they’re seniors and everyone around them is telling them they aren’t grad school quality. That can really be soul crushing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In response to the other post about rigor, I’m interested in hearing how families dealt with a situation where their child ended up not liking an extremely rigorous environment at all!

For context, DC’s childhood friend is a whiz and did amazing in high school, landing later at UChicago. She is currently on academic probation and struggling to the point of losing passion for education. The rigor got to her and ate her alive.

OP I can almost hear the glee in your voice as you gossip about this student. That’s pretty pathetic.

[Anonymous]

It happens all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know lots of students who were high achievers in HS and flamed out in college, mostly for reasons unrelated to academics. They have trouble managing their own schedule, studying without "homework," not staying up too late or partying, etc. Or, they have mental health or eating disorders or developed drug issues. The only person I know who had actual academic problems did fine in his major but blew the foreign language requirement.

It sounds more like a mental health issue. College is not an easy adjustment for some kids, not only academically but socially. The social aspect makes or breaks the experience. There are easy options at UChicago. There are two tests for the math placement. If you pass the first placement you are invited to take the second test. They want to make sure it's a good fit. The advanced classes are not for the feign of heart.

[Anonymous]

OP, no need to pretend that you're concerned about "DC's childhood friend." If you need advice because your child is struggling, you should ask for help. If you are simply marinating in the misery of others, then you should seek help to find out why the struggles of others gives you joy.