If you kid is studying at Williams/Amherst/Pomona/Swarthmore/Wellesley/Bowdoin now,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like to shove a stick up the a$$ of every poster who says they worked harder at their “big 3” than they did at an elite college. Do they really think that public school kids at elite colleges just waltzed in after not doing shit in high school? Those kids worked equally hard if not harder, taking a dozen AP classes or more in order to stand out among the hundreds of kids in their class. They didn’t have the benefit of a (ridiculously named) “Big 3” to back up their applications so they hard to work harder.

Just STFU already. You’re not special. You’re privileged. There’s a difference.

But if they don’t maintain their Big 3 branding, then it will all be for nothing. The more they publicly talk about how intense it is…share notes, groan… the more the brand cements itself in the public sphere…and the AO’s will (hopefully) sweep their kids in…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

[Anonymous]

Swarthmore grad - lots of work! Went to a well regarded private HS in midwest. I had trouble adjusting to workload. But that was also mainly adjusting to college, dorm life, where even at swat, there were more fun things to do in evenings rather than study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

But what did you major in? it makes a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

But what did you major in? it makes a big difference.

Econ. I never took a humanities class that required hundreds or thousands of pages of assigned reading. Maybe I knew how to avoid those classes pre-Internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

I posted the message with the sketch of my daily schedule. Also went to Ivy. It was probably 4 hours studying/reading each day plus Sundays. Maybe 3 hours of classes each day. And had a part time job for spending money. Never felt stressed and had plenty of leisure time.

Could have done less if was fine with basic B grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

I posted the message with the sketch of my daily schedule. Also went to Ivy. It was probably 4 hours studying/reading each day plus Sundays. Maybe 3 hours of classes each day. And had a part time job for spending money. Never felt stressed and had plenty of leisure time.

Could have done less if was fine with basic B grades.

I graduated Magna Cum Laude. I was not doing "less", but rather doing what was necessary. Some of my Econ classes were traditional problem sets/quantitative assignments + exams...no papers or anything. Others more project-based.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

But what did you major in? it makes a big difference.

Econ. I never took a humanities class that required hundreds or thousands of pages of assigned reading. Maybe I knew how to avoid those classes pre-Internet.

I'm not this PP but did the same. (not at Ivy) Econ major and avoided any class with tons of reading. I'd love to sit in on those sorts of courses as an adult (still without needing to do the reading). I preferred to take on more analytical courses that used math.

But everyone is different. I had friends who needed to study far more than I did for Econ (and similar) courses...but they loved political science and history courses that piled on reading and had papers. Part of college is learning your strengths and weaknesses and how to balance those in choosing a passion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

But what did you major in? it makes a big difference.

Econ. I never took a humanities class that required hundreds or thousands of pages of assigned reading. Maybe I knew how to avoid those classes pre-Internet.

We didn't need the internet to know english, history, political science etc. were heavy on reading and papers or that science with extra lab were tons of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

But what did you major in? it makes a big difference.

Econ. I never took a humanities class that required hundreds or thousands of pages of assigned reading. Maybe I knew how to avoid those classes pre-Internet.

I'm not this PP but did the same. (not at Ivy) Econ major and avoided any class with tons of reading. I'd love to sit in on those sorts of courses as an adult (still without needing to do the reading). I preferred to take on more analytical courses that used math.

But everyone is different. I had friends who needed to study far more than I did for Econ (and similar) courses...but they loved political science and history courses that piled on reading and had papers. Part of college is learning your strengths and weaknesses and how to balance those in choosing a passion.

I took several poli sci classes that I thought were interesting because the professors were a former ambassador and high-ranking former government official. One of the professors was like 2nd under Secretary of State (?? what that is called). It is possible because these were not tenured people, the class was not heavy on the thousands of pages of reading. They were awesome...early 1990s and we were discussing how Russia and Eastern Europe were democratizing and the guy was literally in the room for all this stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a big three private high school and then one of those colleges. The big three was way harder in terms of workload and time management.

I worked hard in college. I probably studied, I don't know, maybe eight hours a day, more during exams. But time management was not an issue because I only had four classes and I was neither work study nor an athlete. So I had PLENTY of time to get work done. And I got WAY more sleep than in high school.

I feel like there is something miss here from what you are saying. Did your daughter go to a high school where she only had a couple hours of homework a night? Or did her high school not prepare her well for college level week? Or is she an athlete or have a work study job? She should have plenty of time to get her work done and still sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.

Similar experience. It's about time management. Way more free time in college than in high school. OP's daughter needs to figure this out. If she's only getting 6-7 hours a sleep it's because she's staying up late catching up when she has plenty of time during the day between classes, after the last class and before dinner, or library after dinner. Sunday afternoons and evenings were always standard studying days at college. It's good preparation for life as a consultant or analyst after graduation.

From what I remember, I typically rose at 9, just had coffee for breakfast, headed to library and prepped for first class, then classes/lunch/library studies through late afternoon. Maybe some chilling till dinner with friends. After dinner back to library, then gym and the occasional campus club event. Bed by 1.

Repeat through Thursday. Friday afternoon after last class typically didn't study but hung out and socialized. Same with Saturdays. Sunday was definitely a study day but leisurely.

I tended to study solo in a quiet corner of the library but plenty studied in groups and made it a social thing too. Not always advisable and that may be the other problem if OP's daughter's "studying" is really talking with friends in the library.

I went to an Ivy and maybe averaged 2 hours of homework per night.

These schools sound fairly miserable.

That said, I do wonder with the online ratings of courses/teachers/workloads if it is easier to carve out a better lifestyle these days.

But what did you major in? it makes a big difference.

Econ. I never took a humanities class that required hundreds or thousands of pages of assigned reading. Maybe I knew how to avoid those classes pre-Internet.

We didn't need the internet to know english, history, political science etc. were heavy on reading and papers or that science with extra lab were tons of time.

You missed the point...I am trying to remember how I managed to pick a political science class that was NOT heavy on the reading (though a bunch of papers. although mostly fairly short). It is quite possible if I had selected the course above or below in the catalogue, could have been night-and-day in terms of the workload.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I like to shove a stick up the a$$ of every poster who says they worked harder at their “big 3” than they did at an elite college. Do they really think that public school kids at elite colleges just waltzed in after not doing shit in high school? Those kids worked equally hard if not harder, taking a dozen AP classes or more in order to stand out among the hundreds of kids in their class. They didn’t have the benefit of a (ridiculously named) “Big 3” to back up their applications so they hard to work harder.

Just STFU already. You’re not special. You’re privileged. There’s a difference. [/quote]

But if they don’t maintain their Big 3 branding, then it will all be for nothing. The more they publicly talk about how intense it is…share notes, groan… the more the brand cements itself in the public sphere…and the AO’s will (hopefully) sweep their kids in…

[/quote]

But being at big 3 doesn’t mean you’re an intellectual powerhouse. More often than not it means your parents donated a ton of money and ran the auction in preschool or your K-8 before you got in. Money talks at the Big 3 and it doesn’t work as well for college unless your parents are going to give 7 figures.

[Anonymous]

My DS graduated from Swarthmore. First semester classes were all pass/fail to get the student used to the workload.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s what it’s like at all of the top liberal arts colleges (including a number of schools you didn’t list- in other words, even when you get past the top 5 or so the schools it’s still an intense experience).

This is not an accurate statement. True for some LACs, not true for others.