Is your Ivy freshman happy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Very old info but my dh went to a super intense private HS and then coasted at Brown for four years. Didn’t get much out of college.

I have a junior at Brown. If your child "didn't get much out of college" there, they missed the point. Coasting on grades and getting something out of college aren't mutually exclusive. The whole point of college, and Brown does this particularly well, is the opportunities and engagement. You can find the coursework easy and still gain a ton. Depending on interest/concentration, this might mean hours in the Design Lab, on the stage, interning, volunteering, competing academically/professionally (things like F1 club, etc., but obviously that's for engineering types). Brown does an amazing job on this front. Students don't have to be demoralized to be challenged. This is where Brown's reputation derives from and IMHO it's a positive, not negative thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Princeton has had 8 suicides over the past 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is at an Ivy and over the weekend, as part of a larger gathering we saw the parents of 3 former classmates who are also at Ivies.
The common theme was that none of the kids are particularly happy so far--difficulty finding community, missing school spirit, wishing there was more to do on campus and frankly being bored. What is also common is that none of them feel like they can complain and they all say some version of "I figure it has to get better."
The schools are Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale.

That’s what happens when you go for prestige over experience. My DD did not feel that way at UCLA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Princeton has had 8 suicides over the past 4 years.

Because my DD went to an intense private high school, she didn’t want that for college. Chose UCLA. Wanted big and rah rah. My friend’s son hard hard time settling in @ Brown socially. Not academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having grown up in Princeton, doesn’t surprise me that kids complain there is nothing to do in the town. However the eating clubs probably have parties most weekends, same with the frats at Dartmouth and Cornell.

I live in Princeton now, and there are lots of things to do for me and DH and our high schooler. Unless you're only interested in going to bars and night clubs; we don’t have many of those.

It’s a sanitized burb, boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Very old info but my dh went to a super intense private HS and then coasted at Brown for four years. Didn’t get much out of college.

I have a junior at Brown. If your child "didn't get much out of college" there, they missed the point. Coasting on grades and getting something out of college aren't mutually exclusive. The whole point of college, and Brown does this particularly well, is the opportunities and engagement. You can find the coursework easy and still gain a ton. Depending on interest/concentration, this might mean hours in the Design Lab, on the stage, interning, volunteering, competing academically/professionally (things like F1 club, etc., but obviously that's for engineering types). Brown does an amazing job on this front. Students don't have to be demoralized to be challenged. This is where Brown's reputation derives from and IMHO it's a positive, not negative thing.

It was my spouse and before we met so I didn’t have much influence :;
Was just corroborating pp’s point that after an ultra intense HS experience it’s a jolt to find yourself at a more laid back school and it doesn’t suit everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Very old info but my dh went to a super intense private HS and then coasted at Brown for four years. Didn’t get much out of college.

I have a junior at Brown. If your child "didn't get much out of college" there, they missed the point. Coasting on grades and getting something out of college aren't mutually exclusive. The whole point of college, and Brown does this particularly well, is the opportunities and engagement. You can find the coursework easy and still gain a ton. Depending on interest/concentration, this might mean hours in the Design Lab, on the stage, interning, volunteering, competing academically/professionally (things like F1 club, etc., but obviously that's for engineering types). Brown does an amazing job on this front. Students don't have to be demoralized to be challenged. This is where Brown's reputation derives from and IMHO it's a positive, not negative thing.

It was my spouse and before we met so I didn’t have much influence :;
Was just corroborating pp’s point that after an ultra intense HS experience it’s a jolt to find yourself at a more laid back school and it doesn’t suit everyone.

Ah, apologies for the reading fail. I concede it may be a matter of fit for everyone; I just can't fathom needing pressure to get a lot out of college. But, different strokes for different folks and all. I hope he found more meaning post-college.

[Anonymous]

DC happy at Columbia. Challenged by courses, has made friends and is active in clubs. If anything, there's not enough time to do everything they want to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Princeton has had 8 suicides over the past 4 years.

Because my DD went to an intense private high school, she didn’t want that for college. Chose UCLA. Wanted big and rah rah. My friend’s son hard hard time settling in @ Brown socially. Not academically.

DS is a senior at Brown. 1st semester of 1st year was very difficult socially and he had trouble settling in. He even discussed transferring. It got dramatically better after Thanksgiving of 1st year and fast forward to senior year he absolutely loves Brown socially and academically and is already sad at the prospect of leaving next May. Brown has high rigor without obsessive fixation on grading curves and that’s a very, very good thing because real learning occurs when grades matter but are a byproduct of the process, not primary endpoint. Hang in there, things will get better. Tell him to embrace the open curriculum and take courses outside his comfort zone, join clubs and get involved with labs and on campus research and entrepreneurial ventures (there are many). Take advantage of on-campus recruiting NOW for summer internships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son went to a very intense, high-achieving private HS and tells me he feels like Brown, where he is a freshman, is not quite intense enough for his tastes (and he is taking 5 rather 4 classes, all STEM, many with sophomores and even juniors): very soft curves, grade inflation, etc. I know that confirms a cliché but this is his experience. His close friend from HS is at Princeton, which is quite different: strict curves, Cs common, etc. I suppose the Brown kids are happy, the P kids demoralized?

Princeton has had 8 suicides over the past 4 years.

This. There's something in the water there.

[Anonymous]

Are the ones who are going to parties in fraternities? How are your kids dealing with all the alcohol?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is at an Ivy and over the weekend, as part of a larger gathering we saw the parents of 3 former classmates who are also at Ivies.
The common theme was that none of the kids are particularly happy so far--difficulty finding community, missing school spirit, wishing there was more to do on campus and frankly being bored. What is also common is that none of them feel like they can complain and they all say some version of "I figure it has to get better."
The schools are Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth and Yale.

The 4 challenging Ivies. Suspect situation would be much different at the easy 4 Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Yale and Dartmouth are known for grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

freshman at yale. very very happy!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC happy at Columbia. Challenged by courses, has made friends and is active in clubs. If anything, there's not enough time to do everything they want to do.

Wait - U. of District of Columbia (UDC) ?