Did your child find college to be more academically challenging than high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:American colleges are not known to be academically demanding until graduate level.

This is an utter and complete lie that I have heard perpetuated a few times. They are definitely more rigorous compared to european universities, where you usually do not have homeworks and midterms only just a final, which by the way you can retake to improve your grade in many cases. Also at most UK universities first-year grades dont count.

Now if you compare US to Asian universities, yes they probably are less demanding.

Hilarious post and very wrong. UK universities specialize from the start, none of this Math, science, language crap which is just an extension of high school. If you take A levels you have a very in depth knowledge of 3-5 subjects which then for instance, allow you to go straight into medical training. Yes, that's right. NO US university can do that because none of the high schools teach to that level. Now go away you idiot.

+1
PP has no clue. I happened to have bachelor of science degrees from an average European and a top American university (of the "where fun goes to die" reputation). US university was an order of magnitude easier. it really a no comparison. some of that extra difficulty was unnecessary but the fact remains that t was much more difficult.

[Anonymous]

Im a prof at a professional school and have taught at several top ten private universities. If you are not a STEM student you have to work rather hard to get below a B average. Colleges fall all over themselves to keep kids from flunking out, and grade inflation is rampant.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a problem with universities doing their utmost to keep kids from flunking out... facult focus, tutoring, etc.. That's the job. The pity is that since most kids use grades as a baraometer for how well they're learning, the inflation is misleading them out of taking advantage of those resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ just to add to comment from professors above. DD got a B in a 400 level physics class. Professor decided the average was too high and lowered all grades one grade so she ended up with a C. This was after thinking she was doing well the whole semester.

I'm very surprised by this. I teach at STEM in a big state research university. We usually make sure the average is around a D so that all the students will be pleasantly surprised when we scale this up for the final grade.

[Anonymous]

I went to a no-name public high school in the south. From there, I attended a local community college, and eventually completed a BA at a local flagship.

My experience was that the CC classes were less rigorous than high school -- with the exception of the math and science prerequisite courses. The liberal arts courses at the CC level were easy As. Once I transferred to the "real" school and got into my major (Computer Science) coursework, the difficulty level was easily 10-20x what it was in CC. The junior and senior level coursework was significantly more rigorous than the freshman and sophomore level stuff.

[Anonymous]

Dd found being at the top of her class in a well-regarded IB program to be more challenging than an undergrad degree in the social sciences. Outside of foreign language classes, which she has a knack for, all the classes were paper based and she could consistently churn out A papers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, Harvard was easier than high school. Much easier. From the top public school in the state where ~20-25% go to the Ivies/MIT/Stanford each year. Very competitive and stressful, which Harvard isn't.

Okay, not to be that person, but what public sends 25% of their students to Ivies or MIT or Stanford?

My guess is TJ. Especially if you include top 5-10 Engineering schools in your count. And TJ kids do tend to say that freshman and sophomore years at most colleges are very low key compared to their high school experience.

But TJ is a different case because it is competitive entry. And PP is still being obnoxious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College is easy if you want to graduate with C avg

College is f'king hard if you want to graduate with near perfect GPA - 3.9+

Eh, not always true. I went from a top private high school (where I graduated with honors) to a top 20 USNWR research university. I graduated with a 3.9 and wrote two senior theses without having to work that hard.

[Anonymous]

Lol, love the above poster’s comments on the surprise scaling of a D to a B. I think that is the norm we were used to. I think my DD was hoping her B would be a magic A not a C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College is easy if you want to graduate with C avg

College is f'king hard if you want to graduate with near perfect GPA - 3.9+

Eh, not always true. I went from a top private high school (where I graduated with honors) to a top 20 USNWR research university. I graduated with a 3.9 and wrote two senior theses without having to work that hard.

What was your major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:American colleges are not known to be academically demanding until graduate level.

This is an utter and complete lie that I have heard perpetuated a few times. They are definitely more rigorous compared to european universities, where you usually do not have homeworks and midterms only just a final, which by the way you can retake to improve your grade in many cases. Also at most UK universities first-year grades dont count.

Now if you compare US to Asian universities, yes they probably are less demanding.

Hilarious post and very wrong. UK universities specialize from the start, none of this Math, science, language crap which is just an extension of high school. If you take A levels you have a very in depth knowledge of 3-5 subjects which then for instance, allow you to go straight into medical training. Yes, that's right. NO US university can do that because none of the high schools teach to that level. Now go away you idiot.

+1. In the US everything is a business including "non-profit" universities. The people have no way to fight back and over time accept the status quo as the norm. Same thing with healthcare.. and law... and just about everything else.

High schools cater to the lowest common denominator..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College is easy if you want to graduate with C avg

College is f'king hard if you want to graduate with near perfect GPA - 3.9+

Eh, not always true. I went from a top private high school (where I graduated with honors) to a top 20 USNWR research university. I graduated with a 3.9 and wrote two senior theses without having to work that hard.

What was your major?

my major was social science-based, and i minored in a tough language (one of russian, chinese, or arabic). i also took a lot of economics classes. i know it’s not as tough as hard sciences or math, but it also wasn’t underwater basket-weaving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:American colleges are not known to be academically demanding until graduate level.

This is an utter and complete lie that I have heard perpetuated a few times. They are definitely more rigorous compared to european universities, where you usually do not have homeworks and midterms only just a final, which by the way you can retake to improve your grade in many cases. Also at most UK universities first-year grades dont count.

Now if you compare US to Asian universities, yes they probably are less demanding.

Hilarious post and very wrong. UK universities specialize from the start, none of this Math, science, language crap which is just an extension of high school. If you take A levels you have a very in depth knowledge of 3-5 subjects which then for instance, allow you to go straight into medical training. Yes, that's right. NO US university can do that because none of the high schools teach to that level. Now go away you idiot[/b].

You are not only painfully ill-informed but also really rude. I attended a top 10 US university, my brother attended a top UK uni. I was much busier and stressed out than he ever was. His first-year grades counted for a tiny fraction of his degree class. Most students in top US colleges who study difficult subjects spend the rest of their college career trying to recover from their freshman GPA. He didn't have homework or projects throughout the semester or midterms. He just had a final for which everyone started actually studying a few weeks before. In the US if you fall behind even a week you are screwed. You usually have assignments due every single week plus 1-2 midterms in a semester plus a final. Language requirements are like 2 classes for science majors, that is nothing.

The specialization in UK unis is very paternalistic and idiotic. It deprives you freedom of choice and the ability to think for yourself. Plus. not many 17-year-olds know for sure what they want to study. In the US you can change your major and take courses outside your curriculum but you also really need to take initiative and plan ahead meticulously in order to finish all your requirements. More freedom of choice means more responsibility.

Lastly you are painfully mistaken if you think that no US high-school teaches at that top level. There are many private boarding and prep-schools as well as many magnet and specialized schools that provide a top-notch education. Please educate yourself and lose the attitude. There is a reason why with the exception of Oxbridge no UK university comes close to the top 10-12 US universities.