Reply to Which of the T20 schools have the least driven, intense, goal-oriented students?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread makes me think l hope my kid chooses to go to school in Canada, where I’m from originally.  Much easier to get into a great school, and pretty much everyone has a great time.  Not a pressure cooker.  (I hope it’s still like that!!)[/quote]

Working hard at a academic pursuits is a great time for some of these students.  Some of them like it.  They are are finally in an environment where being a nerd is an asset instead of a liability.[/quote]

This. I’m having a hard time with this thread. College is supposed to be for studying. OP seems to want the “top credentials” for their kid, with none of the effort.

OP I’m sure your kid can find an easy major and the stoner crowd, and enjoy some Gentleman’s Cs.[/quote]

There is a difference between being in a place where people study for joy and an intense desire to learn and a place where people study because they just want elite As, and they mostly don’t care about the subject matter. The former is heaven for nerds, which is how OP describes her DC. The latter is a Tracy Flick hellscape.

I don’t think OPs child wants “easy.” What my guess that OPs child wants is a classic collegiate learning experience where the primary goal is educational, not achievement. It used to be that those were synonymous in the T20, but they aren’t any more.

OP, I would look at a smaller SLAC. Those tend to be the top academic environments where the students are also motivated by a joy of learning. There are less of them gunning for med school, law school, b-school, venture funding, etc. immediately after graduation and there will be kids willing to take academic risk for the sake of learning in those schools.  [/quote]

You mean T20s were places where the privileged could expect that all the need to do is get admitted, and then slack?

So sad for students finding out they actually have to work hard.

And you’re always free to slack - nobody is going to stop you. I learned this in law school where many “Tracy Flick” types realized that with a strict curve they were always going to get Bs, so they turned their focus elsewhere.

OP’s child is showing really poor character. Can’t bring themselves to study hard. Can’t bring themselves to accept being a B student and focus on their own goals. Can’t accept the reality and instead chooses to blame others and call them names (“grinds” and “Tracey Flicks.”) [/quote]

Of course you are a lawyer. In any event, you have nicely demonstrated the problem. You are deeply insecure and feel seen by what OP describes (which is a real phenomenon; ask any tenured T20 professor about how many of their students now are driven by a desire for education rather than achievement). You are lashing out at OPs child for having poor character, when OPs child has in fact identified an issue that is widely discussed by academic leaders at T20 schools. Do you think your post makes [i]you[/i] look like the calm and rational one? OPs child comes across as far more insightful than you, an adult who is so scared of what OPs child observed that he feels compelled to call a teenager names.

You will never understand the joy of learning a subject purely for the joy of learning. That’s okay, but that means you can’t understand the environment that OPs child wants. [/quote]

Oh no, you are very wrong. [b]I went to a SLAC and I understand that the “joy of learning” simply means “doing less work.”[/b] which is FINE. I have deliberately chosen career paths that allow me to work less. My issue is that instead of owning this OP/kid are mean-spiritedly blaming everything on the other kids being “grinds.” Grow up. If they can’t hack it, transfer. [/quote]

I would love to talk to your former professors and tell them this was your takeaway from your college experience so I could see their faces. Would you please identify the SLAC you attended so our children can avoid it?

This is exactly the attitude that is so disappointing in “top” colleges these days. Education is purely a manufacturing process — so many ergs of effort + raw materials in, with grades come out the other end.  What did you learn? Did you learn how to *think* beyond the stuff you memorized for the test? It doesn’t matter, I worked hard and got an A. They can’t even grasp the difference. [/quote]

You are responding to the bitter lawyer who is essentially an unintentional object lesson for OP. I would not attempt reason. [/quote]

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