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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I also went from a non elite public school to Barnard. I do remember being shocked at how much less work it was because in high school you are literally in class all day, every single class gives you homework, and you are in a rat race to take as many AP tests as possible and be in leadership positions in clubs. In college, you’re only in class a few hours a week. You learn that the difficulty comes from having to produce original thought and read full books and original research rather than summaries of them. It’s very possible to coast at these schools if you want, but for a student who loves learning and rigor, they can absolutely challenge themselves, I promise. In addition, I took the maximum number of allowed credits most semesters, fully utilized the shopping period to find the best classes, and had a campus job. There were a lot of things I didn’t love about Barnard/Columbia (campus culture is snobby and elitist, the crazy activism that distracted from learning - both these things are more true at Columbia than Barnard), but I got a fantastic education. [/quote]

I have two students at other Top 25-Top 40 schools and they pure volume of work was so much more than what they had at their public high school that it was a huge adjustment first semester, even if they were "in class" for fewer hours.  It sounds like this is not OP's DDs experience at Barnard.  Maybe that's good--easy transition to college and it will presumably ramp up?  But I would be frustrated if I felt like my kid wasn't being challenged at all...[/quote]

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