I also had a high school swimmer who had to be at school daily by 7am for Orchestra as well, so I want to comment on “she has never had to stay up past 10:30pm”. I think you didn’t mean much by that phrase…or may have only meant that she is efficient in her test prep and memorizes well and doesn’t have to try to pull all nighters to do her work. But it got me thinking back, so I will reflect. I never worked this hard in high school myself and had tons of time to knock around with friends in my teens. so here are my thoughts from our experience
Sleep management is a killer skill that has to be renegotiated in the college years. Even within this subset of 18 years olds who already have proven high executive functioning…they each have new and undiscovered parts of themselves that they will explore in college. Our Duke son (swimmer, musician) whose high school life was very demanding suddenly became much more social than he had been in high school and this became time consuming. He just loved all the people he met and the new horizons socially. Rather than being intimidated by the savant student here and there he met, he just admired the heck out of everybody (this is a very functional attitude).
He found it very hard to fall asleep anytime before 1-2 am and then didn’t make it to breakfast very often (mistake). He also came down with mono which is not uncommon as many people are carriers with no symptoms. He ended up having to drop Calculus…too late to save us the $-- and an underload resulted. That required him to make an apt with the academic dean to make a new plan and get it approved.
This scenario is not rare and is a great opportunity regarding learning how to manage your limits and to fix errors of judgement. He was not treating Duke like a 8-5 serious job yet. He took Calc again the next fall and did so much better! By that time he had also adjusted to the new intensity of his social life and he had figured out how to get offline, off his phone and off of socializing past midnight during the week. He went Greek (to my dismay–but not my life) but…this affiliation worked out very well for him back then and still does now as an alum.
In our generation we had turntables and radios and limited access to hall phones. We wrote letters and postcards home. Parental input was zilch. Our kids remain connected not only to the new people they are meeting and learning from --but to everyone they knew before including family. It’s a lot to manage! I would suggest that your daughter do exactly as her advisor suggests for her first semester–no heroics first semester, just good steady heads down work appropriate from someone with proven rote learning talent like hers. A GPA is a product of strategic planning. A college career takes off more or less in your upper classes but has its special foundation in required courses. I believe she will get a private meeting with her advisor over the phone or online before her schedule is certain. She will be given an upper class man or woman to consult with as well…encourage her to use them all. Both my Vandy and my Duke son really did get advice this way. Their nice, trained sophomore mentors would go ask other upperclassmen to get information for them if they didn’t have an opinion on questions of course selection. Have confidence that your daughter will figure all this out once she is on the ground.
your kid may not have any of our issue with what we can call “freshman follies” or any bad luck with her health. Drop Add --which you mentioned --is certainly a legit way to help decide when you are on the fence re number of challenges you can handle per semester. Our Vandy son even went to summer school to get one class done one year when he stumbled. Again, an appointment with an academic dean and a new plan. My guys used Drop Add more than once to stall a bit on how much they could handle to shake that out. My point is that although she may not have a social renaissance similar to our son’s first semester, assume she will not be asleep by 11 nightly and up at 7 ready to concentrate. Our Vandy son relished the courses in humanities after graduating from a hard science high school. Both sons went abroad junior year which is a great reset time before really digging in to getting your speed up when you get back. life gets very pre professional quickly enough. I agree with bernie’s comment re the reality that CV Scholars (who are outstanding in every way in high school) are not standard bearers or pace setters at Vandy. Instead, you will see that everyone in the class has pocket areas of extreme talent. They almost all struggle here and there, academically and socially. All to be expected. Honestly as the mother of sons who do not text daily, ignorance was bliss. Glad our sons would call to discuss the ups and downs but there are so many great people who will help make sure she reaches her potential on campus. Congrats and happy for her…she will be very fulfilled at Vandy.