My high school was also a pressure cooker and man, I was seriously overdone by the time I left for Swat. The hard sciences here are really intense (or so I hear from my friends), but those same friends are also on the rugby teams which are known for their singing and drinking. As a social studies/humanities special major, I can say that with a normal class schedule I’d have over 500 pages of reading a week, plus papers and projects here and there. But you know what that taught me? How to gauge what homework I need to do 100%, 75%, 50%, or 0%. I never got that skill in high school and I know it will help me after I graduate this year.
ALSO! Another benefit to Swat is that you, @lalalemma, have probably never been average in your life. Which I can assure you has almost definitely messed you up somehow (it’s not a bad thing, just the way it is!) Everyone at Swat has that same complex, so when we are traumatized by Swarthmore (I cried SO HARD when I got my first paper back freshman year… first C I ever got in my life!) we all support each other in a way that a lot of people can’t understand. After 4 years (I’m back for a 9th semester apprenticeship type thing) I’ve finally learned that it’s okay to be average – even though being average at Swat still means you’re pretty boss, it was nice to finally realize that I am a valuable human being EVEN IF (gasp) I’m not in the statistical top 2%. I’ve finally learned to cut myself some slack (I had a day off today and so far I’ve spent all of it in bed watching TV).
Also people here LOVE to complain, which is both annoying and cathartic. We play a game called “Misery Poker” and it goes something like this:
BOB: Ughhhhh kill me, I have two lab reports due tomorrow and I haven’t even started! And it’s already 4 pm!
JOE: Oh yeah? That sucks man. Still, wish I only had two lab reports due… I’ve got 250 pages of theory to get through, plus the first draft of my thesis AND to top it all off I have 3 hours of rehearsal tonight and my director’s already mad at me for taking time off because I had the swine flu!
SUE: Dude I feel you, I’ve got a huge test on Tuesday that I haven’t been able to study for because I’m too busy doing MCAT stuff, plus my special research project with Professor Frink is going horribly because even though I spend 6 hours in the lab every day my samples aren’t developing at the proper rate! Also my girlfriend just broke up with me. And my purse got stolen. And my dog is dead. Just like my soul.
…It’s the game where EVERYONE loses! [insert cheesy, dead-eyed smile here.] But then again Bob, Joe, and Sue probably love the ever-living crap out of at least ONE of the things that they’re studying, and this little game was played during the middle of a late-night discussion about the failing infrastructure that contributed to the neglect and gentrification of post-Katrina New Orleans… which sounds depressing as hell but was actually incredibly interesting and enjoyable and passionately fueled by all, even though it’s not usually one of their specific interests (seriously, I have learned SO MUCH here just from listening to my crazy smart friends).
TL;DR: Everyone here is stressed but at some point you will learn to let the small stuff go and it will make you a better human. Also, you’re only as good as your friends, who are some of the most amazing and passionate and bizarre people you’ll ever meet in your life.
Sorry this answer was so long, as I said I have a day off and I don’t know what to do with myself! xD