Need Help Deciding? Current Freshman here to answer questions..

annikasorrensen
Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:48:53 +0000

@londondad

I would not entirely dispute that impression. I know a few athletes (whom I presume are there for the sports) who were completely anemic academically. I’ve also met a few “less-than-bright” students, though they were generally extremely enthusiastic about their studies. And a whole host of charming students (bright enough but not brilliant) who gave out effort in fits and spurts.

My two comments about these above observations

1) I sense that SCU is going to have less of these “uneven” students over the course of the next few years. Overall I believe that SCU’s goal is to become more academically selective, but to doso in a way that doesn’t completely ignore their overall mission. Having a campus of pure-academic geniuses would in some ways ruin some of the flavor of their campus–having students involved in community outreach and having already developed people skills, etc is very important for SCU.

2) I really only have 2 LACs worth of experience to compare and I do wonder if this “uneveness” occurs at many selective LACs.

I would agree that the top students are crushingly brilliant. I know a 17 year old that just graduated SCU with honors in Classics who just entered UC Berkeley for a PHD program. Etc.