<p>I agree completely with kmccrindle #78.</p>
<p>First, I advise you to put your sister’s experience out of your mind. Everyone is different, and statistically, only 10 to 20% of the students at the best colleges wind up transferring, and not even all of them transfer because they find it too difficult. </p>
<p>I think the conversation you need to be having with yourself and your teachers and guidance counselors is: “How hard do I want to work in college? Do I have good study habits? Am I willing to make academics–particularly during freshman year–my top priority?”.</p>
<p>The way colleges and universities screen students these days, they are very reluctant to accept students who do not have a very high probability of success. And the better the school, the more accurate these admissions officers are: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Williams, Amherst–the most selective on US News & World Report lists–have the lowest rates of students who transfer out.</p>
<p>So bottom-line, I would say, if you are willing to work harder in school than you ever have, if you have a genuine love for the “life of the mind” and are able to hold yourself back from indulging too much in the temptations of freedom in your frosh year, go for the rigor.</p>
<p>As an adult who does executive coaching and leadership development, I think we have a severe shortage of college graduates who pushed themselves to their potential in school–and the ones who did are typically the ones who do the best in their careers.</p>
<p>Good luck to you!</p>
<p>I would also like to add that you are not your sister first of all, and most obvious. Secondly: What field of study do you plan on entering into? This is also a major factor in how well or poorly you will perform once you get into college. I think that the issue of your sister’s experience is not what you should focus on, it’s not the point. Certainly you should look carefully at what she went through, but from what you’ve told us, you and your sister have different grades and probably different work ethics. As a personal example, my younger brother is smarter than I am in math. I do well in writing and verbal types of assignments. When I finished high school (in 2008), I had a 3.66 GPA, and was on the National Honor Society at my school. My younger brother is about to be a senior at the same high school, and his grades up until recently, have been “fair” to “poor”. Now that he has realized that everything you do in high school matters, he is trying to do better, and is succeeding. So, even though I consider my little brother to be smarter than I am, he did not apply himself like he should have. Having said that, you really should figure out what you want to study, and look at each school’s requirements. You know yourself and your worth and abilities, and so do your parents. If you truly in your heart of hearts know that you will do well, then go for it. It’s all about who you are as a worker, and you doing your research. I wish you the best of success, and I hope this has helped you.</p>
<p>not as bad as high school, hopefully, lol.</p>
<p>With hard work, anything is possible!!</p>