<p>TheAnalyst - “One of the things a student learns in college is how to dig deep and work hard when the going gets tough. In addition, they may learn that there are certain types of classes for which no amount of hard work will enable them to excel. Some subjects require an innate talent or gift beyond memorization and studying. Depending on the circumstances, the student learns that perfection is not an option (just passing is success) or learns to change classes or even majors.” - EXACTLY!! You said it much better than I did!</p>
<p>The “no amount of hard work will enable them to excel” and “Some subjects require an innate talent or gift beyond memorization and studying” are the things D found MOST shocking. She had always been able to just study her way to an A. She also found it shocking that an A is a 4.0 and an A- is a 3.7, and so on. Those minuses sure bring your gpa down fast!</p>
<p>“the student learns that perfection is not an option (just passing is success)”.
When D visited her premed advisor after the first semester, she said, “I bet that B really hurt”. D replied, “You have no idea”. I know those two B’s will haunt her for a long time. We have told her that she is going to have to look at success at this school in a totally different manner than she did in h.s. She had a B- in chem first semester, which she raised to a B second semester (A- in the labs both semesters) - we told her that showed great progress and she should be very proud of that. She also got an A- in biology second semester - we told her it was fabulous that she got an A in one of the “weed out sciences”. Not sure she sees it that way yet, but hope she will come around.</p>
<p>She said that even the wunderkinds who rely on the same tactics they used in h.s. (never studying) find it comes back to bite them around finals time. She finds those who have such talent and don’t use it very frustrating when she has to work so hard. We told her that her work ethic combined with her intelligence will serve her much better in the future. She even had a couple of brainiac friends who didn’t attend class much 2nd semester find they didn’t have time to watch all the lectures on steaming video as the semester came to a close, ask her for her notes. She told them politely, no! They didn’t end up faring as well as she did when grades were posted. You are right, a strong work ethic can get you far!</p>