<p>Which student does better in college? :</p>
<p>1) The hardworking student in highschool who does well</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>2) The type that slacks off and relies on natural intelligence who does equally well</p>
<p>It’s really kind of a mixed thing. Just because a student works hard in high school doesn’t mean he’s not intelligent. A lot of top students in high school put forth a lot of effort to get their grades while other kids who do almost as well do not try near as hard because they rely on natural intelligence as you said. When these really hard working students hit college, and the pressure is on and they can’t study as much, they start to crack. I know some kids that do as well as I do, but I know that i’m much more intelligent than them just because they put a lot more work into it than I do.</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>Jerod</p>
<p>The intelligent slacker will often encounter a rude shock if he/she goes to a competitive school. You can die like a dog when you get thrown into an environment where everyone else is as smart as you or smarter.</p>
<p>Best combo is someone smart who already has good work habits.</p>
<p>but isn’t slacking off not ‘intelligent’?</p>
<p>Well, I am not in college, but common sense would tell me the person w/more natural intelligence would do better. The fact is, the material is extremely difficult and a “plugger” aka hard worker who is not remarkably intelligent would probably not have enough time to grasp it.</p>
<p>Proton, no, slacking off is often a lack of self-discipline, which by no means indicates “less intelligent.” There’s a significant set of slackers who are very intelligent but are used to being able to cruise to success without working very much. One of the smartest seniors at my D’s high school this year is a slacker, even though she’s taking 6 AP classes. Her grades put her at the top 5 percent…for her–I know her very well–that’s underperforming. She’s also doing a neuroscience internship/job at UCLA and has a profile sprinkled with all sorts of nice baubles. But she still underperforms, spending waaay too much time watching TV or, the big one, hanging out on the Internet for hours at a time.</p>
<p>Just like me! I never study and have like a B+ average with a rigerous course load. Not too shabby. I could get all As if I wanted to, but I just don’t care.</p>
<p>I know of some lazy geniuses who I can’t imagine NOT doing well in college. They just get it. They listen to the lecture and they understand it, and they know all the important points. They might not turn in the work, but they’ll ace the midterm.</p>
<p>Yeah, I am not a genius but I definitely haven’t done jack **** during high school. My homework avg. is usually a 10-15%, but what are my teachers going to do, I make them look good by doing well on exams. OK that sounded bad…</p>
<p>AIM78, the thing is, the caliber of pitching jumps waaay up at a good college. Just listening to the lecture or participating in the seminar won’t do it. 90 percent of the peope who <em>think</em> they can do the same thing they did in high school wind up having some desperate moments. In terms of work habits, they’re kind of like 50-year-old guys who never worked out in their lives and now need to lose 75 pounds for their heart and blood pressure…isn’t that an appealing image for you?</p>
<p>A lot of us slackers work better under that sudden intense pressure you called desperate moments. I call it an adrenaline rush.</p>
<p>Word…I ALWAYS work better under pressure…i.e. now, writing my research paper thats due in an hour.</p>
<p>No, the desperate moments I refer to are when you figure out that what’s worked for you in the past isn’t working any more.</p>
<p>Based on the way CC skews things, I can pretty much assume that most people here are applying to elite colleges: HYPSM + Top 40 Universities + Top 25 LAC’s. As the admissions officer at Harvard said, for the first time in your lives, 90 percent of you will not be in the top 10 percent of your class. Now, being young and suffused with a sense of immortality and invulnerability that leaks into everything, you might think that it’s everyone else who is going to be in that 90 percent.</p>
<p>A paper that you can knock off in an hour isn’t going to get by in college. This might explain the number of C’s and D’s handed back with the first assignment in some of the intro classes.</p>
<p>Then there’s the reading factor: there’s no way you can cram it into the last week or two days. And much of it won’t be more than briefly referenced in class but you will be expected to draw upon it extensively for answers on your tests. In fact, for many courses the reading is so heavy that most students have to do some sort of triage. </p>
<p>Finally, your margin for error is greatly reduced. There usually aren’t any bs grades for homework or class participation or extra credit to compensate for a blown test. And there tend to be fewer tests and papers: some classes are one mid-term, one paper, and one final…messing up on any one kills your grade.</p>
<p>I go with natural intelligence. I never worked all that hard in high school, and still pulled decent marks. Now I’m in an uber-competitive program at a 12th-13th grade school, and I’ve adjusted easily.</p>
<p>People make adjusting to a heavier workload seem more difficult than it really is.</p>
<p>Personally, I see what you mean. Both of my parents were just like me, and both of them got through college just fine. I’m not saying I won’t work hard…but why work harder than you have to?</p>
<p>NJ18: why work harder than you have to?
The answer to that one you will have to discover. It’s out there.</p>
<p>Jpps: yes and look how many great high school athletes, for whom things are effortless, never make the pros. If find yourself at Yale or Amherst or Harvey Mudd or Georgetown or…you may just find yourself facing a much better grade of academic pitching than you anticipate.</p>
<p>you can’t really compare athletes to scholars… cause in the pros like say the NBA there are only a limited number of slots open (like 15 per team) but for scholars theres enough room for everybody to get good grades</p>
<p>I’m not comparing athletes to scholars. I’m comparing the difference in levels of competition and workload, using athletics as a metaphor.</p>
<p>oh ok.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>It’s easier for a smart slacker to learn better study habits than for a plugger to invent a time machine.</p>