You Think You're Smart, But You Just Can't Handle THE WORKLOAD At Hys, What To Do ?

Applying to College
26

<p>I deal with employees every day who are at 40 writing personal statements explaining the horrible grades they got at 18 in their freshman year of college. Yes professors can and will fail you or drop your grades for missing classes and being late. Miss to many classes, your professor can and will give you a WU (unofficial withdrawl) or a WF both are equivalent to an F and both never leave your transcript.</p>

<p>Marian,</p>

<p>I think that you gave some good practical advice for students when trying to figure out their schedules because your college transcript never goes away. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>This is the same advice on of my D’s AP teachers gave the class senior year. He told them if you are going in to a program where it is really important to maintain your GPA to go on to the next level (pre-med, Law or smoother competitive grad program), swallow your pride, chuck the AP credit and be happy for the opportunity to get a good grade coming out the gate. </p>

<p>What students should also keep in mind that all AP’s are not created equally especially when going to competitive schools. Most high school AP courses do not come close to the depth and breadth of a good college course. The formats are simply different; there are very few multiple choice exams, no regurgitation, and more emphasis on reading, writing papers.</p>

<p>I remember my D thinking about taking a higher level math course because she aced the AP calc BC course and the exam. </p>

<p>She took the course that she would have gotten an exemption for and most of the stuff they covered in AP calc BC was simply a review and was over within the first 2 weeks of class then they went forward with new stuff. Had she gone on to the course she was placed in she would have been over her head.</p>

<p>It is important to work your schedule with a sense of balance; don’t take a load of courses that are reading writing intensive with another bunch of courses where you have 4 to 6 hours in lab requirements, pre & post lab work in addition to the work you have to do in lecture.</p>