Did you work hard to get the best grades while balancing a part-time job, membership in various clubs, social life, etc? Did you not work hard to get the best grades but got them anyway? Did you slack off and regret it later? Or was school not the environment for you, for various reasons? Would you do it differently if you could?
Well, I was an honors student in highschool, was in all the AP classes, etc…
But when I got to college I went nuts. I did every conceivable drug and drank every conceivable beverage, at every conceivable opporunity.
First semester, freshman year I signed up for 21 hours, and passed 9. Second semester I decided to scale back and buckle down. Took 18 hours, pass 6.
Yoink! goes the funding.
undergrad: I ambled through barely attending classes. I also graduated early due to testing out of freshman year. Mostly in relation to undergrad I talk about the wonders of Montreal shopping.
law school: slogged my way through hell in the middle of nowhere. Thank god that’s over.
The difference between undergrad and law school is that 1) I got a job, a go-to-work everyday job and realised how much it sucks and how hard it is to earn money 2) grew up and started taking things seriously.
I wish a “gap year” were more socially acceptable in the US because I think I would have taken undergrad more seriously had I been forced to do some hard labour or slogging or something (if I had suggested this my father would have chased me around with a hatchet…you do not mess with Indian parents when it comes to education). As it is, I had two academic scholarships for undergrad, my parents used to give me as much money as I wanted, and I sort of breezed my way through doing the minimum necessary to keep both situations constant.
I also wish that I hadn’t tested out because my university refused to let me do a 1-year study abroad because of it.
My first year of college was full-time classes while working part-time. I had an active social life, and a steady boyfriend. I studied harder than I did in high school just because I took college more seriously (hell, I was paying for it!)
After I realized I couldn’t afford to continue that way, I started working full-time with classes at night, in the summer, and online. After I broke up with my boyfriend, I had a **very ** active social life, but it didn’t really cut into school. I maintained my GPA throughout. I really enjoy college, and I miss it when I’m not taking classes. If I had more money right now, I’d be too busy studying to read the board!
So, there is *some * upside… 
In high school I tried to achieve a balance between wanting good grades and being completely bored and unmotivated before I decided to just treat my classes as entertainment and sit back and have as much fun as possible. Some of my teachers were fascinating people, with a real understanding of their subject and a respect for their students (commanding plenty of respect in return). I did well in those classes. Some were rather less awesome. I didn’t do so well in those classes. All up I ended up with pretty middle-of-the-road grades but I enjoyed school a lot more than most people I knew and a lot less stressed and hateful of the system. Now that I’m starting uni I plan to put in a lot more work because it is what I put up with high school for, after all.
I flunked out of high school my senior year and had to go to summer school, the result being that I didn’t go through graduation exercises and graduated at the bottom of my class. Not bottom quarter, bottom, as in “last place.” Then I went to college and did okay. Then I went to law school and graduated salutatorian, summa cum laude. So, y’know, it’s run the gamut.
National Merit Honorable Mention, 1500 on my SATs (old-style), graduated high school with a B- average…barely. Spent 7 years in college, changing majors like some people change underwear. On academic probation most of it. Dropped out my junior year to work my own businesses. After 5 years of self-emloyment, sold everything, went back to school. Dean’s List rest of junior year, all of senior year, all of grad school. I just needed to know what I wanted.
I did jack shit in high school. I mean I seriously did almost nothing. My home life was a wreck so I got a job and started working 30 - 40 hours on nights and weekends at the local supermarket. Sometimes, I worked until 2 am and could barely force myself to get to school. Once at school, I promptly fell asleep and only woke up to change classes or take tests. Teachers used to hit me over the head with books, make loud sounds, or throw things at me. I sleep very soundly so that wasn’t very effective. I had money from working so I just paid other people to do my homework for me and I collected it every morning. It only cost a few dollars.
My high school was the lowest of the low in standards. It was a poor rural school, half black and half white. I was better academically than all the other students though and I did quite well on tests. Teachers just gave me grades based on test performance on none of the other busy work. I got a B+ average although on three occasions, teachers got mad at me right before grades came out and failed me by using what was missing in the grade book.
My high school burned down my senior year and we didn’t have books or a place to go so we played games outside most of the time. They had to give us all grades based on very little after that.
Oddly enough, I was the only one in my class that went to college. I did well on standardized test and I happened upon a full-ride scholarship to Tulane University that had my name all over it.
College was a complete turn-around. My problem is doing well when things are easy. I hit my stride when they are difficult and I found college pretty challenging. I decided quickly that I wanted to go to grad school and threw myself into my studies. I did pretty well at first. By junior year, I was making almost a 4.0 and working three jobs. I never want to work that hard again but I held it together.
I graduated from Tulane with honors and was accepted into a PhD program in behavioral neuroscience at Dartmouth. I did well academically there as well but I had a serious personality clash with my advisor and left in a fit of rage one day.
That was me all over. Wanted to do it all.
It worked fine until I got married, then the grades took a hit and I backed off of all but the school and relationship.
I was a pre-med grind for my first 3 years of college, teaming up with the other top 5% of the academic elite (other obsessed pre-meds) in my class to collectively terrorize the remainder of the pre-meds by making sure we were on the top of the class curve. Partying was generally reserved for after big exams and end of semester blow-outs. Coursework, study, research projects down at the Medical School, and occasionally making bongs out of lab glassware.
Senior year (after I got my first med school acceptance) was devoted to “partying”. And when I discovered I had enough credits to graduate after 7 semesters, I stopped taking courses and did almost nothing useful for my final 6 months of college. I, of course, rationalized that I’d earned it.
Rather silly, really. But that’s who I was and what I was capable of back then.
In high school, I did pretty well. I did all my assignments and so on. I spent my junior year abroad, which was great, and got me into Berkeley. I didn’t get a 4.0 or anything, but I was near the top of my class. This was not difficult however; out of my class of 300, I can name less than 10 people who went on to a 4-year university. I think that fact also helped me get into Cal. I worked at a small business at the airport; the owner was the worst businessman I have ever known. I didn’t do a whole lot of clubs or anything.
Undergrad: I was a serious student, but I was entirely outclassed by most of the people around me. I have never been one of those that had to be at the top, so that was OK with me, and I was always happy to get B’s and refused to freak out about my grades. I didn’t have the high school preparation I should have had, and I didn’t know how to get it on my own, which was a problem. But on the whole, I did OK. I loved pretty much every minute of college; as far as I was concerned it was absolutely wonderful, except for a few roommate/friendship incidents. I miss Berkeley, in a way I still think of it as home, even though I love it here.
I worked all the way through college, in several different jobs. Had lots of oddball friends, who were fun. Otherwise I only did my church group, which was full of interesting and intelligent people; I’m still friends with several of them.
Grad school: I went to library school and it was great. I had a lot of fun. I was married by that time, which was very helpful, since I couldn’t have afforded to go on my own. DangerDad had a good job by then and I only worked in part-time jobs for experience–I think I earned my tuition but that was all. I enjoyed all the classes and everything about library school, I met a lot of good people (mostly in the workplace, though).
In highschool (now) I’m a pretty textbook over achiever. Out of 15 offered Ap classes, I haven’t taken Ap Spanish 5, Ap Music Theory, and one other one I can’t think of at the moment. Highschool is just way too easy for me, because the teachers are mostly unqualified or lazy, so the Ap programs are all easy As. This is also why I am either first or second in our class, since most kids are afraid of them.
Not only this, but I am either the president or vice president of the PTA, GSA, SGA, the kite club, and whatever else. I’m also a member of the Art Club and NHS. However, it’s all meaningless since none of it matters, since I’m not really changing the school as much as I’d like to. It all is merely a lesson in the art of attending meetings, which one day I’m going to have to do in the corporate world.
Anyway, in college, I predict I’ll go one of several paths. I’ve applied to NC State, Gatech, Colombia, and MIT, so depending on where I go will determine what will happen. I’ll either love academia so much I never want to leave, hate it so badly I can’t wait to leave, find a major built just for me and be happy forever, or half-major in everything, completely a BA in 16 years. Can’t tell at this point, but the last one seems most likely at this point.
For what it’s worth, I hate the academic tradition, but have not been too negatively affected by it so far.
I slacked off in college a lot more than I should have. I finished with a B average, but if I could do it over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
I never had to work hard. I got Bs in math, the only subject that ever confused me a little. I applied to one university and was accepted there. After knocking around a little trying to find the right major, I settled for three, and graduated in two. Professors sought me out to work in their labs, and the first time one offered to pay me for that lab work, I took it and have now ended up with a Ph.D. less than eight years after I graduated from high school. I have never spent a whole day studying. I have never lost any sleep to do school work. Frankly, graduate school was a lot less work than undergraduate.
We’ll see how I do with this “real world” stuff.
High school: Graduated with a (almost exactly) 3.00 GPA. Recipient of close to a dozen Academic Decathalon medals.
SAT I- 1350 (750 V, 600 M)
SAT II- 800 in selected subject (history), not as well in the others.
College (now)- Currently have (two and a half years into it) a 3.95 GPA, 4.0 in my major (History), and am a member of two separate honor societies.
High school: Was in AP or ‘honors’ courses, had a bad attitude and cruised by with a C+ average, maybe a B-. Borderline passed some classes. Was Catholic school hell. Part time job, ice hockey…both were more important to me, so I hardly balanced anything.
College: First two years, same approach as High School. Had some AP stuff, but approach was same as high school. Part time job, ice hockey…both were more important to me, so I hardly balanced anything.
College: Final two years I just finished recently, at 38 yrs old, on my companies tab. I am senior management who put off school over and over because of 14 straight years of corporate pressures that were more pressing.
So… Told my boss I had to finish school, then discovered the incredible pressures of working as a senior mgr and going to college (Heck, I am married with a 5 y/o and 3 y/o, too). B-R-U-T-A-L. I travelled alot for work. My worst worst worst time was sitting in a hotel/resort in Vegas, at 2am on a Tuesday night (?), with a severe toothache…finishing my last and final 60-page paper that was due before I returned home. I also had a presentation to do in front of 15 various lawyers, CFOs and VPs the next day, and here I was up at 2am doing schoolwork with a severe toothache.
I landed on a Thursday night in Philly, went to work on Friday, then to class Friday night and did another presentation, this time on my paper, to the faculty…and this wrapped up my whole college experience.
I graduated in December - Magna Cum Laudae. I actually applied myself.
I no longer have any idea of what my high school GPA was, but I’m reasonably certain it was a three-point-something. I took honors English and French classes, earned AP English credit my senior year, etc. I was a good student but not a great one, and my SAT score was average at best (1020; great verbal, abysmal math).
As an undergrad I got mostly Bs and Cs, though I managed to make the Dean’s List one semester. I was capable of better grades, but it would have meant sacrificing my outside interests and my social life (such as it was) and I never believed that the college experience was all about academics. I lived on campus and worked part-time, and was active in the college’s theatre and radio station, and I liked that balance. I can still remember explaining it to my mom. 
I didn’t pay attention to my GPA until I applied to grad school many years later, at which time I was a little disappointed to learn that I’d only managed a 2.9 … this close to a nice, respectable 3.0!
As a grad student I’m kicking ass. I got a B in the first class I took, but since then I’ve gotten three consecutive As. I’m working full-time, I’ve been running one or more Toastmaters clubs for the past 2 years, and I still have some semblance of a social life – and 2 of my As were earned during the same semester. The difference? Well, age and maturity surely play a part. Also I think I’m more organized now than I was as an undergrad, and I’m definitely more self-confident which means that I ask more questions (and get more class participation credit). And, of course, there is much greater financial motivation: I’m putting myself through with loans from my company each semester, and they only forgive the loan if I earn at least a B. I think the biggest difference, though, is that I’m really enjoying school: it’s something I want to do, not something I feel that I have to do.
High School I: Attended three different high schools in three different states, depressed, indifferent grades though I read constantly and tested very well (National Merit Semifinalist, everything else comperable), graduated from a corrospondence school. Did nothing except hang out with friends.
College: became steadily more and more involved, became the sort of person that goes to lectures and things. Discovered that all that intellectual stuff I enjoyed in private could be enjoyed in a social setting as well. I really had no idea.
High School II: (teacher) Super fucking involved. Teach AP Engliish, Academic Decathlon coach, Senior Class Sponsor, Philosophy Club sponsor, go to all the games and meets, Lifetime Member of the PTA after four years (just got that tonight). I love it. I love my kids. This is what I was born to do.
I was homeschooled all the way through high school. I loved it until my sophmore year, when I was either bored with everything or found it really hard. Math was horrible; my mom didn’t understand it and my dad tought everything differently than my textbook. I don’t know that public school would have been any better; I took a computer class with public school kids and I hated them. They were so disrespectful and didn’t care at all about learning. In addition, our teacher didn’t know what he was talking about. I dropped the course halfway through. I volunteered at our church a lot.
I jumped into community college at seventeen, and it was great! I was really being challenged, my teachers knew their stuff, and I liked my classmates. I also started the federal work/study program; I got my dream job in the library and I got payed! Most of my community college classes were things I missed from high school: Chemistry, advanced Algebra, Economics, Geology, Spanish, English. I excelled in everything except Math; I think I had a 3.85 GPA when I left.
I transfered to a private four-year college with enough credits that I was halfway through the Sophmore year. I majored in History and minored in Music, and I planned to go on and get a Master’s in Library Science. I worked part-time in the campus library (although I did not get payed) and studied full time. The first semester was okay, I still got good grades although my GPA went down to 3.78.
When I started my Junior year everything collapsed. I discovered I was no good at higher level History, and my anxiety about that affected everything else. I hated working in the library; I got constant headaches from the computers. In addition, I couldn’t socialize. I was terrified of the cafeteria so I stopped eating. My professors tried to work with me; I got extensions in a couple of classes but I couldn’t finish the work. I dropped out at the end of the year which lost me my scholarship.
It’s been a year since I left college. There’s a lot of things I wish I could change; I would start out at a four-year college in order to balance my general education requirements with my major more, I would get a lot more counseling before deciding on a major, and I would get whatever kind of help I needed at the first sign of trouble rather than when I had completely fallen apart.
I’m at a point now where I’m not terrified of going back to school, but the career I planned on won’t work for me and I won’t spend the time or money until I’ve figured out what to do.
I went to a large public high school and did just enough in most classes to get an A; I ended up with a GPA of 3.8 or so. I took most of the honors classes available and AP Calculus. I had a combined SAT score of 1420. I was a very good student, but not quite as good a student as I could have been. Not much of a social life either. Only real activity I participated in was Math Team.
I applied to about 9 top-notch colleges, and managed to get accepted by 3 of them. I chose Caltech because they actually gave me some grants in addition to loans. I never thought about whether it was the right school for me academically or socially.
Of course, Caltech ended up being a grind. I studied like I never had before, and managed to graduate (about a 3.0 GPA?). Not sure if my lack of discipline in high school hindered me, but it probably didn’t help. Still no social life (although I shouldn’t have been surprised about that at Caltech).
After that, I was ready to work hard in the real world, and get paid for doing it. And, I gained a semblance of a social life as I met new friends through work.
All in all, I think my academic experience turned out OK. It was probably good that I ended up at a challenging college, so I couldn’t cruise through college like I (sort of) did in high school.