The student profiled became depressed because other students appeared more successful than she was. But one reason for the top 1% in scholastic aptitude to go to the most selective schools is to figure out where in that 1% they are. It may be depressing to realize that you are in the bottom half of the top 1%, but that is still valuable information. A student admitted from the wait list, as she was, should especially be prepared to not be at the top of her college class.
Over that summer, she studied the course catalog, and decided that declaring a major early would help her plan more efficiently. She chose math, envisioning a teaching career. “I’m a person who lives by a schedule,” she said. “I have a plan for maybe the next two years, next three years, maybe five years.”
Probably a large fraction of people who declare a major in math switch to another major and graduate. Maybe departments should publish statistics on the fraction of students who declare a major in their department but later change majors, so that students understand that the decision is a provisional one.
She thought she was in trouble in multivariable calculus, but many of her classmates struggled just as much (she got an A-). Students need to realize that college exams are harder and are graded on a curve.
I expect that our eldest son will take calculus well before 12th grade, and if so we will find a way for him to take multivariable calculus before college. Maybe some students who are nudged by their parents in high school are better prepared as freshman in college.
Grade inflation in college may not comfort students as much as professors and administrators expect, because some students react to getting a B as strongly as students 40 years ago did to getting a C.
