Prestigious High Schools

Most of the people here in programs like mine have been to prestigious high schools, either private ones or special high schools within the public system like I did. To get into the one I went to, we had to submit a resume and take a specialized high school exam at age 13. I think around 10 000 people take the exam, and only around 800 are accepted.

The major emphasis in the school was to prepare students for universities and programs like the one I am in and then to help the students get into the program, so I was surrounded by people who were ambitious for themselves and used to giving 150%. There were plenty of extra activities to participate in, and Advanced Placement courses that I think are similar to the Baccalaureate programs I’ve heard other people here talk about. The teachers too: they expected a lot from us, and alumni would come around quite a lot and talk to us about their university experiences, and what they’d done afterwards. There were lots of role models around, lots of opportunities to push ourselves, and everyone was expected to achieve at a high level. In my final year, I went to nine periods straight through, with no lunch. So in a way being here was a luxury. And yes, there, I was at the top.

I have friends who went to other Universities closer to where I came from. From what I hear, things are much less demanding there. One Wednesday evening I got a call from some of my friends from home who were quite drunk – at a party! Like on Wednesday night!! I couldn’t believe it.

I think it must be quite hard for students who have not been to my kind of high school to handle the work. We were prepared for it, all our classmates were very hard working and those other people would not have been. In fact, the university offers a preadmission program to help those students catch up to where we were when we came out of high school. I’m sure they’d need that, or they’d drown when they got to the regular first-year classes. For me though, the work wasn’t all that much different from what I was used to, except that it is intensified and I am more on my own, studying on my own rather than with the guidance of teachers. But my high school did help me to develop the skills and the work habits I needed to get along and do well and for that, I am grateful.