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U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

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Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#231

Post by alephnerd »

giantg2 wrote: post #230
alephnerd wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because in America, Ivy versus non-Ivy isn't the distinction. What matters is your major and whether it is a well respected program. A CS@Texas student will have the ability to open the exact same doors professionally and prestige wise as a CS@Brown student. You have Ivies, Ivy Tier Privates (Stanford, Chicago, Duke, USC, Caltech, MIT, NYU, Northwestern, Georgetown, CMU), and Public Ivies (Cal, UCLA, UCSD, Mich, UIUC…

Some of that prestige is more regional. Perspectives change based on location and experience. The ivies tend to be more national.

They ain't. A non-trivial amount of people have not heard of Brown or Dartmouth, and confuse UPenn with Penn State. Hell, I didn't hear about Brown until high school and I ended up attending an Ivy lol.

And employers and us alums of these programs know the difference is marginal.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#232

Post by doctorwho42 »

alephnerd wrote: post #185
ungreased0675 wrote: post #175

The University of Michigan has around a 15% acceptance rate. How is it possible that they’re letting in kids who aren’t ready to do college level work? What are they selecting for?

Do you know what it takes to get admitted into Mich tier programs in 2026? Kids will take multiple APs (taking 10+ isn't unheard of, and in a lot of high schools is expected), do multiple extracurriculars (debate, MUN, DECA sports, academic olympiads, theatre), volunteering (NHS, CSF, etc), and even take college classes in high school. On top of that while tests are optional, most students still submit their SAT and…

Seriously, and how many HNers would cite MIT as one of the best around?

Well I learned over a decade ago that they have had Pass/no-credit for the first year implemented for years... So at this point it wouldn't surprise me if you said it's been going on for two decades (at min.)

Again, I think people are having the same reaction I had "what, MIT just gets off scotch free for the first year?!". Decade later, watching it help relieve the stress from their rat race of 110% from their childhoods... Man is it worth it. And everyone still loves hiring people out of MIT

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#233

Post by ajcp »

alephnerd wrote: post #185
ungreased0675 wrote: post #175

The University of Michigan has around a 15% acceptance rate. How is it possible that they’re letting in kids who aren’t ready to do college level work? What are they selecting for?

Do you know what it takes to get admitted into Mich tier programs in 2026? Kids will take multiple APs (taking 10+ isn't unheard of, and in a lot of high schools is expected), do multiple extracurriculars (debate, MUN, DECA sports, academic olympiads, theatre), volunteering (NHS, CSF, etc), and even take college classes in high school. On top of that while tests are optional, most students still submit their SAT and…

> And even then there's no guarantee you'll get in.

> yet when universities start taking steps to help reduce that they start kvetching

Your argument is hard to follow. It is prohibitively hard, to the point of being unhealthy, to getting admitted to the University of Michigan. Okay, but how does this policy solve for or address that in any way? Wouldn’t the solution be to increase capacity to meet demand, thus relieving those pressures that create the conditions for them to admit young adults that are suffering from health issues that the universities admissions policies itself precipitated?

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#234

Post by WarmWash »

ackbar03 wrote: post #123
joezydeco wrote: post #15

When you force high school kids to work days that are significantly longer than a normal adult to achieve a good GPA and get into a good college, you can expect that they are going to throttle back once they're away from home with way more free time than is normal. From my kid's experience: she was up at 6:30am, in AP classes by 7:30am (three more to go during the day). Classes were done by 3:00, then sports practice…

Sorry if this seems naive but do students in America actually work that hard these days? Modern television and social media seem to suggest they are all on drugs and doing God knows what

>Modern television and social media seem to suggest

Wouldn't exactly make the most compelling content, would it?

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#235

Post by kaladin-jasnah »

alephnerd wrote: post #226
giantg2 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15% seems extremely low for a non-ivy.

Because in America, Ivy versus non-Ivy isn't the distinction. What matters is your major and whether it is a well respected program. A CS@Texas student will have the ability to open the exact same doors professionally and prestige wise as a CS@Brown student. You have Ivies, Ivy Tier Privates (Stanford, Chicago, Duke, USC, Caltech, MIT, NYU, Northwestern, Georgetown, CMU), and Public Ivies (Cal, UCLA, UCSD, Mich, UIUC…

My impression was NYU had a high(er?) acceptance rate. Not saying they are a bad school, since the people I know there are super sharp, but still.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#236

Post by x86_64Ubuntu »

pjm331 wrote: post #153
igorkraw wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine take: maybe it would be more efficient for the economy and society, as well as better for everyone involved individuall, to make room for the ease in period as well, with a clearly communicated end towards the same, so people can acclimatize? Speaking as someone who grew up in a slightly more cruel world, but still received way more kindness than previous generations (did not die of previously deadly respirat…

Agreed, I dont get the argument “life sucks so school should suck too” How about we work on making things not suck

Because that's not reality in the least. And all you are doing is creating a clutch of children/students who have no experience with things that are difficult.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#237

Post by nobodyandproud »

cogman10 wrote: post #182
ungreased0675 wrote: post #175

The University of Michigan has around a 15% acceptance rate. How is it possible that they’re letting in kids who aren’t ready to do college level work? What are they selecting for?

It's a pretty different environment going from high school to college. There's a dynamic change that's pretty sudden where your parents are no long really in the picture for support. What they are trying to do is keep the kids that would otherwise do well but might freak out in the first semester. Seems pretty fine to me especially since those are grades that if we are being honest really don't matter anyways.

U of M. is doing no favors to its students. While it's a different environment, that's part of growing up.

Once you're on your own nobody coddles you and it can be brutal.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#239

Post by alephnerd »

ajcp wrote: post #233
alephnerd wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know what it takes to get admitted into Mich tier programs in 2026? Kids will take multiple APs (taking 10+ isn't unheard of, and in a lot of high schools is expected), do multiple extracurriculars (debate, MUN, DECA sports, academic olympiads, theatre), volunteering (NHS, CSF, etc), and even take college classes in high school. On top of that while tests are optional, most students still submit their SAT and…

> And even then there's no guarantee you'll get in. > yet when universities start taking steps to help reduce that they start kvetching Your argument is hard to follow. It is prohibitively hard, to the point of being unhealthy, to getting admitted to the University of Michigan. Okay, but how does this policy solve for or address that in any way? Wouldn’t the solution be to increase capacity to meet demand, thus relie…

It gives students one semester of breathing room that allows them to chill out and concentrate on education for the sake of education.

And UMich Ann Arbor is already massive - 8,000 students enroll a year.

Re: U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

#240

Post by cogman10 »

cm2187 wrote: post #190
cogman10 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pretty different environment going from high school to college. There's a dynamic change that's pretty sudden where your parents are no long really in the picture for support. What they are trying to do is keep the kids that would otherwise do well but might freak out in the first semester. Seems pretty fine to me especially since those are grades that if we are being honest really don't matter anyways.

I wonder how kids have managed to deal with that for two centuries…

You've never heard of college dropouts?

Kids have "managed" this by dropping out of college.

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