Stress at Goucher / Bryn Mawr

[a1234]

How stressful are the Goucher and Bryn Mawr programs actually? Are students in the programs miserable? A friend of mine tells me that her brother went to Bryn Mawr and found it cutthroat, though other threads imply that it is a more collegial atmosphère. Can somebody who went to either school speak to this?

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[Evidence Based]

How stressful are the Goucher and Bryn Mawr programs actually? Are students in the programs miserable? A friend of mine tells me that her brother went to Bryn Mawr and found it cutthroat, though other threads imply that it is a more collegial atmosphère. Can somebody who went to either school speak to this?

The amount of stress a given person is under is due in large part to their personality. No one will deny that we have a lot of work (I go to Bryn Mawr), and I think everyone gets stressed sometimes. Some people are obviously more stressed than others, and this just depends on their individual situations (if they're trying to link to a really competitive program, etc). The support from administration and peers is amazing here though. Any condensed program is going to be a lot of work and stressful at times, but I don't think there's any better place to do it in the world than here.

And as to your friend's brother finding it cutthroat, nothing has been farther from the truth for me. While I can't speak for other years, everyone our year is so collaborative and so supportive of each other. None of our classes are graded on a bell curve, so there's no competition for grades either. Our physics class is "curved," but it's a uniform upward adjustment, so everyone benefits from it (unless by some miracle you're pulling a 100 in the class and can't have your grade go any higher). Everyone here, in short, is supportive of everyone else. Basically everyone studies in groups, helps each other out with lab reports and problem sets, and are generally there for each other when our classmates need us. I hear the program has always been like this, so I'm a little mystified about this comment, but I can't speak for everyone.

So no, cutthroat is the last word I'd associate with the program.

 

[darkjedi]

My experience with Bryn Mawr was the complete opposite of 'cutthroat.' I am not sure how long ago your friends brother did the program but everyone I've talked to in the years above and below me feel similarly.

Doing a postbac is going to be tough work and be very stressful no matter where you go, but I would argue that a formal program like Bryn Mawr where you can find support in the faculty and even more importantly, the friends you make in your peers, make the whole experience much more bearable and manageable.

 

[Goucher2013]

Ditto for Goucher.

It's definitely stressful for most people. You get rough categories on the extremes: the perfectionists who do really well but couldn't do so without being constantly worried about their performance. And on the other end, the truly non-traditional types who have trouble adjusting to, or keeping up with the workload. In the middle, you have everyone else with various stress levels. Lastly, you also have a minority who naturally get all the material or are just great at finding a study rhythm that minimizes stress and maximizes results.

Goucher also is the opposite of cutthroat - in fact, those doing really well in physics just refrained from taking an exam to bump up the curve for those who were struggling. It's also great to have our own TA, and you can always find at least ten people who can help you out at any given time. The advising for med school applications is also second to none. On the other hand, there's only 30 of us, so the class dynamic probably changes a little more than Bryn Mawr's from year to year depending on what the average anxiety level is.

Pre-med sucks. It's meant to suck (for all the wrong reasons). Programs like Goucher and Bryn Mawr definitely take the edge off things as much as possible. I know people taking two pre-med classes part time who are more stressed than I am taking three at once.

 

[Evidence Based]

Ditto for Goucher.
Pre-med sucks. It's meant to suck (for all the wrong reasons). Programs like Goucher and Bryn Mawr definitely take the edge off things as much as possible. I know people taking two pre-med classes part time who are more stressed than I am taking three at once.

This is a point worth emphasizing. If you're trying to get to medical school, you're going to need all these pre-reqs. And aside from a few lucky (or odd) people, most students don't absolutely love physics or ogranic chem. They're just hurdles you have to jump through to get where you need to be. You're better off being somewhere (like BM or Goucher) that will give you the most support possible (tutoring, review sessions, comradeship, etc).

Like Goucher 2013 said, I've encountered some people in other programs (which shall remain nameless) that are usually on 2+ year tracks. They're at schools that offer them little support, and they're miserable. Their schools don't give two hoots about whether they succeed or not, and the students feel like it's sink or swim with most of them sinking. At a structured program, especially well-established ones like Goucher or Bryn Mawr, everyone feels like they're sinking at one point or another. The difference is, everyone ends up swimming. It's all worth it in the end.