My wife and I always encouraged our son to take honors, AP, and advanced classes in highschool as much as possible. He ended up with a solid B average. But he did not get a scholarship from his first choice school because his GPA was too low - even after they added on GPA points for taking hard classes. So this is one decision that didn't work out. Yeah, in the long run it will have prepared him better for college, but he's disappointed and we will all be poorer.
You've got a son going to college, who happened to be smart enough to take AP classes... and you're upset? I think the glass if half full. Who cares what his high school GPA was? The more important question is: "has your son has learned to become a self-motivated learner?".
just cause he didn't have a good enough average to go to a good college? being rich or poor has nothing to do with academics........if he is financially educated he can be very rich, but this will all depend on his attitude and his willingness to learn on his own
btw......was MIT your son's first choice school? (i saw the other thread you made on MIT...so I'm just wondering)
I'm with Twenty26Six. Not only did you make the best choice you could given the information you had at the time, it will likely turn out to be the right choice in the long run if you've taught your son to combine some intellectual curiosity and elbow grease with his natural intelligence. I see a lot students in my job, and there are plenty who come in with sparkling gpas but who struggle early on because they haven't developed the study habits they need to succeed in college. As you've noted, it's also the case that admissions officers pay attention to the quality of applicants' curricula. They regularly recalibrate gpa's based on things like the presence or absence of AP courses. Had he never taken the hard classes, they might have discounted his gpa as a result. You did a good job, dad. Don't beat yourself up about it. Congratulate your son on his hard work and keep on supporting him the way you have done.
You gave excellent advice. As one of the few teachers at my school that seems to have standards, I can tell you what happens when students come with straight A's and no brain. They fail, and cry all the louder for it. Would it have been nice to get a scholarship? Yup, but it's also nice that your son will likely be able to succeed in college. Many MANY of those straight A darlings will blow their scholarships in the first year and be out of college altogether by their 3rd year. What's more, many colleges and universities reward early success. The better your son does in his freshman year, the more grant money he is likely to get for his sophomore year. Don't kick yourself over a smart piece of advice.
I doubt it. A fear of debt and poverty is normal for the middle class. I'm sure he's not so well off that an expensive college education is something to laugh off.
Excellent post! I remember everybody being all scared about the academic transition from HS to college, and it was a breeze for me b/c I had challenged myself in HS by going to a really good school. At the time, we only had AP English, History, Chemistry and Physics, and I wasn't in any of those classes. But I was better prepared for college than kids that had AP classes up the wazoo. I was a B- student up until my senior year, but things started to click for me as a senior and I started getting A's for the first time in high school. I got to college and was straight A from the get-go.
Did he fail the AP tests ? It may not seem like real savings but depending on the school those credit hours can be pretty expensive.
Isn't debt the reality and poverty the fear? I mean, college, especially if you have to spend all four years at a "big name" school, is expensive as hell, and rising, and the cost of living is rising, what with fuel costs, compensation isn't rising at the same rates of tuition/COL, and, depending on what degree their seeking, they'll likely be drowning in student loan debts for quite a while after graduation. I know a lot of people in that boat...
I'm sure that the people "living" in metropolitan ghettos all throughout America with children going to pathetic, decaying, forgotten public schools are ********ing weeping at the thought of some people being so mercilessly taken to task in "that boat". Seriously, for some people the biggest school they're ever going to go to is an elementary school which doesn't even have enough teachers for all its classes.
Jacen's advice is absoultely on the ball here, DoctorD. As a fourth-year undergraduate here in Chicago, I can tell you that I came in as a kid who just barely made it into the school* and who received very little financial aid (aside from some subsidized loans). While my family and I had to tough it out, the experience was absolutely worthwhile. As opposed to some of my peers who graduated from High School at the top of their class but who subsequently struggled to adapt to the rigors of collegiate academics, I came in already humbled and ready to work. As of now, I'm on track to graduate with honors in my department as well as with a mostly stellar overall GPA (per the average here anyway...). Don't kick yourself over your decisions. Your son, like me, got into his top choice school, and even if the financial situation isn't pretty, you should all be able to make it work, and believe me when I say that your son will certainly come out the better for it (he might even say "thanks dad"! ). * This has always been my assumption, and I've never been able to verify it. I came out of high school with pretty good grades (although I wasn't a 4.0 student), but I also had a modest SAT score (1300 or so). My writing skills though were always very good, and at the time I assumed that my essays were what pushed my application up to the top of the pile. I honestly believe that my school has changed such that I would no longer be able to get in as a HS student (with the same performance) these days. But then, college applications and acceptance patterns are absolutely bizarre as I've come to find out in my four years here. Anyway, tangent over.
Thanks for the advice. Yeah, wifey and I are hoping he will be a better student in college for the experience. But he was astonished at the price difference between an in-state school and his #1 candidate. He missed the cutoff for a partial scholarship there by 0.01 GPA points (yes I did call the admissions office to argue our case)! He'd be the kid who only wore Philly MLS jerseys all year long!
Well, all of my students know that Thursday is Soccer Jersey Day, so we at least have a tradition of jersey wearing! I have a unique little program within the university that is akin to an Honors College (though we have one of those, too). I say unique but I am sure they exist elsewhere; I run both an academic program and a privately funded institute, and use the institute dollars to "transform" student experiences and prepare them for the job market from the time I meet them until they leave (and then network with them thereafter). There's a great deal such a program can add to a "lesser" university/college experience. I just don't have a network of such programs to refer you to in PA.
If he's used to working harder, he'll have an easier transition to college. He may well qualify for more financial aid in future years. The alternative may have been him having a higher GPA and getting more aid the first year, but doing poorly his freshman year because he wasn't used to working hard and losing that aid. So it's better to not have the scholarships for one year and get them for the last three, than vice versa.
I did the same thing you speak of Dr.D in HS. I made poorer grades in AP classes. Although I had a high ACT score (30+) I didn't get ANY scholarship from my first choice school (out of state) I got a bit (tuition only, but I know people who are full paid making much worse grades than I have in my 3 years) from the in state school I eventually went to. Although I will say the 9 credits AP (which ended up not counting a damn thing because I took a language course just for fun anyway...) did prepare me, at least for College English Comp. At first I was sad about it and wished I had taken to normal classes and gotten 4.0 regularGPA but now it doesn't matter, if your son applies himself there will be at least some morescholarship coming his way by the time he is an upperclassman. And he will do well and go to graduate school were everything is paid for :0 hopefully at least