My son is a C3C and was just disenrolled due to academics. It sounds awful but his GPA was only 1.8. He was a smart kid coming out of HS with a 3.75 and a 28 ACT score (he got into USAFA via baseball). Partially due to being overwhelmed by his new environment, overloaded with baseball, and ill-prepared for the rigors of Academy life, his GPA suffered greatly. He failed Calculus his first semester and had to appear before the ARC and was able to remain at school; his second semester he was awarded by the Dean for being the most improved cadet in his class; his third semester, he again tried to do baseball and again his grades dropped and he failed Physics; finally, this last semester, he failed physics (again) and he was disenrolled. Now this bright kid who had such a promising future out of high school can’t even transfer to local colleges in Georgia due to his low GPA. No one seems to take into consideration the rigor of academics at usafa and it’s like comparing apples and oranges if you just look at the GPA number or the grade. The frustrating part is that if he had just gone to a “regular” college after high school, he would probably be sitting on a 3.5 GPA or better. Any thoughts or experience with this situation that could help? Our whole family is in shock and unsure where to go from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I don’t have any “silver bullet” advice to give you. This is something that you and he will have to work through together. However, I would say don’t keep bashing him for not making the cut at USAFA. Approximately 25% of each incoming class doesn’t finish the 4 years for one reason or another. He is young and has a lot of time to recover. He may need to take a year to get situated in a new direction. Have a good discussion with him on what he wants. Does he really want to be an Air Force officer, or was the allure of the Academy’s prestige what drew him there? What is his goal for a career? Ask him these things and make a plan from there.
Typically colleges require 2.0 GPA as a minimum for transfers. He could enroll for a semester or two at a community college that doesn’t require a 2.0 for transfer students, then move to a four year college.
My nephew had a similar situation several years ago (Naval Academy/football). He lived at home and went to local community college before transferring to a 4-year university. He just graduated this Spring and was awarded a full ride for a Masters program.
He is a little later graduating than he hoped but he is happy. It took a while to get there after feeling like a failure but he is doing great. It really allowed him to figure out what he really wanted out of life and find a path to success.
Your son will figure it out. Just support him on his journey.
Maybe he can use his baseball skills to go to a JuCo, raise his GPA and build a jumping off point to return to school via athletics. He had to be pretty good to be recruited to the academy.