So, my child ended up in his dream school and is loving it but the courses are more challenging that what he expected. We are supporting him but wondering if a Transfer to another college before it is too late might be a good option for him. Since his GPA is not too high would a transfer even be possible. I am very confused. Please give your advice.
What kind of GPA are we talking about? What do you mean by “too late”? Is he planning to apply to law/med school?
Need more details. Why was it his dream school? Is he loving the school because of the social aspect and not putting the effort into the studies? College is not high school and can be challenging no matter where he is. Does he need to take a break and reevaluate his priorities?
He is a Freshman at college. Since we are at end of second semester, I did not know if it was too late for Transfer admissions.
I think he took it a little easy first semester but is doing better now. It was his time-management skills he needed to work on. He is doing better but is under a lot of stress to do well this semester(self stress). His advisor is very good and providing the support the institution can. I just want to know my options as a parent. We talked about this to our son as well if he wanted to change his major or school, but he would like to continue in his major as that is all he has wanted to do for a long time. I think he will be fine but still want to make sure we are not overlooking options. Thank you for any advice.
It is rather difficult for others to make meaningful suggestions without knowing:
current school
other schools he may want to transfer to
current major
other majors he may want to change to
current GPA
post-graduation goals
In general, if he is passing all of his courses and not doing poorly enough to make his stated goal unrealistic (e.g. 2.1 GPA but still wants to go to medical school), cause affordability problems (e.g. by losing a scholarship), or delay graduation (e.g. by having to take lighter course loads), it does not seem to be something a parent should worry too much about.
Appreciate your response ucbalumnus. His major is CS. He does not want to change his major. He would like to do a PhD as of now. His GPA is close to 2.0 but that’s only his first semester.
Is he in the CS major now? If not, does he need a GPA significantly higher than 2.0 to get into the CS major?
Transfer options will be limited with a college GPA barely above 2.0.
PhD in CS is unlikely if his GPA stays just above 2.0, but could be more realistic if his upper division GPA is much better (and he does undergraduate research and gets good recommendations).
If he got all C’s his first semester, it will just take a long time to bring up the gpa. If it was the result of a B, a C and mostly D’s, will his school allow him to retake those D’s and replace them? That would help his gpa faster. Usually the first grade remains on the transcript but isn’t in the gpa.
If he can do that (or is doing that) it might be cheaper to take the missed classes this summer at your local college. My nephew did this. He got a D in calc first semester, so had to retake it spring semester. Then in the summer he took Calc 2 so he wouldn’t fall behind in the math sequence, and started his sophomore year on track.
He’s only allowed to take humanities courses and some math courses at an outside university and those don’t count towards GPA just credit fulfillment and we plan to do those this summer. The school is pretty strict and if they don’t pass the core courses, they need to retake the courses and grades will not be replaced. Yes, it is sad he took it easy and it will take him a long time to get himself back in shape. Thank you for your advice.
My impression is that if he wants to get a PhD in CS and does well from now on, he’ll still be able to do it. Grad school admission (as opposed to med, law, MBA. MPA and other professional degrees) tends to be about LORs from profs, and GRE scores. Grades do matter, but if he’s hitting it out of the park during the rest of his college career, grad schools are likely to overlook a poor freshman year, and especially a poor first semester.
Thank you and yes I am hoping the same 
@AMMA02 ,
If he applies NOW, to try to transfer in fall 2017 into sophmore year, the new college will heavily evaluate his HS transcript, SAT, ACT, SAT2s, APs etc. If he waits until he is a soph to transfer as a Jr, then the college grades carry a lot more weight than the HS ones do. If he is applying to a “less rigorous” college, and has good HS stats, his best chance is to apply now. At a “less rigorous” college, it might be easier to keep higher grades and be sort of “higher up on the curve” as a top student, both in CS and in his general ed classes.
Some colleges transfer application deadlines are still open, and some have passed.