<p>Old history, but one of my kids had an extremely poor first semester at his college of choice. First issue was identifying the problem. It was a combination of partying-skipping classes-drinking, and taking two science classes even though he wasn’t a science kid.</p>
<p>I told him that we wouldn’t pay for college again below an overall 3.0 GPA. He could take student loans but I wouldn’t co-sign for them. (Our original offer was to try to pay for 4 years of college without debt, based on a particular cost ceiling and graduation in 4years. If he lost credits or struggled with finding a major, he would have to pay for the extra time in school.)</p>
<p>I told him that I would pay for the Spring semester at School #1, but he had to transfer to a state school where the cost would be signficantly less for his second year. Alternatively, I suggested that he take a year off if he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.</p>
<p>Second semester he did significantly better, since first semester was a real wake-up call. He was determined to stay in college and applied to state schools as a transfer student. When looking at majors, he discovered a major that he wanted at our state’s flagship university. As a sophomore, he went to a state school that he hated with the ultimate goal of getting into the flagship university. Since he hated being at School #2 so much, he chose not to get involved there and did nothing but study. His grades were great. He was in touch with the flagship department that offered his major, and worked with them when selecting classes at School #2 so that his credits would transfer. With the good grades he got Spring semester of School #1 and the great grades he earned as a sophomore at School #2, he was able to transfer into the flagship. He ended up having to negotiate over some of his credits to stay on a 4-year track. He was glad he had retained all of the emails with the flagship’s department since they tried to renege on giving him credit for two classes he had taken at their recommendation. </p>
<p>The flagship did not use his GPA at School #1 when calculating his GPA there. He ultimately graduated with a very high GPA (almost a 4.0 in his major) from the flagship School #3. He achieved graduation in 4 years. That flagship’s diploma is on his wall, and no one knows the hard path he took to earn it. </p>
<p>When faced with adversity now, this “kid” (mid-20s) tries to figure out alternative ways to achieve something. He doesn’t take “no” or “you can’t do it” for an answer anymore. He learned that sometimes there are alternative ways to achieve a result, and he never, ever gives up anymore. He also doesn’t blow opportunities now. That first semester affected his college years signficantly, but it didn’t stop him. </p>
<p>I should note that this kid’s scores wouldn’t have gotten him into the flagship as a freshman.</p>