<p>I love how the first response to these questions is go to community college. There are tons of reputable colleges between the "prestigious" ones and community college.</p>
<p>Hmmmm......not sure what is going on inside the head of the OP. Hard to discern at this juncture. Presuming its a genuine question with genuine facts, it is still very hard to figure out. Could be ADD, could be laziness, could be "attitude", could be immaturity, could be home issues, could be self image problems, could be a crummy high school with bad influences, could be a lot of things. Without knowing more, its hard to recommend a strategy or school.</p>
<p>But one thing, just today an article appeared in the New York Times online about a girl in Massachusetts a few years ago who didnt want to go to College (wasnt ready) and didnt want to take the SAT, so she just did her thing as a Senior and then took a gap year and went to Ghana and Italy on a program specializing for Gap Year kids...found her spark, came home, applied and was accepted to Tufts University in Boston and graduated in 2006. She was an English major and Economics and now plans on going on for her MBA, but is working in venture capital now for African companies. An amazing story and turnaround for someone who was NOT motivated in High School.</p>
<p>And its always good to consider the military. You can do Navy or Air Force if you are concerned about combat duty in Iraq. A three year stint will give you some direction, some discipline and also a highly motivating factor.....wanting to get going on your life when you get out..and they will give you a lot of money to get started. I know LOTS of kids who did this. While in the service, because of their brilliance, they had high tech jobs in radar or one kid became a helicopter pilot. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing says that you HAVE to go to college at age 18 right out of high school either. </p>
<p>If you have personal issues going on (like depression or focus issues) then I encourage you to talk to your doctor and maybe he/she can give you some direction and help. But dont take that personally, if its not the case.</p>
<p>I know bright kids who went to college TOO SOON and flunked out....partied too much, not interested in their courses and otherwise just immature. So DONT go if you arent ready. Take that gap year or do the military or work for a non profit at home and be socially involved and responsible. </p>
<p>Lastly, there are over 3,000 colleges in the United States, many of them off the radar screen of the top 25 schools...and are perfectly fine schools....grab a hold of Barrons or Petersen's Directory at Barnes and Nobles and read about several of them and find three or four that you have an interest in and explore them. Many colleges accept kids with GPA's that are below 3.0 (but above 2.5). Great little colleges or even some decent state schools. But again, you should only apply and attend if you are ready to buckle down and get going. College is daunting for those with poor study habits and too many distractions. </p>
<p>People on this website seem to focus on the big name prestigious schools and it makes a lot of people feel unworthy. Pay no attention to them. Look in the mirror and ask yourself what you want out of life, what is important to you, what really sparks your academic interest and go get it. But if you look in the mirror and say, "I am not ready..." then dont go. Take the time to do some good....a PRODUCTIVE gap year like that girl from Massachusetts is perfect. I even know a kid who got into Brown and then deferred a year to "find himself" and walk the Appalachian Trail. Brown agreed and he will attend this fall. </p>
<p>Keep your chin up, be proud, work HARD your senior year....and yet be easier on yourself. That means do the work, but dont beat yourself up. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>(What did I do? The military. I graduated with high honors in college at age 24.)</p>
<p>One of my friends goes to Texas A&M and actually had a roommate that sound eerily similar to you. She had a 2.8 GPA in high school but very high SATs, and was out of state. She was in a few clubs, but no leadership at all. </p>
<p>Texas A&M is a really great school, I think it's in the 60s on US News, with fantastic engineering, business, biology, and chemistry. I'm pretty sure you could get in since they regard SATs highly. However, I'm not sure if you would like it. It's a "jock" school, with social life revolving around A&M sports. It's also one of the most conservative schools in the country.</p>
<p>While you might not like the atmosphere, if you applied yourself and got very high grades your first year or so, you would probably not have a problem transferring to a more "prestigious" school. A&M has one of the biggest alumni bases in the country, so finding a job as an A&M graduate is fairly easy.</p>
<p>lol, everyone is a "gifted underachiever" (lazy) these days. while there are a few , genuine gifted slackers, it's not even that distinguishing anymore.</p>
<p>Thanks for ALL the postings -- I'm the parent by the way. The info on St. John's is helpful. I checked out projects-abroad.com yesterday and was thinking 4 months volunteering in Ghana was a very interesting possibility, so that NYTimes article is right on point. I know my son considers high school requirements invalid and that ignoring them is an act of intellectual purity and courage, but I find it difficult to predict whether college will be different. Sooner or later he'll find a context to whose requirements he responds, and for many people (including me) college is that place, but who can say? I don't even know whether he should drop out of HS, do something else and then get his GED if he wants to go on to college. I was thinking about Hampshire/Bennington too, but I don't think he'll get in.</p>
<p>Your son actually sounds a lot like me when I was in HS/College, and I didn't pull out of it until I left the academic world. In retrospect, I would have been better off taking a gap year or even getting a job until I realized that getting an education was important. Instead, I came close to getting kicked out of my first college (an alternative school), then transferred to a new school (more traditional) that had more favorable requirements, and fewer credits needed for graduation. I remember being determined to just get it over with.<br>
I will say that the work load in most "alternative" schools can be quite a bit higher than traditional schools. The requirement that you put everything together yourself, and then write papers about it all can be overwhelming for some (freeing for others). These schools really require that you have passion and motivation to succeed. You can get through them without doing much, but then what's the point?
Have you asked your son what he would do if there were no expectations of him right now? It might be interesting...</p>
<p>Get a copy of the K & W Guide.</p>