<p>OK, this is going to sound like an oxymoron, but can anyone suggest colleges for non-intellectuals? S will be in grade 11 in the fall, has mediocre grades, and would rather be on his skateboard than read a book. He's a reasonably bright kid but not intellectual, not a deep thinker.</p>
<p>I know he can go to a Jr college, but we are shooting for a 4-yr. Any wisdom is appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>What do you hope he will accomplish in college? Will you be paying for it yourselves?</p>
<p>The easy answer first-- yes, we will pay for it. We’ve saved enough to send him anywhere (which is ironic, because he won’t be able to get it most places-- total opposite situation of the high achieving kid whose family can’t afford college, but that’s off topic).</p>
<p>The more difficult answer-- we’re hoping he will mature in college, discover his abilities, figure out what he wants to do with his life and pursue it.</p>
<p>Is there anything he seems to enjoy? How about a year doing outreach work like Americorps? Possibly military service? By just inserting him onto a college campus with its incipient temptations and distractions without a fundamental desire to graduate seems like a recipe that many follow for failure.</p>
<p>Another frequent poster,Northstarmom, had one son dance into college w/o much self motivation. He partied, eventually left (dunno if he was asked to leave or he voluntarily withdrew). Parents made him get a job. Eventually found work in a field that interested him and now he’s found the value of a degree so got himself enrolled and is now personally invested in college and doing well. Contact her maybe?</p>
<p>Have you thought about a gap year? Students who would rather be on their skateboards than reading their textbooks have a regrettable tendency to get Fs in college. A year working at whatever job a high school graduate can get might focus his mind mightily.</p>
<p>This is going to depend, a lot. Mediocre grades as in a 3.0, 2.0, 1.5? What? </p>
<p>Honestly, a college which has a median ACT of 23 or lower, SAT of 1550 or lower is pretty assuredly a school for non-intellectuals. You can find them all over the place, in whatever state you want. When senior year comes, tell him to go find one. If he doesn’t, he probably doesn’t belong in college yet.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I would think a community college is a much better place to discover one’s interests. Easier to drop and add classes, cheap to take weird ones which won’t count for any degree, different options in academic fields and trades.</p>
<p>No offense to anyone who reads my input: Look for colleges at which there are a high proportion of students getting teacher certification or getting a business degree. </p>
<p>Schools like this may be great in many ways but they are not, say, University of Chicago. On the whole, on the average, schools for do-ers more so than for deep thinkers.</p>
<p>To give some perspective (thanks for asking Qwerty)-- he’s just finishing sophomore year, but here’s my best guess at how he’ll end up: GPA 2.9, SAT 1700, ACT 24. He will actually have some good ECs (mainly volunteering), so I’m hoping his applications will be bolstered by that.</p>
<p>There are thousands of schools in this country. Many would accept a student w/ those qualifications. So please give more info. Is there a geographic preference? Small or large school? Specific EC’s he might be interested in continuing? And–
</p>
<p>I agree!!</p>
<p>I see West Coast. Are you in California?
As long as he has takes the required courses, it looks like his stats should be fine for the Cal State Colleges. Why not look into your local state 4-year school?</p>
<p>I don’t think I’d want to pay for a private college if he isn’t that interested in school.</p>
<p>For a kid who is not interested in college yet, I really highly recommend a gap year. There are lots of possibilities - learning a language, volunteering on an organic farm, travel, Americorps. I think that’s a far better plan than muddling through some college getting C’s. If you just can’t stand the thought of not sending your kid to college maybe something completely different like [Deep</a> Springs College](<a href=“http://www.deepsprings.edu/home]Deep”>http://www.deepsprings.edu/home) or [Warren</a> Wilson College<a href=“where%20physical%20labor%20is%20part%20of%20the%20deal”>/url</a> or one of those places where you take one course at a time like <a href=“http://www.coloradocollege.edu/index.asp[/url]”>http://www.coloradocollege.edu/index.asp](<a href=“http://www.warren-wilson.edu/external_index.php]Warren”>Warren Wilson College - Home - Warren Wilson College)</a> .</p>
<p>Great ideas, thanks everyone. To morrismm: geographic preference = CA (we live here, S says he wants to stay in CA, and to s. CA in particular). He wants a large school, but that worries me (too much distraction, classes too big).</p>
<p>The CSU schools are actually getting more and more difficult to get into. I have friends whose kids (both finishing high school now) have good GPAs (~3.7 or higher) who are both going to CSU schools. One also applied to UCSC but didn’t get in. It’s unbelievably competitive here now.</p>
<p>I like the idea of a gap year, but how do you know your kid will still want to go to college when that’s over?</p>
<p>I think a gap year is a huge mistake unless they have something they really want to do–a job, volunteer work, major travel. Or some difficult medical/mental issue they need to overcome. To sit around and wait for inspiration to come…it may never come and it gets harder to go back to school. He could go to community college for awhile, take some easy classes and get some good grades if it came to that.</p>
<p>Really, your son’s GPA and SAT’s aren’t that low (unless you’re only looking at college confidential kids). They are fairly decent, and better than many kids who go to college. Some kids go to school for lack of a better route and find inspiration there. Much easier to be inspired by a college teacher and thinking about careers than while he’s in high school. Obviously if he starts partying and flunking out, the gap year or doing something different may be best. Why not give him a chance? Maybe high school is just…boring! Does CA have any tuition exchange deals with neighboring states? And are there still some CA state schools that are easy to get into?</p>
<p>S1 has similar stats and somedays I feel like we are about to embark on a $40,000 per year experiment. But…I am going to cross my fingers and give it one year. There were cheaper options, but I felt like he would get “lost” in a larger state college. Take a look at Western Washington University. Though he never applied there, it was on MY radar. The other one I liked was Westminster in Utah (big on snowboarding)</p>
<p>I have recently learned that a few of our (Minnesota) community colleges have a relationship with the main U of MN. If you take a certain courses and maintain a GPA of 2.5, then the U of MN will accept you in after 2 years. (this is now our backup plan)</p>
<p>I am just a wee bit sensitive tonight so I assume that when the term non-intellectual is tossed around you are not referring to lower ranked kids.</p>
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<p>Does it matter? </p>
<p>You mentioned that your son is involved with volunteer work – maybe that will help him get a better focus on what he wants – and down the line when he has a more clear idea of what he wants to do with his life, he’ll have the incentive to continue his education. </p>
<p>I think that it certainly makes a lot of sense for you to consider what his educational options might be – but don’t be too tied down to the concept of a 4 year college immediately following high school if your son doesn’t have the maturity or motivation at the time he graduates. You can bank the money you’ve saved for his education and let him know that its waiting for him if and when he decides to go to school. You-- and he – will get more bang for the buck if he in college because he wants to be, along with a clear idea of what he wants to study. </p>
<p>You can count me among the parents who make the mistake of paying hard earned money so my kid could party for a couple of years. I think you should keep options open but not push your kid into college if he is not ready for it. </p>
<p>I’m also a big fan of Americorps.</p>
<p>I’d suggest a few college visits to spark an interest…emphasize that you want him to go to college and to start thinking about it. </p>
<p>You might look into the University of Redlands and point out that there’s a program (Johnston Center for Integrative Studies) that will let him design his own major. </p>
<p>If his grades don’t come up, he probably will have a tough time getting into a UC, but you could look at U-Colorado, Boulder or U of Oregon and see if visiting creates some incentive and interest. </p>
<p>[University</a> of Redlands - Who Studies at Redlands College of Arts and Sciences?](<a href=“http://www.redlands.edu/x81.asp]University”>The Page is Unavailable | University of Redlands)</p>
<p>A tip passed on to me that I will pass on to the OP:
If you find a smaller college that you want him to seriously consider, that you think is a better choice for him than the larger ones on the top of his list, try to arrange for him to do an overnight visit there. This might help him picture himself there and see what you see: that it would be a good fit for him.</p>
<p>One of the CTCLs that might be nice for him: The Evergreen State College. I am not familiar with how hard it is to get in, though; I think it is a reach for him but not impossible. Based on what you have said, it sounds like he would appreciate/benefit from the support he’d get at a college like this.
<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/evergreen[/url]”>http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/evergreen</a>
<a href=“http://www.evergreen.edu/[/url]”>http://www.evergreen.edu/</a></p>
<p>Er, Evergreen is essentially open enrollment. They accept 95% of applicants. </p>
<p>But that certainly is an excellent place for the OP to throw away $35K a year while her son figures out what he might want to do. The open curriculum would give him plenty of time to explore… and who knows? he might just be one of the lucky 45% who manage to earn a bachelor’s degree within 4 years of enrollment.</p>
<p>Evergreen can be a good environment for the right type of student… but its not a good place for the poorly motivated.</p>
<p>So in all likelihood, your son can manage to finish High School with a B average? What’s the complaint? SAT 1700? Really? There are tons of opportunities or not, depending on his motivation or interest. But seriously, to portray him as a terrible student?, I think your expectations are askew, or you should stop looking at this site.</p>
<p>Many boys at this age have no interest in college, so you may have to offer some inspiration… </p>
<p>Since your son is a rising junior, I would have a little loving chat with him and tell him that to get where he wants to go, there are some things he’ll need to do grade-wise/score-wise. </p>
<p>I would schedule a campus tour at a few cool college campuses (not a lot in Calif), but there are some. That might get his juices going to get it together to improve his GPA and practice for his SAT/ACTs. Get him some practice books. Have him take both tests and then take them again.</p>
<p>Many boys think college is just going to be a boring extension of high school. But, once they’re on a cool campus, they realize there is soooo much more to college.</p>
<p>He may have to expand beyond Calif if he wants the big school rah rah atmosphere, since the UCs and CSUs are too hard to get into these days. </p>
<p>Not all big schools have a bunch of big classes. Some only have big classes in some subjects and only in the lowest level classes. My kids go to a big state school, and many of their classes have less than 25 kids in them. Some classes have less than 10 kids in them. But, yes, there are the big Chem or Bio lecture classes for freshmen, but many school keep the labs to under 25 kids.</p>