<p>Let me start off by saying that I'm not a parent, I'm a freshman at Johns Hopkins, but this post deals with my younger brother, to whom I'm like a parent as far as schooling goes.</p>
<p>He had a fairly decent Freshman year. B's with a few A's in regular (non-honors) classes. I encouraged him to go for all Honors classes Sophomore year because that's what top colleges look for, and I wanted to see him go to an even better school than I. Now it's more than halway through the school year, and he's been getting B's/C's in most of his classes. I tried to encourage him to work harder and I thought he would, but we just got his mid-quarter report for the 3rd quarter and he is failing 2 classes and getting D's in 3 others. He's basically in danger of failing for the year. I realize now that he may not be as "smart" as I am, and that maybe it was wrong for me to push him to take those harder classes, but there's probably no way to change that now. (I'll see if its possible for him to switch into easier classes right now when I talk to his counselor tomorrow...good thing we got the report during my spring break.) The best he can hope for is just C's with maybe a B or 2 for Sophomore year, and he'll probably end up moving back to regular high-school classes next year. If he can move back to his B/A range for those classes, will he be able to redeem himself come college admission time? I don't really expect him to get into a top school anymore, or even join me at JHU, but I'm hoping he can at least get into Rutgers - New Brunswick, a pretty good state school. Do you think its possible for him to reach for that, and what other ideas do you have for making him make the best possible candidate that he can be from this point on?</p>
<p>speak to the counselor - you and your little bro - see what he/she suggests - I think changing all classes would be a bad idea, but maybe switching one? What does your brother think? Can he drop a class, and concentrate on the others? </p>
<p>Find out what your brother wants, not what you are projecting on to him. The worst advice I got in high school was from my older sister. Not all sibs are cut from the same cloth</p>
<p>wow, just sounds like a whole lot of pressure. I agree with last poster. my son is very high level, can do anything academically. my daughter does good, but struggles to do it. putting my daughter into classes my son took would have been disasterous. let him pick his classes next time. johns hopkins is great, but there is a reason for state schools and community colleges, and sometimes people just aren't ready to take their education seriously. the more pressure you put on him, the more he will rebel and feel badly about himself. all this honors class stuff and weighted gpa's, (seriously, what does a gpa of 4.6 mean on a scale of 0-4??) makes me insane as a parent. I have no idea what my son's gpa of 3.7 meant when some of his classes were honors, but not all, and other kids have gpa's of 4.6, which isn't even on the scale. Anyway, you're kind of setting the kid up for failure, of course not intentionally because you want the best for your brother. but I think you have to step back, let him take some courses he can excel at to gain some self esteem, and let him find his way.</p>
<p>amith1 - many schools and colleges use the 1-4 scale, but if the course is an Honors or AP, will add a point - so an A would earn 5 points for those courses only. That's how you get GPAs of 4.6, etc. </p>
<p>Or maybe you were just asking a rhetorical quetsion! :)</p>
<p>Magnum, For a variety of reasons, my daughter's grades slipped during sophomore year too. Not quite as badly as your brother's, but enough so that even though she is back to her strong freshman year GPA this year in junior year, her cummulative GPA is not going to be as strong as it would have been. One suggestion might be to see if your brother could make up some of those D and F classes in summer school for higher grades. While that won't negate them on his transcript, it may help his cum. GPA and send a message to future adcoms that he is willing to work hard to overcome his weaknesses.</p>