<p>Why would you say that your son is “likely destined for a 2-yr college unless something miraculous happens”?</p>
<p>First, there are tons of four-year colleges that essentially accept all applicants, provided they can graduate from high school and have no recent felony convictions. My nephew, a perfectly lovely boy whose complete lack of interest in high school academic achievement and misdemeanor criminal record added up to NO college acceptances, wound up attending a four-year college after a gap year and getting tolerably well educated. I realize that the CSU system has capacity problems, but there are private colleges and other states to look at if you care about this.</p>
<p>Second, why make it sound like a two-year college is some sort of horrible fate? It’s a great option for lots of people, both economically and educationally. If your son DOES wind up taking this path, it is not going to be very constructive if he thinks his parents regard that as failure. I know this is the anonymous internet, and you are venting, but if that’s what you are venting it’s probably time for an attitude adjustment.</p>
<p>Third, something miraculous almost always happens to boys somewhere between 15 and 20 – they grow up a bit, and get more focused.</p>
<p>As for the common app. – I think SAT (and ACT) scores are highly correlated with parental educational attainment. So high SAT scores of children of highly educated parents may get deflated a bit for purposes of comparison to scores of children of not highly educated parents. Or maybe scores of the latter group get boosted a bit. Anyway, it’s hard to imagine it makes much difference other than at highly selective colleges.</p>