<p>I have a son who has always been a 4.0 student and is mid-700's in his SAT's. In November he had a medical issue, as a result of which he has missed over 50 days. He is carrying 4 AP classes; his midterms are now showing as incomplete; he is doubtful that he will be able to stay current, catch up, and make the grades he needs by the end of the year; and even if that were possible, thinks the likelihood of getting accepted on that basis is slim; he thinks he is better off just letting the rest of the year go by, failing it, and repeating senior year next year. Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated. He has been putting in 20 hour days for the last month and I am doubtful that it is a good idea for that to continue.</p>
<p>This sounds very stressful for both of you. Has he already applied for colleges and is waiting to hear back? Can he get credit for what he did 1st semester and withdrawal 2nd semester? Something has clearly taken him off course and hopefully your guidance team is aware of it and can offer suggestions. This is likely not the first time they have dealt with this situation, so hopefully you are already talking with them. If your son does have the option to re-take senior year, that would certainly seem to be the best option overall, as missing 50 days would be extremely difficult if not impossible even for a healthy kid.</p>
<p>Yes, he has already applied; at the time it seemed he would be able to deal with things before the midterms went out. The school is giving him time to catch up, but with all the AP work he has done he really only needs to pass only 2 courses to graduate. So the question is not can he graduate, but whether there is any point in doing that if he can’t catch up and get the grades back where they should be. I tend to agree that just cutting the losses at this point and repeating senior year is the best option, although at this point I’m not sure logistically how best to do that. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>Good luck to your son … if he wants to try to make up the work and graduate this year, that may be the most motivating option for him. He sounds like a strong student up until this point, so hopefully your guidance team can update the colleges on his progress so the colleges don’t hold it against him. This sounds like a challenging time, and I wish you both the best in working through it.</p>
<p>If he only needs 2 classes to graduate, can he not focus on those and complete the work. Possibly drop to a regular class vs AP to help ease the load? Most colleges just want them to pass and get their senior year credits once accepted to most schools it is binding…
Good luck to him</p>
<p>Does he have a handful of favorite colleges he’s considering? Maybe he could call the admissions counselors for his area and ask about the best course of action for his situation. Best to you all!</p>