<p>I am a concerned parent of a freshman at Ohio State, my son is in pre engineering for computer science and engineering. When he signed up for classes in autumn he wanted to push himself in math so he took accelerated math 161 the one thing he forgot or had not learned yet is that he is no longer in high school and he actually has to study. In high school (a good one) he never had to work hard he loved math and it came easily for him he tutored many other kids . Well he did not do so well in his first quarter of math. My son was 6 points away from a b going into the final but he completely tanked the final, this dropped his grade to a d. He knows what he did wrong and seems determined to move on and do better. Here is the problem. My son scheduled the next math 162 all was fine until he received a e-mail saying he might not have the pre recs to move on. We as parents thought he should reschedule for 151 or 152 a lower class but the computer will not let us and all school offices are closed until the day the kid goes back. My son wants to go to school continue on 162 and hope the math department will not after a couple of weeks say he is in the wrong class and pull him out. Also if the school insists on him dropping to 151 than he no longer has the pre rec for physic 132 (he did fine in 131) and he might be forced out of 132. This in turn screws up the last quarter he would not have space for physics and then he could not formally apply to his major until after next fall semester. So I guess my question is should he continue on as he did not know he shouldnt or the first day go to guidance counselor (not thrilled with counselor)and be at the schools mercy ? He really wants to be in 162 to prove to himself that he can. Sorry for the long post any thoughts
David</p>
<p>A couple of things…</p>
<p>1) If your son does not get to apply to his major until after Fall 2012 semester…it is OK. He could still graduate on time. Plus he still has summers to catch up.</p>
<p>2) You may want to find out if he can take a course during the summer since Ohio State is moving to semesters starting in Fall 2012.</p>
<p>3) The OSU requirement is Physics 131 and EITHER Physics 132 or Chemistry 121. Your son already qualifies for Chem-121, so this is an option if the before-Fall 2012 deadline is very important to you.</p>
<p>My extra $0.05</p>
<p>When going to those schools that require you be “admitted” to the junior and senior levels of the major, it’s best to focus solely on getting into the major FIRST!..then do the “challenges”. For the schools that are not like that (where you are in the major from start and nothing really can kick you out of it), THEN I would try “challenges” as early as Freshman year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply
I agree with you. As a parent I would like him to go back and strengthen what he missed. The thing he said to me was that he has never done poorly before and has never had to pick himself up and doesn’t he deserve a second chance? I like the idea that he is determined to prove to himself he can suck it up. He is 18 and for the first time in his life he wants to control his destiny. (he was over protected as am only child) He said part of the reason he did so poor was because he spent so much time helping everyone in comp sci 221. He spent hours in the lab with other students teaching them how to code the lab assignments. The kid loves to code he is still new at it bit he is like the proverbial duck to water. I hope he learns school balance and learns to focus on what he needs to.
He is planning on going to school over the summer. Thanks David</p>