<p>My son was an AP student in high school, and yes I had to always nag him to keep up the grades. He got into a good college, but it doesn't end there. He got a 1.96 his first semester which put him on academic probation, and now he is barely reaching a 2.0. The family is so upset, including him, but too little effort too late. He also is suppose to go abroad in 3 weeks, but if his grades fall below a 2, they'll be no trip, just summer school. He loves his school, and is determined (he says) to make it right whatever he has to do. I hope so. Anyone going through this, I could sure use some support.</p>
<p>He may be struggling with time management and organizational issues, particularly if he never took control of this on his own in high school. College life is so different, with time and assignments much more open-ended. Going to summer school might be the best thing for him, if he focuses not just on the grades, but on the study and work habits needed to succeed at college. Perhaps he needs an executive function coach, and even learning disabilities testing. </p>
<p>Also, does the school have an academic resource center? If so, is he going for help?</p>
<p>At an engineering school that my daughter attended (attempted), they said that 80% of their counseling work was for organization skills and such. Tough curriculum and marginal organization skills is a stressful combo.</p>
<p>I agree this is all about time management. He says he knows what it takes now, but I’m going to suggest strongly going to the help center, to make sure he has the right study habits. I think the social aspect of college was his priority, and that has to change.</p>
<p>I’ve experienced the same thing with my daughter this year. As far as I’m concerned, second semester was her second chance. She blew it. I’m finished wasting money. She’s going to work for at least a year. Maybe then her priorities will become clearer.</p>
<p>Colleges will admit people who they believe can do the work, so that shouldn’t be an issue as long he can work out the study skills and time management issues. What is he spending his real time doing? </p>
<p>Interesting to note that many people (including myself) did better in college when I was playing varsity sports. In season, you are swamped with practices and games and it forces you to really pay attention to time management.</p>
<p>One other issue that will be with him is his college GPA. Hard to bring it up (although it can be done) to the critical 3.0 level (or above) when you start off in the hole as he has. No AP “5.0” classes to help as in high school. "A"s are hard to get, especially when you really didn’t learn the basics your freshman year. A low GPA makes grad school and the job search tough.</p>
<p>Another perspective:
Had one of those, what worked here was letting the school make the call. They offered the chance to pull up the grades in THEIR summer session, no CC transfer credits. DS took it and succeeded. I was determined not to ruin our relationship by being the one to yank him out when school was throwing a life preserver. He is now 4 years out, gainfully employed in his major, and we enjoy each other’s company.
I will admit that we told all of ours we will pay to the best of our ability and their degree would be our gift to them (plus they owned their investment of Stafford Loans) but if they didn’t continue on the path to get that degree then they were to repay our total investment.</p>
<p>Are you sure he’s not spending too much time partying?</p>
<p>I am not completely convinced this is a time management problem. Is it possible that he is partying too much? Just a thought and do not mean to offend. If this turns out to be the case, going abroad may not be something you want him to do anyway --take the summer to get some help instead. For a kid to slip all the way below a 2.0, something else has to be going on here.</p>
<p>o…</p>
<p>Yeah, well, I “hear” it’s a problem for some kids. No personal experience, of course. ;)</p>
<p>What does ‘he’ say the problem is?</p>
<p>It seems to usually boil down to a few things - </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Too much partying/alcohol - with associated lack of studying in the evenings, missed classes in the mornings, hangovers/not feeling well, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Too much video gaming - some people, usually males, will play the games to the exclusion of everything else. </p></li>
<li><p>Too much socializing - i.e. rather than ‘partying’, spending too much time hanging out with others and not focusing on getting the studying done as well.</p></li>
<li><p>At the end of the above list - time management, but this management is usually influenced by the above items. Does he really think he simply isn’t managing his time well enough to get the studying/HW done because he has a lot for the week? It could be but it isn’t likely that this would drive his grades down this low.</p></li>
<li><p>Wrong major - some students are simply in the wrong major, for example engineering/CS, and can’t understand the material well enough and can’t handle the workload or simply aren’t interested enough in the subject to apply themselves. In this case they need to come to terms with it and consider switching to another major more compatible with them.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>… adding to the above (don’t know how to make the little arrow 
- Some kids don’t have the maturity needed to be self-motivated and appreciative of the opportunity. To succeed in college, the drive has to come from inside. I’ve always thought the idea of a “gap-year” was a sound idea, though not very popular here in U.S.</p>
<p>Your answers are really helping me. He is still waiting for the last grade to come in and the wait is a killer. If it is less than a C, the school makes the decision that there is no abroad, and he has to enroll in summer school there because outside grades aren’t counted, just credits. I think the problem is too much socializing, he says he made the mistake of hanging with the suite mates too much and not pulling away to get the studying done. I wish I had given him a gap year, he just wasn’t mature enough. He’s not in his major yet, and I was afraid of his lack of interest in the large lecture hall gen eds. It’s really hard being so happy to have him home, but so disappointed in him at the same time.</p>
<p>*adding to the above (don’t know how to make the little arrow *</p>
<p>Shift key…number 6… ^</p>
<p>*I think the problem is too much socializing, he says he made the mistake of hanging with the suite mates too much and not pulling away to get the studying done. *</p>
<p>that can be very hard for a student who gets along well with his roomies, but his roomies don’t have to study as much. </p>
<p>*I wish I had given him a gap year, he just wasn’t mature enough. *</p>
<p>I don’t think that doing a gap year would have made a difference.</p>
<p>Maybe next year he needs to have roomies that he doesn’t have much in common with…LOL</p>
<p>Other ideas for next year…</p>
<p>1) build in some breaks in his day schedule where he must sit somewhere (library??) and study/do homework. If a schedule has a 2 hour break somewhere, that can kind of force homework/studying.</p>
<p>2) encourage him to go to the library (and not his dorm) after his school day is done to do his homework. Then he an return to his dorm to socialize with friends.</p>
<p>3) If he found himself “sleeping thru” 8 am classes, then he needs to have a schedule that doesn’t start early in the day.</p>
<p>I would nix the trip and get him doing hard time at home. Have hime write & rewrite a contract or a business plan 1- summer, 2- fall semester. This alone should take several attempts and hours. Have him make a spreadsheet for his summer time with worthwhile activities (job, cutting grass, laundry, doing dishes, reading, painting the basement, community service). In late August do it again for fall semester.</p>
<p>When he sees how much time these things take & then translates it to the school year- he’ll “wake up” to better time mgmt. </p>
<p>If you must, withhold the blackberry & computer until you see authentic responsiblity. You are doing him a favor but it won’t be fun</p>
<p>adding to the above (don’t know how to make the little arrow
Shift key…number 6… ^</p>
<p>Thank You mom2collegekids – pretty darn obvious now that you point it out … and I’ve been typing for years…</p>
<p>My D is also a freshman in a difficult major. She was a good student in High School but did need prompting. When she went off to college, I wasn’t sure what to expect but have been pleasantly surprised at her time management. Here are some of the things that have helped her navigate some tough classes. </p>
<p>She always studies at the library rather than her room
She takes advantage of the TA in every class and gets tutored by him/her when necessary.
She goes to study groups when needed.
She stays in on the weekend nights that she really needs to study, even when her friends are going out (of course, she’s no saint and this is only occasional)</p>
<p>Another tip came from the Bio professor that spoke at orientation when we went. Her advice was to never, ever, miss a class, even if you are sick. I think my D took that to heart which is remarkable since she was always happy to stay home for a sniffle in high school.</p>
<p>The first semester was a success. The second semester was harder. Fingers are still crossed through finals. Knock on wood.</p>
<p>scoopie, my S2 had a very similar experience except worse. At the end of his first sem. freshman year,his gpa was .80 :eek:
His university allows up to three classes (at the 100/200 level) to be retaken for grade replacements if the original grade was a D or F. He retook three classes in the spring of freshman year. He made a 2.5. The new replacement grades took the place of the F’s he made in the first sem. Does your S’s school offer grade replacements? </p>
<p>Freshman year was def. a big learning curve for him. He just finished his jr. year. He has made 3.0 or higher every sem. except one since (one class did him in). He was not a strong h.s. student and truly had to learn how to “do college”. </p>
<p>I’m sure this is as a big wake up call to your S as it was to mine.<br>
Good luck to him. Hope he gets the C or better that he needs.</p>
<p>Is it just my experience or do boys have trouble acknowledging they need help, and then getting it? I’ve been showing him the resources that his school offers for tutoring, and I expect that he’ll make use of it this coming semester. He’s realized there is no studying in the suite of 6 boys, only the library. He’s admitted to not doing the reading, got too confident. He is pretty upset with himself, I just hope the feeling lasts.</p>