<p>Yes Pack Mom, his school lets him re-take 2 classes, both grades will show on transcript, but second time will be added into GPA.Hopefully this is a big wake up call, and the feeling lasts ALL SCHOOL YEAR!</p>
<p>I really do think that the resources available for help need to be taken advantage of. This would help him to have more accountability (appt. times, etc).</p>
<p>I think that, if my D was struggling and was not taking advantage of TA tutoring, study groups, etc., I would have to make it non-negotiable if she wanted to be financed through mom and dad.</p>
<p>Is it just my experience or do boys have trouble acknowledging they need help, and then getting it?</p>
<p>LOL…well, what’s the joke that men don’t like to stop and ask for directions??? </p>
<p>But, yes, my sons are tutors and mostly girls come in for tutoring.</p>
<p>He’s admitted to not doing the reading, got too confident.</p>
<p>If his high school mostly only tested on material presented in class or from a “study guide” then that could have given him bad habits.</p>
<p>And, a big yes to studying in the library!!!</p>
<p>As a kid whose parents helped structure me in high school, college was a wakeup call for me. To encourage you, my grades started out low, then steadily grew until I was much higher in jr and sr year even though the classes were tougher. In grad school, I had learned my lessons, and did even better. </p>
<p>In addition to the tiips above, all of which I did, I learned to
1 - NEVER EVER go back to the dorm after dinner. I would take my books with me to dinner, dump them in a corner, and walk straight to the library from dinner. Never fails - it would be at least an hour wasted if I walked back to the dorm before going to the library.
2. Study at the library, but on a floor/library where you know noone. I spent hours on the 7th floor and at the law library.<br>
3. Honestly, the best thing I did was to make myself a reinforcement schedule. I would start the night with two columns. the left one had time increments (e.g. 7:15 - 7:30. pg 106 to 115 History. The right one was for writing down what I actually did. I took a 10 minute break every hour and a half, whether I wanted to or not, to walk around, get a snack, etc. If I had finished early, I would get a longer break. I know this sounds anal and juvenile - all I can tell you is we never grow out of being able to give ourselves a big star if we have done what we said.<br>
4. Highlighters helped keep my attention. I would read first and highlight in yellow, then when I studied for a quiz I would highlight the highlights in pin, and then if there was a final, highlight the main sections in green.<br>
5… Without fail, I would chose the best notetaker in class - the anal one - and offer to compare my notes with theirs and add in missing pieces. I took better notes, they loved getting the minor pieces they missed, and just reading and comparing helped me remember the material. </p>
<p>You might want to purchase the book How to Become a Straight A Student. Written by a student recently, it has enough off color remarks to make it not sound like a lecture, and is all about how to get the best grades in the minimum amount of studying, leaving you time for more fun things. </p>
<p>I would seriously consider whether your child might have ADHD. Smart kids are heavily underdiagnosed - we can do the work with one eye on the ball until it gets hard and more organization adn planning is required. My DD also has ADHD (the kind where they look like they are paying attention but are actually drifting off - not the jump around hyper kind). She took meds in elementary and middle school, decided to stop in high school, and has recently decided to return to meds now that she is approaching a challenging college curriculum. She has indicated that she is shocked at how much easier studying is for her on meds - she has learned enough coping skills that she didn’t really need them anymore in high school, but knows enough to see the train coming ahead and is being proactive. It might be worth a trial - you can tell in a couple of days if it helps. Be SURE you see a psychiatrist - NOT a GP. It is more complicated than just one little pill.</p>
<p>^^^^
Probably one of the top five most helpful tips I’ve read on CC. I’m going to copy it and send it to my D. Thanks!</p>
<p>A lot of good advise here. I really like the one about not going back to the dorm after dinner. His suite mates are now his ‘brothers’, so happy to have them being an only child. He needs to spend as much time in the library as he did at the gym.</p>
<p>Right there with ya’. S had a 1.xx first semester. With class replacement and lots of time on rate my professor just finished 4th semester with a 3.0 for the semester but still 2.7-ish overall - but off probation! It took him a while to figure out what worked for him. Also an ADD kid who doesn’t want to take meds in college (he’s not as funny when on them!).</p>
<p>He really liked the school/friends/major, etc so the motivation was there, just needed to develop the drive and time management and study skills, etc. Has been a GREAT learning experience (costly, but great).</p>
<p>For him what worked was paring a couple “easy” classes with a 1 “hard” and 2 “on-level” each semester. And, he works his schedule to start classes around 9 with hardly any breaks in between but at least one full day each week with no classes. Semester before last he only went to classes on Tues & Thurs. He seems to have trouble shifting focus, or going back to dorm or to library and then switching gears to leave and go back to another class, so this works well for him. May just take a few semesters to find out what works for your son.</p>
<p>In the meantime, if he is getting student loans, don’t forget most schools have a minimum for classes he has to pass (sorry…can’t remember the term for that - too early…no coffee yet) to stay eligible for financial aid. This also added to the motivation factor for my s.</p>
<p>Why thank you EPTR! Coming from reading the ideas on this crowd for the past 18 months,and pretty much giving myself a master’s in college selection through the advice of other people, that is a HUGE compliment 
(Of course, my daughter doesn’t think I know much…but then again, teh people in Jesus’s home town didn’t think he was anything special either :)</p>
<p>Very disappointing morning, my son got a 1.95 second semester. We are waiting to hear the answer about the abroad program, but chances are that’s not going to happen. He is registered to retake the 2 classes he got a D in in the fall, and we’re hoping that by keeping his schedule light, he’ll raise his GPA.
Question, would it be better to have him go to summer session at the school, and have one of the D’s retaken right away? Of course there is big costs involved here, as well as costs for cancelling abroad.
I feel it’s still important to keep the fall schedule light, so he would have to substitute the repeat course for an elective, because I would be afraid of any difficult gen eds.
Note: He does have 6 credits transferred from high school, plus an AP got him out of a class.</p>
<p>Just got my D’s grades. Her GPA is .335. This was the same day that she announced, “I’ve been chosen to be the social chairman for XYZ next year”. I asked, “How can you be the social chairman, when you won’t even be a student there next year?” I think she’s hoping no one will check.</p>
<p>In your son’s case, I would think retaking right away would be huge benefit. Be sure and check www dot rate my professor dot com before registering for classes. That way he can avoid any that are truly difficult.</p>
<p>I say back off and let the chips fall. Your S sounds like he needs to take responsibility for his actions. If you are paying for his college, I’d also take another look at funding his education. Have him do it himself, take on the loans, then explain that when/if he graduates you’ll pay back the loans for him up to whatever amount you were willing to pay for his school. If he doesn’t graduate, then he’s on his own to pay back the loans. If this summer is costing you more than you had planned, he should pay that himself also. Sounds to me like he’s feeling entitled.</p>
<p>Study abroad this summer? You’ve got to be kidding.</p>
<p>Taking the courses elsewhere would require permission from the school - there’s still time to do all of the running around to ensure that they would transfer the credits - BUT - most schools won’t include the grades from another school in their GPA calculation so they might not help your son where he needs it unless they would do replacement grades.</p>
<p>If there are other courses dependent on these courses, then they might have some special background that the later courses are expecting their students to know.</p>
<p>A lot of summer sessions end in early-mid August. I would suggest getting the textbooks for his fall courses early so that he can prestudy the course material before classes start. If they are common courses, he might be able to find university course videos online for free.</p>
<p>^Above I read a post about breaks during classes.^ </p>
<p>I’ve done fairly well so far with my college education, but I, like most younger students, definitely need to work on my time management skills and making sure that I’m not socializing all the time. </p>
<p>Maybe the best thing for your son is to have a break (about 2 hours) in between classes, have him put his phone on silent, turn on the wifi to his laptop/computer, and hit the library during the break period. Doing this has been the only way I have managed to get done some of my mundane homework/research papers/studying (As a side note – I have been doing this for the past 2 semesters and have managed a 4.0 for each one).</p>
<p>I hope things work out.</p>
<p>toledo,</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that. …But I thought you pulled your D out of her school after fall semester? Did you let her go back, or was this a different school?</p>
<p>
That seems almost difficult to achieve without trying. Hasn’t she already been called into the Dean’s (or someone’s) office on this to have the law laid down on her and the ramifications explained to her by the school officials? I’m sorry to hear about this since it affects not only the student but also the parents.</p>
<p>OP:</p>
<p>I’d focus on figuring out what’s actually causing the GPA to be so low and then doing a plan to correct that. Keep in mind there may be more going on than your S is telling you (partying, drinking, etc.) but you know your S and I don’t. </p>
<p>You can consider reminding him of the expense you’re undertaking for his education (assuming you are) and that if he isn’t going to make a reasonable effort to make productive use of that investment then you’ll stop investing in it. It’s perfectly reasonable for you to not support his bad habits and his lack of work ethic in taking advantage of this opportunity you’re providing him. There are now even more expenses by having to take many of these classes over again resulting in either summer sessions or a longer time to graduate.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t lose any sleep at all on the study abroad - he’s demonstrated that he lacks the discipline to take full advantage of it. I know it’s disappointing for not just him but also the parents but it’d be ‘throwing good money after bad’ at this point. There’s a reason they have GPA cutoffs on these programs. Hopefully in another year he’ll have matured and be willing to take advantage of a study abroad opportunity if it’s still possible.</p>
<p>Well, surprisingly department head has aloud him to go abroad. REAL nice since it was all paid for. It is a major specific class for 4 weeks, 3 credits, 11 kids from the school with the head of the department. It’s his best chance to getting into his major, since his grades will be low. He’ll repeat the classes in the fall. And a GREAT suggestion to get the textbooks early and get familiar. Another great suggestion, TURN OFF THE PHONE! Can you imagine how much sleep these kids loose because of all the texting in the middle of the night?</p>
<p>D’oh! (Hopefully) obviously, I meant a 
and not a in my last post! <em>facepalm</em></p>
<p>I see this happen a lot, especially with males. In high school mom or dad have to nag them to get homework turned in and then when they go off to college they still aren’t any more mature than when they were in high school but now no one is there to nag them. This also happened to my son. I actually tried to talk him out of going straight to college and either work or join the Air Force. I knew he wasn’t mature enough or that he had the organizational skills to go. He didn’t listen to me and with scholarships in hand he went off to school. Three semesters later (he also swore he wanted to make things right after his first two semesters and we foolishly gave him another chance) he dropped out and joined the Air Force. </p>
<p>He is very happy, has graduated at the top of both of his training schools and is planning on getting back in college soon. I have advised him to really make sure he is ready before he jumps back in and he now agrees with me instead of bucking up.</p>
<p>He is a smart kid, very respectful to others and a loyal friend, but he went off to college not knowing what he wanted to do and without the maturity to excel in his general education requirements until he figured out what he wanted to do.</p>
<p>Every child is different. I really goofed off my second semester of my freshman year and finished that semester with a 2.0. My parents gave me another chance and I went back and got my act together. It is hard for us to predict how your child will fair, as you know him best, but I do know that if he has to take some time off, it isn’t the end of the world and it might lead to a door of more opportunities.</p>
<p>Just thought about it. Does he take his laptop to class? A lot of students who do tend to get very distracted by other things on the Internet and don’t pay attention to lectures. This generation seems convinced that they can successfully digest every bit of a lecture while also checking email, FaceBook and possibly IMing, although studies at MIT disprove this belief.</p>
<p>My daughter from the beginning decided not to take her laptop to class unless it was required and so far it hasn’t been. Instead she uses a Livescribe pen to take notes and record lectures. She loves it!</p>
<p>@proud_mom –> I end up turning the wifi off on my computer when I am in class to avoid going on facebook, etc. Besides keeping me off my the internet, it actually preserves my laptop’s battery life a bit more. I, too, record notes on my laptop when needed.</p>
<p>The livescribe pen sounds like a fantastic tool, though.</p>