<p>thanks JL!</p>
<p>I am also concerned that OP’s son feels that his reason for the downward trend is because there were changes in the school administration, classes, teachers, etc and as a result he decided not to attend classes. A lot of this is just the nature of the beast when it comes to public education: administrators don’t get along with the school board, school districts, politicians, etc. Teachers come and go, funding cuts happen which affect certain program and the list goes on.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that CUNY and SUNY are straight numbers; either he makes the cutoff or he doesn’t.</p>
<p>As far as the private schools are concerned, if there a different set of circumstances, I would say to meet with the GC to get a feel for how s/he would address the situation in the recommendations. However, if your son “falls apart” at the high school level this may send flags to the admissions committee that he is not resilient and cannot adapt to change (and with college comes changes).</p>
<p>OP should also consider purchasing the online version of the US News because he can use it to pull together a list of schools by gpa/SAT scores.</p>