<p>My son is a junior and he is very bright. He study very little but get most As for all his classes. But he does not get motivations to work harder to get into good colleges or try to do more work to get scholarships. He is getting most As and taking 4 AP this year and plan to take 4 more AP next year. He got more than 220 for his PSAT. He got 5 for US history last year. His SAT is 2160 and took math SATII last month and is going to take ACT this Saturday. But he would not do any practice tests at all no mater what I say. I think he has great potential to get into a very good college. But he does not want to put more efforts just to get into good colleges. He said he is happy to get into a decent public university with some sort of scholarships. Is he a typical high school junior? I just think he is not doing his best to achieve high goals.</p>
<p>WOW. If my S (who is also a jr) were taking 4 APs, getting mostly As, got a 220 on his PSAT and a 2160 on his SAT, I would be shouting from the rooftops. Your son is doing just fine, IMHO. You’re absolutely right-- he has great potential to get into a very good college. And there are very good public universities that are difficult to get into-- UCLA and UC Berkeley, to name 2!</p>
<p>rabbit2011,</p>
<p>In the US, a “decent public university” can be a better choice than a “good college”. Trust your son’s judgement on this. His grades are good, and his exam scores are excellent. He will have lots of opportunities. Here where you go to college is less important than your own personal drive and initiative.</p>
<p>What you do need to do, is decide how much money your family can afford to pay for his education. Run the EFC calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) Most colleges will expect you to pay more than your EFC, but some have big scholarships for a student with good grades and good SAT scores. You can find out more about that at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a> </p>
<p>Good luck to both of you!</p>
<p>I understand where the responders are coming from, but I also have a son similar to yours and “get” what you are saying (2300 SAT, 228 PSAT, all 5’s on AP exams). Here’s my best advice, take him to visit a couple top schools and go to the tours as well as the information sessions. They can hear all kinds of advice from their mom, but it’s MUCH more effective to hear from an admissions officer! I saw a complete change in my S after taking him to UNC Chapel Hill and he spent two summer enrichments at UVA. It made him WANT more for himself. I know that all you want is for your son to reach his full potential and for kids like this, where they can just “get by without effort”, they can begin to resign. Drag him to an info. session at some top schools (include smaller liberal arts schools as well as larger universities) and then also leave out on the coffee table, The Best 373 Colleges.</p>
<p>Excellent idea^^ above. If, however, that approach doe not work, you can assume your son will succeed in life, despite a name-brand college. He will most likely get excellent grades at his college, get into a great master’s program, or have the option of a top professional program. I see many seniors at Ivies struggle to be in the top 10 or 20 % of their class, as the competition is fierce. Many of the top 10%ers were careful to only enroll in (somewhat) easy A classes or majors, and avoid upper level grad courses to maintain a pristine GPA. (Not all, there are certainly many pure geniuses who challenged themselves.)</p>
<p>But, my point is that your son can have a happy, successful college career then, as a graduate, reach for a more prestigious program if he desires.</p>
<p>After April 1, ask him about his friends who are seniors: which colleges did they get into, and which ones turned them down. Both of you will be astonished at the number of smart kids who did not get into their top choice school. It’s a real eye-opener.</p>
<p>Help him get organized and schedule tests like the SAT II, but let him make some of his own decisions. After he gets his spring scores, he will be the one to decide whether to study for and retake the ACT or SATs. Let him grow up by taking responsibility for his college process. </p>
<p>I know these last 18 months before college are very difficult for families, so pick your battles carefully. There will be many to choose from…</p>
<p>Oh pleeez. Your son is already doing what you want, but on his terms. You want him to take APs, he’s taking 4 this year and 4 next year. You want him to get a good AP score, he gets 5s. You want him to do well in his standardized test. He got a 2160 in one, and he’ll be taking the SAT IIs and the ACT soon. </p>
<p>Leave him alone and remember your relationship is far more important than having him follow your every order just because you want him to get into a tippy top college.</p>
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<p>This is an excellent SAT score. No it’s not 800’s on all three sections but it’s mighty fine. </p>
<p>I think your son is doing very well. He’s just not doing what YOU want him to be doing. I would try to relax…he’s going to do just fine. He is doing well in school and already has a fine SAT score for college admissions that would be welcome at many colleges.</p>
<p>If YOU are aspiring for him to get into a college he isn’t aspiring to get into, just remember this…HE is the one going to college in a year and a half…not you.</p>
<p>Thank you for all our suggestions. They are all very helpful. I have struggles all the time for what I need to do to help him at this point.</p>
<p>I have a very bright son who had excellent test scores, took a rigorous course load, etc. He lacked the internal motivation - or perhaps he simply lacked the desire - to attend a “prestigious” college. He is more than happy to go to a state school, especially since he didn’t have to try too hard to apply/be accepted. He’s now a freshman, and he is doing fine. I suspect he will go to grad school, so it’s important that he not feel pushed … I don’t want him getting burned out early because he is doing what someone else wants him to do. He will get where he needs to be, and he will be happy on the path to that point. Relax and let your son enjoy his life … he is doing fine so far. Trust him.</p>
<p>2160’s good, but it’s definitely not great if there’s a lot of room for improvement.
He’d need some great sense of motivation, not just getting into college really, but finding something he’d like to do.
ie- intern for a newspaper (idk muckraking?), lobbying group like civil rights or something (there’s a lot down south!), medical charity, lab work, etc.
Internships aren’t hard to get because a lot of people are desperate for free help nowadays, and when he finds what he likes to do he’ll be great at it. But if he’s like 17 right now and he doesn’t find an interest that overwhelms him soon, who knows if he’ll ever really be that motivated to succeed later?</p>
<p>Thank you for your post. My son just sounds the same as your son. Lack of desire to go to prestigious colleges and does not want to try too hard while he can get what he is happy with very little efforts. I am glad to hear from someone like you understanding my feelings. I guess I should not worry much. He is planning to go to grad school so far.</p>
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<p>This is a fine SAT score. In fact, it’s more than fine. This student might not get accepted into the Ivy League but he will have good college choices with this SAT score.</p>
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<p>Even college students these days are having trouble finding internships and many of them already have experience in a particular field. Please show some evidence that internships “aren’t hard to get”. That is not the experience of many folks these days.</p>
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<p>I do hope this is tongue in cheek. MOST 17 year olds don’t have an “interest that overwhelm” them. In fact MOST college students switch majors several times during college. This OP’s son sounds like MANY 17 year olds…he isn’t ready to make a life’s commitment to something yet. So what? He will likely find his long term career somethime in the future and he has every chance of succeeding like most folks who do so after the age of 17.</p>
<p>As a parent I found it only clicked when my D set foot on campus.</p>
<p>Right now for your S its just numbers on tests, comparing stories/dreams with friends in high school, and its like AGES (defined as anything more than 6 months) before it becomes a reality. Meanwhile, YOU are pushing to make it sink in…Good luck. </p>
<p>So let your son “test drive” a range of schools ASAP and see and “feel” the differences. Pick a large public, an ivy, a small private, maybe even a CC for comparison. Let HIM sit in an underfunded Public school lecture hall with over 500 students, eat lunch where it may feel like high school, notice the furniture trashed in the dorms. Then hit the Ivy and small private and compare the deeper interaction with the profs, the swank woodwork and the sushi bar (YOU’LL be paying for) and determine city vs. burbs, big vs. small, northern winter vs. southern shorts in feb… </p>
<p>For many ‘utes’ its usually about peer group impressions, which few of his friends now have. But once your son sees HE has to decide which new peer group he wants, and then work for it, it may become more real. TRY to minimize your interaction on the visits, let him drink it all in (pun intended).</p>
<p>If he does not know current college students who may let him crash overnight, most schools will do a tour, but then let him walk the campus by himself for awhile. Repeat with 4 or so schools and you may find a new perspective…</p>
<p>Just because a person CAN get into a top-tier school doesn’t mean that they SHOULD go to one. There are many happy successful people who went to lesser colleges. </p>
<p>My oldest daughter toured some private schools and hated them all. She loved the state school she attended. No “lecture halls with over 500 students”, and a lot of individual attention from her professors - including several trips to international mathmatics conferances with the profs. </p>
<p>My younger daughter has an IQ over 150 and could excell accademically anywhere. She loved Ithaca, NY and could have gone to Cornell, but felt most comfortable at a small private college. She’s heading for her fourth international trip this spring (two Central American service projects and two European study), has the time for service and social projects that would be more difficult to make time for at Cornell. </p>
<p>I know someone who was traumatized and outraged when her gifted son decided to skip college and become an auto mechanic. He loves cars and is very happy to head off to work every day - something that many Ivy graduates do not share with him.</p>
<p>Your son is doing well, and can be successful anywhere. Let him go where he wants to go.</p>
<p>Welcome to the mothers of sons club- can’t make them do it, etc. Hopefully your state flagship has an Honors program. My son happily has done that.</p>
<p>I couldn’t even get my son to visit a college fair … let alone an actual college! Actually, he did visit one college with me, and he liked it a lot. In the end, that one was too expensive … :). </p>
<p>My daughter told me that the problem with her brother is that he isn’t like his sister … then reminded me that there is nothing wrong with that.</p>
<p>$$$ works well</p>