I do want to add that the point that pre-med and science majors are well advised to retake their courses at college is good advice, as many have noted. However, a lot of the kids I hear of getting in trouble are just solid students who, since they were hot stuff in high school, sign up for a really rigorous schedule first semester. These students didn’t NEED to be in chemistry or biology. For those students who CAN do so, it’s better to take these courses through AP, DE, or any time but first semester.
My son came in with 34 DE hours from Ole Miss plus a bunch of AP credits, so he had the luxury of taking a couple of easy courses. Any parents out there who have the opportunity to send their kids to a flagship summer program after their junior year in high school should do so. Nothing prepares kids for college classes so much as actually taking a couple. In my opinion, taking the classes at community college isn’t the same.
My son is happy with his fraternity decision, but the pledging process is time consuming, including some late nights. He made a 4.0 his freshman semester, but only because one of his teachers didn’t deduct a grade-point for absences as he said he would. So, blind luck.
I think you need to be careful about painting with too broad a brush. Some community colleges are very good; others not so much, in terms of rigor and class offerings. And many high schools, both public and private, offer very rigorous classes, which would give introductory courses at many universities a run for their money.
Everybody needs to try to assess their student’s unique aptitude, preparation, and drive. Better to err on the safe side for most, especially those with premed aspirations (where both a high GPA and class rigor are key). For many, however, it just makes no sense to repeat a class solely for an easy A. Believe it or not, four years (eight semesters) is not that much time to explore a range of subjects, especially if your major has a very demanding and/or proscribed “flowchart.” Why waste a class?
IMO, I think past generosity with regard to the Presidential Scholarship masked a HUGE range of aptitudes among “top” students. There’s a very big difference between a student who graduated with a 3.8 weighted GPA and took the ACT three times (after prepping all summer) to finally achieve a 32 and another who has a 4.0+ unweighted and got a 35 the first time she took it. Also, there’s a wide chasm in terms of preparation (regardless of innate aptitude) between the student who attended a small public high school with a few (or no) APs and someone who attended a magnet or elite prep school where Calc 3 and Differential Equations were offered.
Some kids will enter into engineering or other very challenging majors and hit the ground running because of previous preparation (both in terms of subject matter and experience managing heavy homework loads, etc.). Other very bright students will stumble because they’ve never had to deal with the demands of a college-level weeder class and “just don’t know what they don’t know.”
Again, I think it’s best not to generalize. Too many variables - which is why you need to know YOUR student.
Great advice about knowing your student. Thing is, no one really does know what they are capable of until they are placed in the situation.
Think of athletics. S06 was friends with many people on his D1 basketball team. One of the guys was complaining to him, saying that he wishes he was in high school again. Why? Because in HS, he was big man on campus, averaging 25 points per game and the star of his team. At the D1 school, he struggled to be a starter.
Academics is the same way. Some kids never try in HS, but thrive in the difficulty of college. Others are the opposite. But there’s literally no way of knowing how accurate your own kid’s 32 ACT is.
@LucieTheLakie You are correct that a lot of community colleges do have good course offerings. Some colleges won’t accept DE credits from junior colleges. Just something to keep in mind. I thought it was really helpful for me to be able to “coach” my son through his first couple of college classes, including my being able to warn him that he needed a backup plan for his forced group project in the event one of the students flaked (indeed, one of the students flaked). So he was more or less able to “save the day” for his group by being prepared for a potential flake.
Back in 1973 my brother made a 33 on the ACT; I think it was the highest score in our state that year. In those days, no one took the test twice. Same for when I took it. Now the expectation is that a talented student will take the test multiple times. My nephew, who has a slow processing speed, took the ACT eight times, with a first score of 24 and a final score of 34. His challenge was just being able to finish. He’s a smart kid, but a slow worker. My son is a bit faster, but still a slow worker in math.
One of the things that has surprised me is how few parents are aware of the money that can be had for having a decent ACT score, whether from Ole Miss or Alabama (or elsewhere, but these are the two jackpot schools). I talk to people who are my good friends, but they just seem mystified about the notion that a child might spend a year working to dramatically improve his ACT score. I guess it is for the best, as it leaves the money there for those who want it.
I’m actually one of those parents who would never want my kid to spend a year prepping for the ACT or SAT - unless landing a full scholarship was the ONLY way to pay for college. A little prep, yes - as in taking a practice test - but not a whole lot beyond that. I still get upset that my son blew off prepping for the PSAT (or even going to bed at a decent hour) because his counselors told him it was just a “practice test” and never mentioned the NMSQT! He missed NMF by a point or two, and that fifth year of funding would have been really nice, not to mention a year of free housing.
If it took a lot of prepping to qualify, I would worry that my kid would struggle to keep up in class with those kids who aced those tests with little or no prep. If my son hadn’t been a good standardized test taker, I probably would have pushed him towards some decent private that offered a lot of merit and need-based aid.
I do get why families push the prep, however, now that I see how many were able to land full scholarships as a result!
-Watch the Chem labs; fail 3 labs and you fail the class. You think it won’t happen but it can; kids were getting 12 am and pm confused with getting pre labs in or having computer problems or conflicts with another class or whatever; miss turning in the pre lab on time or have a lab partner who fools around and causes you to fail a lab…you see where I’m going with this. It was a hard lesson to learn.
-Put the drop dates on parents’ calendar too. Not just the first one but also the one where you get a W which is better than failing; know where you stand in class as some professors don’t put the grades online til the end
-Don’t use your friend’s clicker to mark him present for class; the professor will catch both of you and it’s an honor violation and will have repercussions (yes some kids did that); just go to class; many professors give surprise quizzes or give you credit for attendance
-Use those office hours when a professor offers it; too many benefits to list, just go
-do the HW; you’d be surprised how doing HW can bump up your grade
-son pledged engineering fraternity sophomore year; much better as it allowed him to get his groove freshman year; he is a NMF scholar/honors program so not a lot of room to be screwing up although I must say UA’s scholarship probationary period is VERY GENEROUS
-Yes on CLEP; son cleped Chemistry; be aware it covers 101 and 102; he had 101 previously then self taught 102; test only had a few questions from 102
-the aerospace program IMO is not as developed as some of the “old stand bys”; so many of my son’s friends switch from aero to mechanical realizing there are not that many aero opportunities just yet; it’s growing but not there yet; hoping also they start getting more aero coops than just the one or two in previous years