Important Crossroad.

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hi, </p>

<p>I guess I should introduce myself here. My name Joseph and I have a son who is a junior and a three year old baby girl. This is my first post. </p>

<p>My son is doing average in school. I suppose he maintains a very medicore GPA and a he is going to take the May SAT and that will be his first try. </p>

<p>However, he is really passionated about learning business and definite himself outside of the classroom. </p>

<p>We live near a highly respected public university and he is currently an intern with one of the professors at the business school, which is one of the best in the country. He is loving it even though it is a lot of work and it is slightly affecting his grades, although I am not really concerned since the change is only slight. </p>

<p>However he is choosing his courses for next year and his professor wants him to take some business courses at the business school itself. Of course he stills needs to take about 4 courses at the General College first before he is allowed to take classes at the business school due to basic collegiate requirements. </p>

<p>But I am increasingly worried after I saw his school courses next year. He is taking two APs, (Stat and English) and 3 Honors. His school runs on a 7 period day. </p>

<p>He wants to take 3 classes next year too at the college. By some luck of the draw his scedhule actually worked out perfectly. The university classes are on alternating days and just somehow all the classes was able to squeeze in with each other. </p>

<p>I am not sure how hard those courses will be, he is thinking taking mostly introduction level Econ classes. </p>

<p>So I was wondering if parents have any previous experience with situation like this? I am not sure wether it would be good for his development or not. Actually, to be honest, I am a little confused as to what to do at this point.
He seems pretty determine to do this yet neither him or I have any idea as to what to expect. </p>

<p>Thanks, any help would be much appericated.</p>

2

<p>Welcome to cc! It sounds like your son is attempting too much. How about taking 2 courses this summer instead, and then perhaps one next year?</p>

3

<p>Welcome from me, too. This is a good time of the year to discuss next year's plans with the GC, including scheduling. Could some of the classes suggested by the prof double count or replace some other high school course? If he takes the college classes, could his high school workload be reduced? </p>

<p>Also, what are your son's college plans? Does he want to attend the local university where he is already familiar? Or does he want to go elsewhere? If the latter, he should perhaps focus on his high school performance more; if the former, he may have an in from doing the internship. Having the support of the prof and the work experience is a big plus, mitigating the weak GPA. It shows commitment and passion.</p>

4

<p>hi Joseph~</p>

<p>Welcome to CC!! </p>

<p>Last year my son was a senior in h.s., and he took a full schedule of all honors/AP courses. He also took Calc classes at the local university during both semesters. To be honest with you, even if the scheduling would work, I think a full h.s. schedule + <em>3</em> college courses is excessive and will prove to be very stressful for him. As marite said, I think I would consult your GC to see what s/he thinks of the idea. Each class is going to have its own homework, so it's not just a matter of scheduling in the classes themselves, but also the associated work. Also, does your son particpate in any time-consuming ECs? If so, that will prove to be nearly impossible with his planned schedule. Since your son maintains "a very mediocre GPA" as is, I think adding three college course at this point may have a detrimental effect on his h.s. grades.</p>

<p>Your son sounds like a very determined young man! You should be SO proud of him. BUT, you don't want him to burn out too early.....education is not about who does it FASTEST, but who does it LONGEST!</p>

<p>Best of luck to your son!</p>

<p>~berurah</p>

5

<p>A student's perspective:</p>

<p>I am a huge fan of education and the wonders that it can do for our society... as long as lives aren't lost! I attended a very challenging high school and felt like I did fairly well. However, I made some tough decisions along the way. I held a job through most of my high school career, a decision which a few of my teachers openly disapproved of. I made decisions in my personal life that were controversial as well, namely getting married straight out of high school. </p>

<p>While I enjoyed high school a lot, I have been somewhat hardened to the mindset that school is everything. My work experience has been unmeasurably educational, and I dont regret my decison to get married.</p>

<p>I am starting college this coming year, after having taken a year off. What I have learned from my experience is that there are far too many high school kids out there who arent enjoying life (not that its all about having fun though). Parents forget a lot of what they have learned when it comes to their kids, and arent realistic. In many job fields, your education matters but it isnt going to rocket you up the corporate ladder. Your work ethic, personality, and performance are the trick to doing well in this world. Also, there are so many parents out there whose biggest wish for their children is for them to be happy. However, their biggest expectation of their children is to excel in school and make something of themselves. I think if most parents are honest with themselves, their social status, job, income, etc arent the lifeblood of a happy existence.</p>

<p>I just wish that parents would get to know their kids and focus more on them as people and shower more love instead of opportunities.</p>

6

<p>Hi Thanks for all the advice, </p>

<p>My son talked with GC right before his springbreak. She has a netural opinion on the situation. I called her yesterday and she said, "Do whatever your heart feels right" and I dont really know what to think of that. </p>

<p>However, she did suggest to my son a reduced high school courseload. She told my son to switch some of his classes and below are the modified version of his classes. He has to take AP Lit and Stat since they are no other math courses avaiable for him to take. The Honors, as she told me, are mostly newer courses and are signficantly easier. He would be on a reduced 5 period day instead of seven. Also his college grades will not be factored in his high school GPA, they will appear on a separate sheet and will be done by the university instead of the school. </p>

<p>Honors World Topics
Honors Frech III
Honors Biology II
AP English and Literature
AP Statistics </p>

<p>Here are the courses that my son is interested in taking next year. </p>

<p>Economics 101
Microeconomics
Organizaional Behavior and Decision Models for Businesses</p>

<p>Being in the health care field, I really do not know anything about businesses at except for a few random classes in college many years ago. </p>

<p>He is only willing to hard his heart in classes that he enjoys, mainly the non-science sector. He usually stays up night after night for a class that he loves. However when it comes to classes that he detests, such as this horrible science course last year, we had to get some serious help for him to get through that class. Science classes are what his GPA are low in. It rather ironic since everyone in our family has a B.A. in some sort of science field. </p>

<p>As for Extra-cirrulars, he plays rugby but their pratice is only bi-weekly since it is city youth club. He attends a few club at school but nothing overly time-consuming. </p>

<p>Colleges, his first choice schools are the Wharton School of Business at Penn and the Stern School of Business at NYU.<br>
He also has a strong interest in the university he currently intern for. And his grades are in that ballpark. </p>

<p>Any other help would be greatly apperciated. </p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

7

<p>If he can get a reduced high school workload and he is eager to take the college classes and think he can do well in them, I would say let them take the college classes. As you noted, he will work hard for the classes he likes.</p>

<p>Make sure he fulfills all the high school requirements and the standard college high school requirements (4 years of English, 3 years of lab sciences, 3-4 years of math, 3 years of social studies and 3 years of a foreign language).</p>

<p>As for Wharton and Stern, they are both very hard to get into. He might consider also applying to some other schools that are good but less selective, such as Babson College in MA.</p>

8

<p>Yes, what marite says is true. There is a mantra here that is "love thy safety." Wharton and Stern are reaches for everyone, even straight A students. You should pick some schools that are safeties, meaning that he will get in, then matches, meaning that he should get in because his statistics meet the average or above of that school, and then some reaches, meaning that there is no certainty of acceptance, but a possibility. If he doesn't get into the school of his dreams, he can start at another, do really well and then try to transfer to the other school. If you want to find out about which schools have which majors and how they are ranked, try the Princeton Review or College Board which has a matching service online. It will tell you which schools based on your son't criteria would be matches or safeties for him.</p>

9

<p>A contrarian point of view.... whether he's shooting for Wharton or a less selective school, he'll end up taking Macro and Micro anyway... even if he's in a more advanced class or section. My vote would be for a math class at the college if he's exhausted the math offerings at his HS. Organizational behavior is nice.... but the secret to doing well in college is having a strong preparation in core academic subjects in HS. AP stats is great but it's not the same as BC calc (unless he's already taken it.)
Having a demonstrated interest in business is great, but it's no substitute for strong quantitative and analytical skills if he's targeting schools like Wharton and Stern.</p>

10

<p>"Colleges, his first choice schools are the Wharton School of Business at Penn and the Stern School of Business at NYU. "</p>

<p>Wharton is the toughest business school to get into for undergrad. Students from all around the world apply to Wharton with perfect stats and all, many of them getting turned down. Getting acceptence to Wharton is on level with getting into universities like Harvard and Stanford, maybe even more difficult. I'm not saying this to put your son down, just to give you realistic expectations. Work with your son and come up with a list of colleges that will include both reaches (Stern/Wharton), matches, and safety schools. Also, make sure the schools he selects (even safetys) are schools that he would be happy to attend if he didnt get into wharton/stern.</p>