<p>“Life isn’t really determined by high school for a lot of people.”</p>
<p>Midmo…I do believe this comment really belongs on the thread
“CC Chestnuts”…</p>
<p>I can tell you what worked for my friend’s D.</p>
<p>When I was taking DS1 on college visits, she asked if she and her soph D could go with us the next time we visited a campus that wasn’t too far away. </p>
<p>So, soon after, they came with us. Well, this D was so excited by what she saw at this school (the beautiful campus, the fabulous rec center, the really cool dorms, the eating venues, the various clubs, the fascinating labs and classrooms), that she realized that for her to go to such a place, she’d have to get good grades - especially after she heard the admissions counselor speak to us about requirements and such. She was a bit too young to “take in” all the academic offerings of the school, but she was able to pick up on fact that this was a place that she’d like to be.</p>
<p>So…my advice…pick a beautiful and full-featured campus that’s not too far away, and take your child there. Don’t focus too much on the majors and academic offerings ( a little, but not too much), but show them all the cool things colleges have today - many rec centers on colleges are fabulous-looking! Show them the off-campus “hang outs” (typically there is a “strip” off campus where the kids hang out during the off hours.) Watch a favorite sport while you’re there. </p>
<p>I can also tell you that my own DS1 was very moved by his first college visit that we did his junior year. He’s always been a strong student, but he was slow about looking into colleges or caring about “the college search process.” But, after his first campus visit, he was raring to go. LOL</p>
<p>Many naive HS kids think that college will just be a dragging extention of boring high school. Introducing them to a cool campus will show them that it’s not. You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to improve one’s grades. A high school freshman is not too young for this - especially if you “tailor” the visit and exclude any parts that might be tooooo much focused on academics.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>This sort of happened to me…</p>
<p>Freshman year was fine, I had good enough grades and there was no problem. Then last year as a sophmore, I kind of tuned out and I had some problems and my grades dropped A LOT. At the end of the year, I didn’t even care anymore.</p>
<p>I spent the summer relaxing, doing some non-stressful things, and I ended up quitting field hockey too. I feel as if I’m in a different mindset now, and as a junior I’m just trying to get my grades back in shape. It may be stressing me out a lot now, but I know that I have to make up for what I lost last year.</p>
<p>I go to a very good public school, so it’s not hard to see all of the students around you whom are taking multiple AP’s, juggling various EC’s, and dealing with the rest of the stress that comes along with junior year, and think,“Wow, I really need to do better.”</p>
<p>Also, even though I’ve never been, and never will be a competitive person, I feel like I need to do just as well, or better than my older brother did in high school. (He had some issue’s freshman year, and maybe some sophomore year, but after that he did REALLY well.)</p>
<p>I think the whole idea of the college process made us work harder. I certainly don’t want to be the person who was only accepted to their safeties. As freshman, sometimes students don’t care because they figure they have time to make up for it, and that college is so far away it won’t make a difference.</p>
<p>I’ve been “stalking” your posts BfloGal, because it seems like we ( and perhaps worth noting, NOT our kids…) are looking for a similar fit. My son is a year ahead of yours, and has sort of “kicked” it into gear ( he knows what he has for homework, does it, and turns it in…mostly…), but it will be hard to shake the 2.78 GPA he finished sophomore year with ( just calculated it yesterday…didn’t know it was THAT low…). Even if he got all B’s from here on in ( and that would take some hard work), he may not make that 3.0 i time for applications. Maybe that’s not what you want to hear. </p>
<p>OTOH, he is a great kid, he has several strengths, I am not thinking he’s going to turn into a “great student”, and that seems like a bit of a relief too. He won’t be one of those “everything I did in high school was for nothing!” kids. I may be wrong, but it makes me feel like there is not some “perfect place” where he must be for those four years of his life. It just has to be good enough.</p>
<p>Hi shrinkrap, yes I agree, we are looking for a similar fit. I’ve seen your posts elsewhere too and maybe we have twin sons of different mothers (I think there was an album by that name long ago)? What kills me is my S is intelligent but just not dedicated or disciplined, and if he finishes HS with >3.0 GPA I will be thrilled beyond words. My fear is that he will be applying with something like 2.5-2.9 unless he puts the proverbial pedal to the metal–soon.</p>
<p>I totally agree-- they will find a good-enough place, hopefully one where they will both be happy and find their paths. In the meantime, I try to stay calm…</p>