<p>For all those parents that think high school GPA's and ACT/SAT scores can predict college success, think again! </p>
<p>My D#2 had potential in HS but never really tapped into it. She graduated with a 2.8 GPA and a 19 ACT (after 3 tries). She started at a community college and then transferred to a university for her second year. She was then admitted into the school's highly competitive nursing program thanks in part to the 3.9 GPA she was carrying at the time. She is now set to graduate in a couple weeks with a BSN (RN) from Northern Illinois University and will do so with honors!</p>
<p>Did your son or daughter succeed in college despite a lower HS GPA and/or test scores? Please share!</p>
<p>Congratulations! It’s always good to read others’ success stories. </p>
<p>Daughter of a good friend had a similar experience, also involving NIU. Mediocre high school record and wanted to go to beauty school. Her mom convinced her to give a community college business curriculum a try. The girl took an accounting course, really liked it, and did well. After getting her associates degree, she was admitted to UIUC but chose NIU because she could live at home and save money. She graduated eight years ago, got a great job, got an MBA at her employer’s expense, and now is controller of a mid-sized manufacturer. She just turned 30 and has a six-figure income.</p>
<p>That’s a great story, Mamadubbs, and more dramatic than my son’s record. He went from a 3.5 and a 24 (3 ACT tries and 1 SAT try) to graduating first in his college class, with a 3.99 GPA, in a very difficult major. Maybe it’s because he was a late birthday;).</p>
<p>Also, important to note here, is that he was not accepted at his first choice school. I am now convinced that most students can do perfectly fine in this situation, and may end up really liking the #2 or #3 school.</p>
<p>Mine also did “better” statistically in college than high school and my good friend’s son went from being kicked out of college to graduating magna cum laude several years later at a different college. I like these stories because this discussion board often focuses on getting them into college and sometimes all you hear about post high school are the train wrecks…it’s the outcome of watching your kids walk through graduation that is the best! Congrats OP…enjoy the feeling!</p>
<p>Both of my daughters did the same.
They attended a performing arts “Fame”-style HS and did not put as much attention on their academics as one would have hoped. I honestly worried that they would finish HS or not. One daughter (2.9/1100 M&CR only) was recruited by a major dance company, but simultaneously gained acceptance and a sizable scholarship to a BA program at a top-50 school, based on her talent. When she got there, the dance program and the teachers were uninspiring, and she began taking almost all academic classes, virtually dropping the dance. She went directly from undergrad into an academic PhD program, which she completed in record time with honors.</p>
<p>The second daughter was similar (2.9/1050 SAT CR&M only), and she too received a large scholarship at an East Coast urban school based on her talent as a filmmaker. Almost identical pattern – after 4 hours per day, five days per week working on her film making skills, she was far enough ahead of her classmates that she was bored in her discipline classes and started taking other academics. At the time she said, “I’m clearly a better filmmaker, but the other kids know more than me.” She then became inspired by another subject entirely, dropped film and went on to complete a MA in her new subject.</p>
<p>It’s all worked out well, but it surely was a knuckle-biter for quite a while there…</p>
<p>S2 is the poster child for this thread! In h.s. he had a 3.0ish (weighted) and a 960 SAT (m+cr) on his one and only attempt. Refused to retake. To go along with that he had one F and half a dozen C’s on his transcript. Let’s just say he wasn’t the teachers’ pet.</p>
<p>We thought he would end up at CC but he got accepted to two directional state u’s so we decided to let him try. First semester…debacle…gpa .80 (4 F’s 2 D’s)…Academic Probation.</p>
<p>He really liked his university/begged to go back so we gave him one more semester. He got his act together. Graduated (2012) in four years and drug that .80 all the way up to a respectable 3.05. We couldn’t be more proud of him…oh yeah…he has a job too!</p>
<p>I went from a C- or D+ (depending on how you translate 20-max grades in Elbonia (13.5/20.0) to getting in 1st in my class in the Elbonian national university entrance exam, finishing 5th with a pretty good average (B+, nobody ever gets A), then increasingly better grades in the US culminating with grad school average (2 grad degrees, engineering) of 3.85 to 3.90.</p>
<p>I think their brains grow in college. Seriously, though. I think the decision making and discipline areas develop a lot in those first couple of years. My D1 had MUCH better grades & stats in college, and is a very successful graduate and in her first job. I wouldn’t have imagined this level of success looking at her as a 16 year old!</p>
<p>Brains grow even faster after college in challenging workplaces. After 3 degrees I decided to go for the 4th in the #2 or #3 ranked program in the US at the time at Purdue. Despite being 10-15 years older than everyone else I would not be bragging if I said that my classmates could not hold a candle to me and all that. Not because I was smarter, but in terms of having a decade of real world experience to make my work better (organize thoughts into a term paper, perform research, real life experience on the subject, problem solving, figuring out what’s important on a test, and so on).</p>
Seriously, though. I think the decision making and discipline areas develop a lot in those first couple of years. My D1 had MUCH better grades & stats in college, and is a very successful graduate and in her first job. I wouldn’t have imagined this level of success looking at her as a 16 year old!</p>