<p>My son has recently returned from his fourth semester at an average college and we have sat down and talked about how his education is going, I think he is going to end up regretting his decisions.</p>
<p>He had a 87 average in 9nth grade a 88 in 10nth a 89 in 11nth and a 90 in 12th. His SAT score was a 1280 and when he was in middle school he used to read alot. When he got to college he was extremely confused and sampled every course he could from premed bio to calc to urban planning to business and many others.</p>
<p>Somehow he is still on track to graduate normally with his poli sci major, he has always mentioned that he wants to go to law school. His GPA in college has gone from 3.3 to 3.4 to 3.5 to 3.6 every semester and now he has about a 3.48 (and two unweighted W's).</p>
<p>-His goal is to have a 3.6
-Has zero extracurricular's but also doesn't party</p>
<p>He thinks he will get into a top 75 law school and do OK in life. Is he lying to myself?</p>
<p>The zero doing anything else is what would worry me not the gpa. What’s he doing all the time? It’s those ecs that make a person a better person and a better candidate for jobs, makes them more personable, more curious, they make contacts…</p>
<p>However, going to a non-top law school may not exactly result in great employment prospects to go along with the law school debt. (Law employment is supposedly very prestige-conscious with respect to one’s law school.)</p>
<p>I agree with stradmom. He’s chugging along fine. I would not be concerned. Regarding the law degree, I know several people one a head of a global HR department, one in hospital administration, one in finance who handles intellectual property…all doing well financially, all with law degrees that relate well to what they do in life… so a law degree doesn’t necessarily mean you “practice law.” He may also switch curves on you and if he gets an advanced degree it might be in business you simply can’t predict the future with kids this age.</p>
<p>Nagging sure won’t help. What is he doing this summer? Work or volunteering? Since it is your home, you do have the right to insist that he “earn” room and board by being out of the house doing something constructive. </p>
<p>But don’t nag. Tell him your expectations, and if he doesn’t get busy doing something, then after a week or whatever limit you set, help him pack up to move in with a friend.</p>
<p>Law school is not a wise choice unless you go to a top school and do well there. The market is just terrible and he won’t make enough money to pay back loans.</p>
<p>He should only be considering law school if you, the parent, are in a position to pay for it. The other alternative is for him to work a few years and save money for tuition or work during the day and go to night school. Taking loans to go to a top 75 law school is not a good move. Why does he think he wants to practice law?</p>
<p>-he dabbles in fields like sales and bookkeeping. He doesn’t make much but with that and his knack for stocks he gets by and makes more than minimum wage. </p>
<p>-He is starting to settle down</p>
<p>-No but he is limiting his education by getting mediocre grades</p>
<p>-that was a typo</p>
<p>-he claims that the experienced professionals he speaks to say he would be fine where he is going.</p>
<p>-I don’t want him to struggle, what do you mean by OK, I had a 4.0 in biology in college and now I scrape by with a little over 90k</p>
<p>-we know</p>
<p>-I agree</p>
<p>-you mean slightly above average is good? considering that 70% of america goes to college and another 10% are “privileged”, while most struggle to retire, and people with masters degrees can’t get jobs</p>
<p>-he makes enough to pay for everything but his room and food.</p>
<p>-I don’t think anybody is going to recognize this post I am sure there are another 20,000 people just like</p>
<p>-yeah but that goes with most graduate programs</p>
<p>-he has taken a few law courses and says it comes easy to him and he has always wanted to become an attorney, I am not going to pay off his loans but I will cosign.</p>
<p>Good grief, you should not be “struggling” on 90,000 a year as that is almost double the average income in this country and I think you are being alittle judgmental but glad you got it off your chest.</p>
<p>Send this kid to my house. I’ll tell him about when I was in college. I could teach him a thing or two about underachieving and ruining his life. </p>
<p>I’m really kind of puzzled by this post. He got grades right around B+/A- in high school. I assume he went to a regular-people high school, and not Choate or Exeter or New Trier or Stuyvesant? And then he went to a regular-people college, where over time his grades have edged back up to about B+/A-. I kind of don’t get where the surprise is. </p>
<p>Or, really, the worry. There are almost infinitely many paths from where he is now to an adult life in which he’ll be a perfectly responsible grown-up, with the ability to take care of himself</p>