Hi! I used to post on this board years ago when my son Chris was applying for colleges, and I found the forum so helpful, and he ended up in a great school with a great scholarship.
Now I’m working on my younger son’s college applications and I have a big problem. My 11th grade son is in a precarious situation where his gpa is currently almost high enough to qualify for some of the reduced tuition scholarships at our state schools, but I now need to formulate a plan to make sure that his gpa ultimately ends up high enough to get this price reduction. (He needs to have a 3.0 or higher, and he has about a 2.90 gpa right now.) We are lucky enough to have a program here that will allow him to take 2 classes for full high-school credit over the summer, but I need help figuring out if he should re-take classes that he got relatively low grades in (Cs), or if he should just take easy classes to try and get As to figure into the gpa calculation.
The high school counselor is busy and doesn’t seem to have a clear answer on this question. Are there private college counselors that people can hire for help with this stuff and how would I find one in my area?
Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!
That’s just math, though.
If the high school / college do grade replacement, replacing C’s with A’s is a better answer. If they don’t, an A in any class counts the same as an A in any other class, so it doesn’t matter.
I wouldn’t assume that summer school will be an easy A.
Thanks allyphoe! That’s exactly the kind of question I need answered. This summer school program has some easy classes like a PE class where you go work out and get credit for it, but that might just be an elective and wouldn’t count toward the regular gpa maybe??? I’m not really not sure how total gpa is calculated, that’s why I need a counselor!
What courses do your state schools consider when calculating the GPA? In California, for example, it’s only certain courses. PE wouldn’t be one of them.
College counselor here - not sure what state you are in, but I would NOT recommend repeating classes he has already taken. I’d suggest looking for other academic electives that interest him, and take those instead to raise the GPA.
Why did he get the C? Lack of work ?difficulty in the subject?
Does the high school offer grade replacement or not (read section in handbook) = I’d take grade replacement, it’d help the GPA more because the A (or B) would replace the C. If grade average (C+A= B average) it’s not worth repeating, he’s better off taking classes he finds interesting and where he gets a high A.
How’s Chris? I often wondered how he ajusted to his university since foe so long he was in denial of his financial circumstances - but most kids end up loving the university they attend!
Ok thanks @mom2adancer and @STF4717 !!! Right, that makes sense about PE, I suppose it’s only offered for kids who need an elective or a PE credit for some reason. What he needs are classes that will calculate into his GPA. Because it’s an online course with a proctored exam at the end of the class I can help him with the course work and make sure he’s on track, so he should be able to get As, as long as we choose relatively manageable classes and not Honors Physics or something. Thanks @STF4717 for the advice about taking new classes, I am getting some advice elsewhere that he should try to make up for some of the Cs he has, however those are in very hard classes (Algebra II and Physics), so we might not have a stellar result with that plan anyways.
@prezbucky might have some idea for you.
What is he likely to study in college? If he’s not headed into an STEM track, then he’s done with Algebra II and Physics. If he is on an STEM track, then he needs help figuring out what went wrong when he took those classes the first time before he tries them again.
Thanks @happymomof1! He is not on a STEM track; he likes the arts as well as English and History, so he would be more than happy to leave Algebra and Physics in the past! From everyone’s advice I am now thinking what might make sense is to take new classes that will be interesting and try hard to get As, and as long as they are not elective-type classes they should factor into his gpa.
Hi @MYOS1634! Chris is doing great and ended up loving his university! He graduates this May, how time flies!!!
My younger son has several Cs unfortunately, all in hard STEM classes, like Algebra I and II, Chemistry and Physics. His grades in everything else are As and Bs, so his overall gpa is hovering right around 3.0 and we want to be sure it is over 3.0, even just slightly, in order to get a reduced tuition price at one of our state schools.
I’m going to talk with the guidance counselor on Monday and try to figure out if grade replacement or just augmenting the gpa with new classes is the best plan. He has attended two high schools and I’m not really sure how grade replacement works at either school. In any case we are only dealing with the current school now, as well as the policies of the university he will be attending (it’s pretty much decided which school already, since financially it has to be a state school and he strongly prefers one of the three).
I will be glad when the college process is finished with this kiddo, my last one, it sure is a lot of work for parents!!!
If he has the STEM credits needed to graduate from his high school and to qualify for admission at the target university, I’d focus on classes he is interested in because he will be more motivated to do the amount of work needed to pull up his GPA.
I think I would check his target schools and ascertain how they calculate GPA and go from there. Every school has its own methodology.
Oh WOW, Chris graduates in MAY!!! o_O
Yes, how time flies… is an understatement!
He could apply to test optional colleges - some offer nice merit.
At female-skewing colleges (Connecticut College, College of Charleston, Goucher…) there is a strong incentive for the college to offer him a scholarship to attend if his test scores are above the college average.
He should prep very seriously to get the highest possible score. Staying in-state may not be necessary (if he doesn’t want to). Also, there’s WUE!
I echo others who have recommended taking classes in things that interest him. If he enjoys English and History, he could pick electives from those areas, provided there are such courses he has not yet completed.