We’re driving D21 to college soon, and D23 has agreed to stop at a few other campuses on the way home, as long as she approves the list. She also made me promise no tours, no information sessions, and that we only stay as long as she wants to, which could mean not getting out of the car. She’s definitely a kid who makes snappy judgments. She said no to a couple of places because “I don’t know, I just don’t like it,” after maybe a minute and a half of researching. Anyway, I’ll take what I can get, and drive or walk around tours are certainly good enough at this early stage. We started early with D21 as well, and she was grateful to have had some real tours under her belt before applying.
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Just had a nice moment with D23. I showed her naviance - we were in SC for a vacation lately and College of Charleston got a lot of hype from family members during our visit. Then someone mentioned the school at her work the other day. She thought the universe might be telling her something. So I showed her the Naviance scattergram and just said-if you’re really interested - this is what you need to aim for your GPA and SAT’s to be admitted. It would, actually, be a very nice school for her!
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The school year started. This summer the kid was already talking about dropping foreign language. Then he got assigned the “bad” teacher. I was actually impressed with the email he sent the guidance counselor asking if he could drop the course even though school already started. They are letting him drop. He’s done 2 years of foreign language already. At this point, he wasn’t going for competitive colleges anyway. I agree we should be focusing on GPA recovery.
We had to talk to the guidance counselor the end of last year to let him drop to the easy math sequence after barely squeaking by with a C in precalc. He has no interest in applying for an engineering or math major at this time.
I simply can’t fight with this kid to do schoolwork anymore. He wants to go to college and I have no doubt he will be successful in whatever he chooses to do as an adult. If he doesn’t feel he is control with some of his class choices he digs his heels in the sand. No idea where he gets his stubbornness from. 
He is not taking the most rigourous classes but in the end I think it will be okay. I hope.
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It will be more than ok. It will be great 
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So, making my DS 23 go to interest meetings for various clubs. Reports so far:
- Photography club – Yearbook kids that can’t get into the right cliques. Not my thing.
- Red Cross Club – They do nothing. Just something for college resume.
- Key club – They babysit and claim to do service.
- Idea club – They protest, too woke for me. Don’t want to get arrested.
- Science Olympiad (I knew this one would be fun) – Absolutely not. They did not even pretend to have any fun. Who wants to study for a bunch of tests anyway?
I think the kid will do well with a couple of gap years. A Trader Joe’s is opening up nearby. I call it his future place of employment every time we pass by.
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Now my son does many activities but he too was a big gamer. He just very recently deleted a game in which he was pretty good at I guess (I have no idea about that stuff but I try not to belittle things I don’t understand that he is serious about). He’s had gaming videos get about 76k views and stuff on social media which isn’t a ton but he was pretty active in it. He is slowly maturing. Said he realized he was spending too much time on the game and not concentrating on other things and losing too much sleep and had to make some adjustments.
But this led him to thinking that maybe a college with an esport club or something may be something he would want to add to his list of things to consider.
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I saw a college recently (can’t remember which one, maybe Coe or Cornell College in Iowa?) that had an esports scholarship!
A student from our high school got an esports scholarship last year.
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Also considering having our daughter let go of foreign language. Online learning last year was a disaster for her, so trying to build on that second year would be impossible, since she learned so little.
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We were in person. But it’s my second kid to have a particular teacher. Too much time is spent with her nitpicking and being triggered and angered by students. My first kid through had an iep so we gave her the benefit of the doubt. But after kid #2, I can see his frustration. I know much of the time in class was her dealing with sassy kids and not teaching.
My kid wrote a nice email saying how he felt ill prepared after last year. He really wants to learn a new language but will retake it in college.
There’s only 2 teachers in the school I don’t care for, and of course this child got stuck with both of them. Yes he should have to learn to deal with teachers he doesn’t like but I’m not going to tell him I don’t like them either. I just said I agreed he should focus on core courses this year to score well on ACT and raise his GPA.
I myself teach. I know how a teachers attitude can make or break learning for some kids. At this point, forcing him to stay in that class wasn’t worth the stress to my child.
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It is kind of sad really with all these gamer kids. It is frowned upon as extracurricular activity and yet, so many schools are building e-game facilities in their dorms to attract kids, particularly STEM kids.
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FYI My son isn’t taking a foreign language this year either, he has 3 years already (they can start in eighth grade). I also think that the work on GPA, especially after last year, is more important than having another year of foreign language and it will be ok for the less selective schools that he is a fit for. BTW, my daughter also didn’t take a 4th year of spanish…she was an arts student and wanted to take choir, and it worked out just fine for her when applying for schools as a theater arts major.
Funny about the clubs, @1dadinNC, at least he is giving the meetings a try! Mine is not. I’m actually trying to talk him into starting a Fishing Club. To be honest, there are not many clubs that appeal to students like him who are mostly just into sports. They are all either academic/crafty/arty/service oriented, which are all wonderful but nothing for the students/guys who just want to play sports and game.
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Any suggestions for which colleges to apply in TX with a GPA in this range? No sports, had to quit due to injury 
Interested in business school but still not sure which specific major. First kid in the family applying, we are new to the experience.
UT Dallas would be my first thought.
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There are many schools that would admit at that range. If you want state schools then Texas Tech and affiliated schools are great. Budget makes a huge difference too. Full pay kids can basically get into many private schools that might seem to be out of GPA range.
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Just a few weeks into school here and things that I am happy about…D23 has a mandatory SAT prep class every day. Thank you, school! She actually said she finds it motivating and it’s helping her in Algebra 2 because the SAT’s make Algebra 2 feel important to her. She’s a good kid! She got her permit and has her first driving lesson tomorrow. She’s staying on at her summer job two afternoons per week and Saturdays. I asked her to please be open to activities and not choose work over getting involved at school and she agreed but…I think the lure of money might be more attractive than the mock trial club…
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Texas Christian University? I think it would be a good school for kids in this GPA range, but I’m not certain. Could someone else elaborate?
Maybe Austin College?
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I don’t know much about the Midwest, but maybe schools in North Dakota could be good for kids in this GPA range (if you can deal with the cold!) :
If I remember, I think North Dakota is one of the states included in WUE!
There isn’t an article, but maybe look at University of South Dakota and South Dakota State?
It never hurts to dig a bit deeper when looking at colleges!
I’d recommend creating a new thread in the College Search and Selection forum - you’ll get a lot more eyes on it there and will be able to get suggestions from people other than those who frequent the Parents of High School Class of 2023 forum. I did this when my S21 was applying and got some good suggestions (he ended up in New England, as I’d thought he might, but I the thread was helpful to me in giving me some schools to research that hadn’t crossed my radar yet). If you do it, I’d suggest creating a fairly specific title for the post…mine was Need suggestions: Southeastern school for quirky kid who wants liberal arts and it generated not only school ideas but some helpful discussion - both in terms of what I heard and in terms of what I was pushed to think about, specific, and articulate. Best of luck!
Lots of great Texas schools for this range! Texas Tech, UTSA, UNT, Texas State are just a few!!
UTD has gotten a bit more selective but still definitely could be a match.
I’m not familiar with Stephen F Austin, Tarleton or Midwestern State but those could be solid safeties as well!