Ok moving to different state was extremely hard/depressing on my kid. He struggled to fit in new school at the start of highschool. He picked up two F and ended up with with GPA of 2.0 but the 2nd semester of 9th grade he made mostly A’s and Two c’s. Made A in online remedition courses. Now his final GPA for 9th grade is a close to 3.0. Should we move him back to previous school school system in different state and repeat 9th grade? He would like to get into Duke or into BSMD program. If he continues making A’s without repeating 9th grade, he can max out his unweighted GPA at around 3.7 and weighted GPA above 4.0 before applying to colleges. He recently took ACT in April. His ACT score was 32 with 9 in writing section. Thanks for your valuable input. He was straight A student prior to moving but college wont be able to see grades prior to 9th grade.
If you’re aiming for the most selective schools and programs, repeating 9th grade is not a bad idea.
It sounds like your child has already started to adjust and grades have rebounded. Some schools dont even look at freshman year grades and most say they want to see an upward trend. I think if he gets back on track going forward and his standardized test scores are great (which they should be with a 32 in freshman year), he should be a competitive applicant.
As an aside, I’m not sure repeating 9th grade and moving to another school sends a great message. Your child will be needing to fit in somewhere new when he goes to college as well. Adaptability is a good life skill. I think there may be value in focusing on the positives. Pretty cool that he was able to get his grades back on track second semester and refocus. That’s worth celebrating.
So letting him move into different state and start high school from beginning and graduate there is the best option?Colleges will not see his grades for this year, right. Thanks
it is not going to matter, the grades are not going away and will still be part of the overall gpa.
this is incorrect.
Actually, all of his grades will be on his transcript (even if it is just listed as transfer credit, you cannot pretend that 9th grade did not happen. When he applies to college he will have to submit all of his high school transcripts.
As long as he has accumulated enough credits to go on to 10th grade, his high school is going to place him in 10th grade so that he will be counted in the cohort graduation rate. he belongs to the cohort based on the year he started 9th grade any where in the world.
This is what confused us, we had no idea that he struggled with the move. He was too proud to admit any shortcoming. He was always the top student and various awards to show for it. Is it possible to get into highly competitive schools or BSMD program with unweighted GAP of around 3.7 and assuming he gets 35/36 in ACT his junior year. He can easily get his GPA above 4.0 with AP classes. We just want to place him in best postion to pursue his dreams. He turned 15 week ago, so he is one of youngest in his class.
Congratulations for your son’s resilience in adapting to his new school. Moving is tough.
I’m not sure that’s true. There’s a national clearinghouse that tracks high school student enrollment. If you’re planning to just ignore this year’s academic record and not report that he attended his current school for 9th grade year, that can backfire big time. A student at the University of Rochester had her admission rescinded a couple of years for lying about what high schools she attended and not sending all her transcripts. BSMD programs, in particular, are careful about doing their due diligence in researching applicants. Ethicality is a trait highly valued in future physicians. If he wants to redo 9th grade, that’s fine, but he should not lie about his attendance record. He would be better off framing his difficulty with transitioning to his school as an indicator of his resiliency and ability to overcome obstacles (other traits highly valued in future physicians).
Your son will be able to pursue his dreams even if he doesn’t get into a highly competitive school/BSMD programs. There are many paths to success and happiness.
And colleges will still see his transcript from this year. They dont just disappear. Again, I see this as an opportunity to discuss overcoming hardship and challenges.
OP- your kid can have the highest GPA possible, and the top test scores, and dozens of teachers who love him and STILL not get into a BSMD program. That’s how competitive they are, and they are not just plucking the top scoring/top grade kids in the country, they have the luxury of doing a deep dive.
So forget about college. Do what’s right for your son. If he’s turned the corner and ready to move on where he is, then stay where he is. If his mental health is fragile, get him counseling, find out if he needs yoga, athletics, photography, a part time job for balance, see if joining a choir or doing volunteer work is going to help his self esteem and help him make friends.
But transferring again without considering the big picture, and for the sake of college admissions, seems like a precipitous move right now. And if he’s the youngest in his class, then letting off the gas academically so he can find his bearings socially is an important move regardless of where he is, how high his gpa is, etc.
Is it possible to take test beyond ACT to highlight his mental acuity for competitive colleges? Eight grade he was given practice LSAT by his english teacher and he scored 160. English teacher just wanted to test his limits because he scored 35 in reading and english portion of ACT in 7th grade. He really enjoyed taking the LSAT. Maybe he should focus on EC and take LSAT after ACT his junior year. He is in chorus, student cousel and plays for school team.
He’s 15. Don’t push him to law school yet. Let him discover his passions. You seem very focused on his test scores, yet that is only one part of being a successful elite school applicant. Encourage him to think and pursue what he likes, developing his social skills and leadership abilities. The latter in particular is very sought after by the elite schools. (Which he may not even want to attend, and you should learn to be OK with that.)
Thanks, his passion is to get into competitive college and we are trying to see if that option is available for him. Homeschool option would work?
Retaining kids often does little to help in the long term and retained kids have a higher drop out rate. Being artificially old for grade can seem fine until they turn 18 and start getting restless and still have a year or two to go. The act of retaining a kid that age can mess with their confidence, especially when they issue was something pretty natural and understandable. I imagine the pressure to be perfect after uprooting the family so he can repeat a grade he passed would be immense! It may be totally fine for your son but some considerations.
Fwiw, both my older kids graduated HS with 3.7 unweighted GPAs. Eldest hit puberty late and hard. Coupled with a horrible schooling situation… lots of low grades that year and her perfection all other years couldn’t wipe them away. Middle has organizational issues and so every semester he ends up with a B in some class because he simply missed a deadline. Both gifted intellectually. Both young for grade. Both graduated with lots of college credit through duel enrollment. Both passionate learners and totally imperfect specimens of humanity. Sure, they weren’t going to get into Harvard, they didn’t even apply, but they both got into other competitive schools and are happy!
Getting into a competitive college is not a passion. He is 15 – he needs to figure out what he likes, dislikes, make friends, do good in his community and at school, and find what brings him joy. Encourage him to continue doing well in 10th grade and take rigorous courses in topics he enjoys. Test scores are only one aspect of college admissions. Look for interesting summer programs that will challenge him.
Competitive college- yes, that’s an option. Law School- that’s an option. BSMD- that’s an option. Becoming a landscape designer or an architect- both options.
your kid is a teenager and is years away from having to take the LSAT’s. Relax. Deal with the problem you have right now- a recent move, a teenager who experienced some depression and difficulties adjusting to a new environment, making new friends. Figure that out and the rest will unfold in due course.
But if your kid had trouble adjusting to a new school- and finally seems to be making it work- I’d think that homeschooling is the WORST possible move. Yet another transition? Your kid is going to sit at home 24/7 and passionately try to get into Duke?
Go to an aquarium, museum, historical society, ballpark, archaeological site, opera, theater, political debate. If his only passion is doing homework, I cannot imagine what his future life is going to look like.
I can’t help but wonder what you will do with his next grade or test score hiccup.
With a kid making a strong turnaround and a 32 ACT freshman year? I would stay the course unless he were wanting a repeat. I would not school hop either unless there is something you’re not mentioning about his year. I would encourage him to explore many interests. Volunteer at a hospital. Have fun and make social connections. Some huge percentage of kids will change their mind from what they think they want to do as a young teen. I’d encourage him to not get too hung up on a particular school or path before junior year. I’d encourage him not to worry so much about competitive college as to fit.
I might be exploring why he had such difficulty with his freshman year. Does he have anxiety? Does he have depression? Maybe working on that is a good idea. Has he talked to a therapist? If it’s ongoing, it might color what kind of colleges will be the best option when he gets there.
Just turning 15 is not super young for grade. My daughter just turned 14 and is entering 9th grade. I wouldn’t jump to a grade repeat necessarily nor would I try to hide these grades. There are many good paths. Focusing on competitive college entry when you have a 15 year old that just had a really difficult year is not where my mind would be at right now.
I actually homeschool a profoundly gifted kid. I don’t think it’s going to look favorable to have these 9th grade scores and then a bunch of homeschool grades assigned by a parent. If you were going to go that route, I’d at least look at him having a couple online classes with grades assigned. Or maybe even an online charter school.
Have you asked him what he wants to do? Maybe he really wants to stay with his friends and not be a grade lower than them. Maybe he hasn’t made any friends at all and that’s the issue.
I agree with the others - getting into a competitive school is a goal - not a passion. He should be working on finding out what he’s really good at and likes and what he maybe isn’t so good at. He should be active in clubs, volunteering at some place that interests him and possibly getting a job. And don’t forget spending time at the pool, or reading outdoors - because it sounds like he could really use some time to just de-stress.
He wants to repeat or to be homeschooled if warranted to get into highly competitive schools, I told him to moving forward is probably the best option. His issues was mostly moving out of state and loosing all his friend he grew up with. Now he has made new friends by joining sport team, chorus and student counsel. He has option to move back with Aunt to go back to same school system he left last year and restart 9th grade. Looking back we should have left him in same school system. We are gathering information and let him make the decision for himself.
“He was straight A student prior to moving but college wont be able to see grades prior to 9th grade.”
But colleges will be able to see his grades for his 10th and 11th year.
A strong uptrend with strong grades in 10th and 11th year might not be enough for a tiny (single digit) number of very top universities. However, it will be sufficient for many very good universities. It is possible that it might be enough for Duke. While I don’t know your state, it is likely to be enough for your in-state flagship. Some top schools don’t even look at 9th grade (I think that this includes the U.California’s, and it certainly includes anything in Canada).
My first thought reading the original post above is to make sure that your son is academically ready for 10th grade, but you mentioned that he started coming on strong at the end of 9th grade with many A’s in the second semester of 9th grade. This definitely suggests that he is ready. If one of his C’s for second semester was in math or a language class then I would get some help over the summer – largely on the basis that math and languages are areas where what you learn next week and next year depends a lot on what you learned last week and last year.
Other than that, I would think that the disadvantages of repeating 9th grade (such as boring your kid because he is learning the same things again, and the social impact of being older than other kids) are going to be a larger risk than going on to 10th grade with one mediocre semester on his record. Many students do VERY well with one mediocre semester somewhere in their academic career. Fortunately for you and your son the first semester of high school is going to be the least important semester in high school when it comes to college admissions, and will not matter at all once a student shows up to attend a college or a university.