<p>Idad, I can tell you haven't raised any boys.....which means you haven't been to any school meetings about your child not living up to their potential. I have been to dozens but I kept the faith.</p>
<p>As the mother of an academic Lazarus, I know that any number of crazy circumstances (illness, psychotic roommates) will tip a teetering boat to a 0.9 grade. Girls tend to avoid setting themselves up in tipsy boats, but many boys thrive on the excitement of that state. Or so it would seem.</p>
<p>cheers -- I love the phrase "academic Lazarus."</p>
<p>It's mostly up to him now.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about son's experience. His experience isn't new. Our high school has had a few similar stories of graduates getting dismissed from their colleges and losing valuable scholarships, etc. Parents are bewildered, kids are upset.....</p>
<p>In the cases of our high school, the common denominator seemed to be that the kids just weren't mature enuf to handle being on their own for the first time. Their cases are different than lbr6's son, but are still enlightening to the rest of us parents. One child revelled in not having a bedtime "curfew" and began staying up late every night and was too tired to make it to classes the next morning. On girl got her "first real boyfriend" and dedicated too much time to him, at the expense of school. There are other similar stories. Of course, the loss of "full ride" scholarships are a huge heartbreak -- parents angry, kids upset. The stories serve as a "wake up" call to us with kids still in hs to let them have responsibilities now so they won't make similar mistakes when they go to college.</p>
<p>For some reason, I got an email alert from this old thread with a claim of a recent posting but when I went to it, the posting was very, very old. Wierd! </p>
<p>BUT.... maybe there is good reason for this thread to "re-activate" since many of us have freshman students embarking for college.</p>
<p>this thread highlighted the problem that many freshman experience their first time "away" from home -- newfound freedoms that can conflict with academic responsibilities. Also, kids may think that the last dates to "drop" a class are not "set in stone" --- THEY ARE (at least at most/many colleges). </p>
<p>My friend told me about the room mate of her older college son who lost his "full -ride" National merit scholarship because of his grades (U of Alabama - tuition, room, laptop, plus more). This boy had qualified to live in the fabulously new "honors dorms" but had decided against it because he thought it would be full of boring nerdy students. He wanted to party! And party he did. right out of the school!</p>
<p>Let this thread serve as a friendly warning to students (thru their parents) not to let some bad choices ruin (or at least severely hurt) the beginnings of college life.</p>
<p>I also received an email from this old thread...copy that Roger..weird.</p>
<p>Only way that should happen is if someone posts then deletes their post.</p>
<p>I had hoped for an update.</p>
<p>Happened to ours. It was the best thing possible. There was a warning letter at midterm which he ignored. Go below a 1.0 and you’re out. Below a 2.0 and you are on probation. Having to go get his stuff over Christmas was such a shock, such a wake-up call. This isn’t high school, do the work or get out. It’s not that hard to get a C. He buckled down at local cc for one semester and reapplied and is doing great. They put him on probation with mandatory check ins with counselors. We love Guilford. They nipped him in the bud and didn’t let it drag out for two semesters. They believe in redemption.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m probably late but the same thing has happen to me. I was academically dismissed from my college as a first year freshman with a G.P.A of 1.88. I has academic probation before actually starting Fall semester and passed. I did well the first semester with A’s and B’s and some C’s but second semester it was kinda bad, a little more C’s,D’s and 1 F. I felt like I was going to cry from being so devastated. But I did not want to give up my dream of becoming a General Surgeon so I am going to a school online which is kinda like a community college its University of Phoenix.</p>
<p>This thread is three years old and no doubt the OP has moved on.</p>
<p>This is a great send off thread for DS who is going to be a freshman. Thanks for resurrecting it.</p>
<p>lbr6,</p>
<p>Your son (and you) must be devastated. This is just one of those many lessons in life that not every college is disneyland. We now know this one isn’t! The way this was handled is unprofessional, lazy, and very immature. Talk about “fine print”. I will be sure to discourage it to D’s friend. If I may ask, how exactly did your son get such a horrendous GPA? It’s best to know so it won’t happen again (THAT may be your son-- not the school).</p>
<p>Good luck & PLEASE do not dwell on this for too long. 2-year college awaits for your S!</p>
<p>Leah</p>
<p>This thread was started nearly 4 years ago. Throughout the thread it was discussed what happened and much more information was given on what lead to the GPA. This was one person’s experience (and the OP admitted her son had some responsibility in the situation and made mistakes along the way) and I think it unfair to use this one example to discount a school. It should be a part of the researching process and to add to information gathered about the school. But I think it unfair to listen to only one side of the story and base a decision on that. </p>
<p>I think this was a good thread to resurrect to show an extreme example of what could happen and to forewarn us parents to check the school’s GPA policies, be more proactive with finding out how our kids are doing if there is any concern, and raise the discussion of privacy issues with our college students when we are paying the tuition bills.</p>
<p>A family member of mine was in a similar situation. He enrolled at a small university, actually transferred there from a community college, got off to bad start. Had a 0.0 GPA after his first semester there, realized he didn’t like his major, changed majors got his GPA above a 1.0. Was allowed to stay one more semester but was eventually suspended from the university, I think he finish with a 1.44. He goes back to a community college for 2 semesters, reapplies to the university and gets back in, even though it took 3 tries. </p>
<p>Once he gets back in they tell him that he needs a 3.5 GPA just to bring his GPA up to a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Definitely not an easy task. So his academic adviser tells him well maybe you should take a 2 summer classes, he was readmitted for the fall semester, to help out his GPA. So he does this grade forgiveness program that the university has, and retakes 2 classes. One where he got an F and the other a D. He does really well in these classes, gets a B in both, a 3.0 for the summer semester. Brought his GPA up to a 1.91, still below standards, but a big help. </p>
<p>The only thing the adviser had told him was that if he took summer classes he was going to have to show academic improvement in order to take the fall classes. Never said anything about maybe having to do another appeal. So now he’s currently waiting to see if he gets to stay or not.</p>
<p>Some of these colleges can be cold hearted, I realize that each institution has academic standards, but not every kids learns and develops at the same pace.</p>
<p>It’s certainly true that not all students learn/develop at the same pace, but college in not high school and not every student is prepared at 18/19 for a 4year college. A student who ends the year with a 0.0 gpa will have quite a hole to climb out of.</p>
<p>More than a cautionary tale about reading the fine print, I think the lesson here is that parents may need to INSIST on seeing the grades, rather than rely solely upon students to self-report academic problems. (I had always hoped that, regardless of privacy issues, if a student was struggling to the point of academic probation or dismissal, the school would at least give the parents an informal heads-up.)</p>
<p>Maybe . . . just maybe this “tough love” will turn out to be “nuturing” in the long run.</p>
<p>This is an old thread. I wonder whatever happened with the OP’s son.</p>
<p>Im a student at Guilford and I think I have a good idea of what happened here. Guilford has an appeal that most people are attracted to but not all of those people can handle the coursework. Here we have a lot of fun but prospective students should understand that along with this easy going campus community comes a rigorous curriculum. The student in question most likely focused a little too much attention on the extracurricular activities and neglected his classes. I hate to see something such as this happen to a new student but freshmen should understand that college is not just a place to hang out and make friends.</p>