<p>It would be interesting to have a followup one year later, but I would deem that........... unlikely.</p>
<p>BlueAlien and NJres, No fair! You got my hopes up by bringing this thread back to life!</p>
<p>I'm glad it was revived, b/c I wasn't here a year ago. </p>
<p>This is a cautionary tale that highlights a number of things I know I need to be concerned about. Our senior son has had a tendency to start semesters well, then tank mid-term, and USUALLY pull out his grades at finals in HS (except last year, when girls intervened). He's also had a very tame social life thus far, and is not good at time management, though he writes well and tests reasonably well. He's always frustrated us my telling us "it's all good" whenever we've inquired about how classes and grades were going - right up until the time supplementals would come in the mail telling us about late and missing assignments, etc. So if we have to rely on him being forthcoming about how college is going next year b/c the college keeps us in the dark to abide by confidentiality/privacy laws, we're really in trouble.</p>
<p>I fear almost all of these characteristics would "fit" having the same thing happen to our son next fall, regardless of the college he attends, as happened to the OP's.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>it's one of the highly recommended small "colleges that change lives"</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>It certainly changed HIS life... :( This is indeed a sobering story, and a good reminder that despite the emphasis on retention rate these days, not all schools have comprehensive safety nets in place.</p>
<p>First year adjustment problems are relatively commonplace, and it's not a bad idea for parents to have some understanding of where the student stands academically.</p>
<p>Avwh, You have a common fear. My daughter is a very hard working student but doesn't always come through in the crunch so I worried about just these same thing while she was looking at schools. While she focused on the "social fit" of schools, I focused on the academic fit for her. I felt it was important to find a school with, as Roger puts it, a strong advising safety net in place, and where the curriculum/requirements would play up to her strengths, rather than her weaknesses. Actually, I think that is an important consideration for ANY child, not just kids who sometimes stumble a bit.</p>
<p>You can do your son a big favor by holding him accountable for this. There is simply no way that a .9 is going to be a surprise. If this was a shock to you then the failure wasn't the school, it was your son not communicating with you when you had a clear emotional and financial interest in his education. If he'd been open with you that he was floundering you could have arranged tutoring or counseling or some other mitigation. </p>
<p>I would make it clear that it isn't because of his low grades, it is because he didn't let you know when he was struggling.</p>
<p>In fairness, a large percentage of boys have great 'charm and cram' skills. They use those skills to pull themselves out of the drink time and again and, until they mature, they rely on 'charm and cram' to save them from dire situations. </p>
<p>Yes, lbr's son is accountable but at the same time, parents of wobbly, immature boys (say 70% of 18 year old boys?) should hold Guilford's response to account as well. It was not good enough.</p>
<p>I don't know. I'm guessing that Guilford's response was probably about right.</p>
<p>I suspect that it takes a monumental effort to achieve a 0.9 GPA in freshman courses. As in, not going to class and not making the slightest effort on the assigned work.</p>
<p>In defense of the OP's son - it doesn't surprise me that someone who's not functioning well doesn't know/realize they should be getting help - whether they're 18 or 48. I don't know what the situation was at Guilford, but students often find in college that course grades depend on 1 or 2 assignments/exams. </p>
<p>I agree with cheers' assessment. There was a program this past week on PBS that I didn't watch on "Boys". I think it touched on this kind of problem - many boys not being a good 'fit' for school. The reviewer said something like the worst thing that's happened in the last generation is the elimination of recess (that used to be held once or even twice a day). It burned off some of the energy students have that they are releasing inappropriately in classrooms. I don't know if any of this has to do with OP's son's issues, just a general observation on how a kid could go a semester and not know the trouble they were in. Not all kids are as focussed as the cream of c.c.</p>
<p>You dont have recess in the US? is that replaced by free periods or is it just removed after a certain age?</p>
<p>I have noticed that you dont have a week off mid semester either. Or am i incorrect?</p>
<p>In rereading this thread I've been reminded of a problem D had a few years back with a grade from a visiting professor(computer science).It was a paperwork problem pure and simple but took big effort on her and her classmates part and the dept's part to track the prof down,get the classes grades straightened out and get the registrar's office to record them properly.Believe it or not,it was more than a year till the transcript was correct.
I wonder what ever happened to this student since the original posting.Hope he's has a more successful year.</p>
<p>Guilford's 4 year graduation rate is a profoundly disappointing 50%. There are lots of colleges with similar academic selectivity and much higher graduation rates. I don't know about how kindly students are handled, but departing without a degree seems quite common from GC.</p>
<p>I hope things worked out in this case, but for everyone else, as noted above, changing colleges, and particularly bombing first semester, are far from the end of the world.</p>
<p>24 hours shy of graduation, my son has been dropped. gpa was high enough not to be on probation, but he evidently dropped a gen ed class this past fall and has been dropped for failing to make progress toward his degree. talk about everyone feeling sick! i keep thinking there must be more to this story--i'm sure he hasn't been that focused this last year--not happy with school and/or major, but this came as a shock to everyone. dropping and registering online is great, but somehow i think a safety net should have flagged him for dropping this gen ed. maybe he knew and just didn't think, but now we have to rethink a whole bunch of things. we might just transfer to another 4 year school tuesday and finish up somewhere else. i am just sick! or maybe a semester off, then re-apply? we are left with such short notice that i am not sure what alternatives we can put into place!</p>
<p>This is my first time having a child apply to college, but I think the freshman retention rates and graduation rates should be something that parents look at very closely when working with their child on college choices. As many of you know, my child is not a super-star student. So, as hes been looking at schools, I have been checking the retention and graduation rates. I am encouraging him to look at schools that have a freshman retention rate of 85% or higher and a graduation rate of 70% or more. I am hoping that those numbers mean that the school has safety nets in place to help students successfully transition to college. Based on your experiences, have other parents found that to be true?</p>
<p>Have you found <a href="http://www.collegeresults.org%5B/url%5D">www.collegeresults.org</a> yet. A free and very easy to use site that will let you see and compare retention rates and 4,5 and 6 year graduation rates. You call also see historical graduation rates to look for trends.</p>
<p>This has been a fascinating thread (I actually read, not skimmed, all 8 pages of posts).</p>
<p>I too have been impressed with lbr6's grace in the face of this issue, and also the sense of community and support coming from CC.</p>
<p>For those of us with students applying to college, the difficult issue is that statistics won't tell us how our child will fare at a particular school. A school with an 85% retention rate, still has 15% of the freshmen class that didn't stay after the first year. Even with our best sense of 'fit', a child's freshman experiences may not be the one of finding life-long friends, new ideas, and fabulous academic riches. </p>
<p>For myself, the lesson here is the hope that my sons won't hesitate to ask for help when they need it and an open communication with me for the times they may not see that they need it.</p>
<p>I can sympathize with lbr6's son. An "F" can sneak up on you. Like when I got an "F" in Art, because the professor told us that two unexcused absences and you failed the course. Of course, one of my unexcused absences was the day he told us about his attendance policy. Fortunately, it did not affect my GPA, since I took it pass/fail.</p>
<p>When this thread first appeared one year ago it scared the crap out of me, because my son was not a strong candidate for college (putting it mildly) and was going to need a lot of support to make it. I remember thinking how easily this could be our story in a year. We also relied heavily on "Colleges that Change Lives" in our search. We definitely put a high priority on support we expected a student (our student) to receive, not so much in statistical retention and graduation rates, but in the programs, policies, student support services, and the attitude displayed by people we spoke to. We steered my son away from colleges we felt were easy to get into but hard to stay in. So far he made it through the first semester and has a plan in place for improving his performance next semester. (Put him on a plane this morning)</p>
<p>(Venado - that's a new one for me. An F in a pass/fail course doesn't affect GPA? I thought the idea was a C or even a D becomes a "Pass" and doesn't affect GPA, but an F is an F and does count)</p>
<p>Lbr6,
I suspect you may have gone away, but just wanted to share that my son's best friend is a freshman at Guilford. He HAD A BLAST first term, so much so that he is now on probation and may lose his scholarship if things don't change next semester. I did not ask him what the numerical value was to get him to this point, but I do know that getting away from home for the first time, being unrestricted in his extra-curricular activities (hello, parties) was very significant. I do NOT think he was taking courses anywhere near as difficult as the ones your son chose. I hope S's friend will be able to go back with a new attitude and will seek time-management and study skiils he needs, but we shall see. </p>
<p>All of life is a growth process, and there are all kinds of twists and turns. I really admire your expressions of concern and sharing of your story, and look forward to good things for your son in the future.</p>
<p>All the best!</p>
<p>Is there a way to e-mail the OP to encourage her to come back? I thought there was an e-mail the poster feature somewhere.</p>