<p>Two years ago I spent some time on these forums researching how to help my son get into college. Now I'm back seeking advice on how to keep him there! DS is a sophomore at a highly competitive university in a specialized engineering program. Exceptional SATs, GPA, EC's, etc. and admitted to first choice ED. </p>
<p>Freshman year grades were good to very good, except an F in a advanced math class (Diff Equations) that probably was overreaching to take. Although his GPA was still 2.5 even with the F, he has put on academic probation due to being 0.5 credits shy of the minimum. </p>
<p>Sophomore year 1st semester he tanked with 2 C's and a D. This means he did not meet the requirements of probation (min 2.0 semester GPA) and according to guidelines will be told to withdraw from the university. (aka flunking out). </p>
<p>He (and we) think that part of the problem is being in the wrong major...he doesn't really see himself as a engineer and is in the major because he sees it as a viable career option vs. his passion for writing and humanities. We have tried to encourage him to switch majors if that is what is best for him..he is highly talented in writing and non-technical stuff. We think he can succeed at this school with a change major. </p>
<p>So my questions are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Anybody have experience with how colleges enforce academic standing policies? by the book ,or case by case with some wiggle room? </p></li>
<li><p>any advice on how to respond if in fact he is told to withdraw? How to approach requesting an exception, if that;s even feasible? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Any thoughts / ideas appreciated. I realize most on these forums are focused on getting in, but my son is a good case of how staying in can be challenge too!</p>
<p>Colleges vary. There is no way to know what they will do. The best you can do is appeal & hope for the best … and have a back-up plan, just in case.</p>
<p>Engineering is hard enough when you WANT to do it! If it were my son, I would insist he get career counseling. He can get it several ways … at the school, at a state career center (if your state has these - we have MichiganWorks), at a community college. His first order of business should be to find out what he enjoys, what he does well, and how these can be parlayed into success in college. Once he has some idea of the path he might like to explore, he can think about where to go to school.</p>
<p>Maybe a semester off would be a good idea. It would give him time to figure things out. CC would be a good thing during this time, especially if he needs to keep going to school to stay on your insurance. Another idea would be a co-op or internship (unpaid is fine) during this time - this can also help with figuring out what to do.</p>
<p>My D was sure she’d be a dentist. She has always excelled in math/science. However, she realized that she doesn’t LIKE math or science. She switched paths, switched schools, has a major she would have thought was “dumb” a few years ago, and is very happy. Your son will find his way.</p>
<p>blueblazes,My S2 tanked the very first sem. of freshman year. He was on Academic Probation for the second sem. We immediately started researching what the outcome would be if he failed to get the minimum gpa needed. </p>
<p>We started by searching the univ. website. There was a whole section in the online student handbook outlining what would happen if the req. gpa to continue was not met. There was also the possibility of appeal and had info. about that.</p>
<p>Next, S2 got in touch with his advisor with questions. She was very helpful.</p>
<p>At S2’s state university, the next step after Academic Probation is a one semester suspension.
After that sem., the student is allowed to return to the univ. (still in a probationary status). However, the student is not allowed to take classes at any other school (even CC) during the semester suspension. If they do, the univ. will not accept the course as transfer credit. </p>
<p>As Kelsmom said, every school is different. I would urge your S to get in touch with his advisor right away to see what options he might have.<br>
S2 was able to retake the classes he bombed and use grade replacements to help boost his gpa during the probationary semester. So he never did face suspension. </p>
<p>Good luck to you and your S. Hopefully he can appeal if that is what he wants.</p>
<p>Just a thought…are you “full-payers”? I’m thinking that if you’re paying for all of his college costs, that might be an incentive for the school to let him change majors and continue. However, if he’s there on financial aid, they may not be as generous.</p>
<p>2 Cs and a D…So he was only taking three classes? Had he given you any indication during the semester that he might be in trouble? Did he seek any help from advisors/tutoring?
I guess I’m the harsh one of this thread so far but I wouldn’t be paying for continuing at that school even if the school will let him. Time to take a step back and evaluate. Either a semester off or some time at a community college taking classes more in the humanities if that is what he is more interested in.</p>
<p>Colleges do respond in different ways. My university (Cal) is very by the book about these things. They do leave the door open for readmission, though, pending a meeting and action plan with a counselor. I advise your son to meet with a counselor ASAP, and not to wait until he’s “asked to withdraw.” If he does so, he will probably score brownie points for being proactive and can likely get a path for readmission.</p>
<p>A change in major seems to be a sound decision. If the issue isn’t motivation, he would probably excel at another major and a semester or two at a cc probably wouldn’t help that much. </p>
<p>We get high-school students that come to the engineering forum asking which engineering major has the highest salary. The usual response on the board is to ask the student what he or she really loves doing. Engineering majors are usually tough and you really need to love it so that you have the motivation when things get really tough. Then you get a job in the field for the rest of your life. If you don’t love it, you’ll be unhappy for your working years. So considering another major would be a very good thing to do if he doesn’t like engineering.</p>
<p>Another common question on the boards is what to take in college with good AP credits. It sounds like your son came in with AP credits and skipped some first-year courses. The recommendation here is often to retake the course at the college because the college course is often not the same as the high-school course. The additional reason is that they college course should be an easy A which will help the GPA down the road.</p>
<p>A lot of good advice already. Try to get in touch with the administration and advisor to see what the options are. They might be available tomorrow if the whole school isn’t closed.</p>
<p>My nephew bombed his first semester freshman year at a very competitive school. His school allowed him to withdraw without penalty and said they would welcome him back the following fall or when he was ready. He ended up being out of school for 18 months. He worked at several jobs and got counseling, both personal and career. He went back and started all over again in a completely different major. He was much happier and much more successful. It sounds like your son needs to take a step back and regroup. Counseling can help him sort out what he wants to do. A job, even a menial one, can help him focus on what he wants or doesn’t want.</p>
<p>I know you’re committed to keeping your son in his current college, but maybe it’s time to make a change. Our son did very poorly his first year: terrible first semester declined to horrible, and devastating by the end. He wasn’t happy on so many levels. So, even though we had invested so much time and energy to get him in, we knew he shouldn’t stay. (Well, I knew, although my H took longer.)</p>
<p>I know we like the sound of a good name college, but your son may really be more successful somewhere else.</p>
<p>I would suggest that your S contact his adviser at college. It is his adviser’s job to help him navigate probation, suspension, major change, and scheduling issues. The adviser can also suggest that your S take advantage of other college resources such as career/ major counseling, etc… Sometimes this advice coming from an “impartial” party (in addition to parents) can be a good thing. </p>
<p>The adviser really cannot speak with you directly because of FERPA laws, but can communicate with S freely.</p>
<p>MANY students struggle in college, seeking the right major, making the transition to college life, etc… Sometimes time off is in order, sometimes transferring to a different school, sometimes simply refocusing on a more appropriate course of study.</p>
<p>Most college have some sort of appeal process if a student is suspended. This is where an academic adviser can also be very helpful.</p>
<p>It can be a very hard lesson to learn to ask for help early instead of late. S can and should speak to college staff ASAP. </p>
<p>As a parent, you know your kid so well. What sort of day makes him sing in the shower in anticipation of the day?</p>
<p>Sometimes only a small tweek makes a huge difference. I struggled through anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry with a gazillion pre-med students in pursuit of a zoology degree. It took my mother pushing me to an ornithology class and me meeting a couple really laid back wildlife majors to realize that I belonged in the (small, cozy, fun) wildlife department instead of the enormous biology department. Different building, but totally different worlds. </p>
<p>Sometimes you have to learn what you are not before you know who you are. Your student may have a handful of generally required courses (PE, political science, English, general elective) that could fill up next semester and give him time to scope out the other departments (if he wants to stay with that school)
Good luck!</p>
<p>I just wanted to post to offer support - good luck to you and your son. If he wants to stay at this college, I predict that it will work out and that he will find a major that is a great fit for him.</p>
<p>Lots of good advice. I just wanted to say Diff Equations is a tough class, not to mention adjusting as a college freshman. In spite of a tough break, your son continued to push forward, which says something about his character. Does your son what to stay in same college or a fresh start? In any case, I wish him the best of luck.</p>
<p>Wow, what can I say? The quality and quantity of the responses in such a short time is simply amazing. Thank you all for the good ideas, advice, and sharing experiences. </p>
<p>In fact S did contact his advisor right away before Christmas when he got his grades, and expressed desire and intent to continue next semester. The advisor is to get back to him tomorrow. As several pointed out, in any event some counseling and soul-searching is in order…there are reasons for the lack of performance that should be identified and addressed. </p>
<p>We do appreciate that in fact it may be best for him to step back, take time off, and figure out where to go from here. At the same time, we think that the “wrong major” situation is at least a contributing factor. We are disappointed and concerned that he did not seek help from us or the college when there would have been time to get help. At this point he says he wants to continue on at this college, and we are inclined towards helping him do that if possible going. We aren’t thrilled about the poor ROI on the tuition payments, but want to help him navigate through this as well as possible. </p>
<p>Again, thanks for great ideas and feedback so far and keep it coming!</p>
<p>Changing major might be the silver bullet but then again it might not. With knowing hardly anything, one of the thought I had was that going back to the same school also means going back to the same crowd with the same group of friends and same social situation. If by any chance that is the root cause of the problem, it won’t be addressed by changing major. Sorry if I am way off base here.</p>
<p>Engineering is an attractive major for boys it seems like. Some chose that major without really knowing what that entails. For my students, math is the major problem. If your son got into diff. eq. in the first year of college, his HS math must be pretty good. Yet college is a different environment - away from home, big classes, profs may not be really the caring kind, etc. a lot of factors. I’d say if he’s burned out by the bad experience, chaning major is not a bad thing. Colleges differ. But I believe talking to the advisor / dean should help in your son’s case. I had an advisee who is an extremely bright person, yet was failing everything last semester. He even had scholarship in our program because is HS GPA and SAT scores were very high. Still don’t know why all of a sudden he started to derail. (I suspect some medical reason.) He/his parents talked to us and the dean. He managed to drop out from all the physics/math/engineering courses, keeping one GEP (anthropology), remained to be a full time student, and changed a major.</p>
<p>You write that son went to his advisor when he saw his grades to express his desire to continue at this school if possible.
What I was saying is that son didn’t contact advisors last year when he was marginal in the grade department and didn’t contact advisors this year at the beginning of the semester or at the midterm mark when it must have been clear to him that his grades were going to fall short.
That is what I was speaking to. I appreciate that you want to help him try to continue at this school. If he doesn’t change his approach along with his major, changing the major may not make a difference.
It appears from you posts that he just sat back and let this happen without any proactive steps on his part as it was happening.</p>
<p>Well, if it was my kid I’d suggest going to an easier school. He can become an engineer at a slightly less competitive school (as my nephew did).</p>
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<p>I think this is a shame. For most kids, I’d be very nervous starting out freshman year with Diff Eq.</p>
<p>I do wish that high schools would offer another math pathway for future engineers other than the accelerated path i.e. I’d like to see more breadth in HS. For some kids/situations, the university math is conducted on a much harder level than the high school math, and they think (or are encouraged to think) that they know a subject well enough to take DiffEq in college, when in fact they aren’t. I’m not surprised to see unfortunate situations like this, because I think a HS can’t prepare everyone for math at every school.</p>
<p>I’m here to offer support, for your S specifically, and for changing majors when warranted. S1 had a similar situation as your S. Freshman year was difficult and he actually wanted to change majors that spring. He should have changed at that point, but I encouraged him to stick with it. Also math that was killing him. He changed at end of sophomore year, and life is much better now.</p>
<p>I hear ebeeee’s concerns, but I don’t know the answer. My S did the same–reluctance to contact prof, advisors, tutors. His school is excellent at providing these resources, which made me even madder he didn’t seek them out. I think there’s more reluctance on the part of boys and I know my S thought he’d pull it off at the end.</p>
<p>I’ll go against some of these posts and others on cc. Posters often say “step back, take a semester off, regroup, etc.”. I always wonder if its theoretical on their part, or if they’d actually advocate this if it were <em>their</em> kid. I’m more about keeping them in and chugging along if at all possible. I know there are some success stories, but way too many of the students who leave never return. Life and its obligations get in the way and make returning much more challenging.</p>