Alright, so my friend works about 35 hours a week because he needs to support his family… He has no choice. However, he takes all the difficult courses and his grades are horrible right now since he hasn’t had the time to study. The marking period ends tomorrow and he is extremely behind. He has to get through 7 chapters of stats, a chapter and a half of pre-calculus, he has so much crap to hand in for physics, and he is extremely behind in APUSH, with a two chapter test next week. He also has like 4 chapter summaries due in his Spanish class tomorrow. I have watched him struggle and it’s really upsetting. What should he do? I don’t want to straight up tell him to give up…but I don’t think he can do anything about it…
You could encourage him.
You could work him up some study aids or summaries.
You could do a cram session with him.
Bring him snacks.
You could make him dinner.
Maybe offer to help him with other time consuming chores.
You could loan him money if that takes some work pressure off.
You could research some hardship alternatives for him.
But, why would you advise someone to just “give up”?
He has work tonight from 5-10pm…
Where does he work?
Can you cover for him?
That’s not possible. They’re really iffy and strict about the rules. He works in fast food.
I don’t know what to tell him. He has like 35 homework assignments for math and stats, he has tons of stuff for physics(but his teacher is understanding and will accept stuff until next week), he has 4 summaries for Spanish, and he can just do one chapter for history tonight & hand it in late, but the other one is due on Friday. Yesterday was bad because I saw him cry for the first time. He’s so sad because his GPA was 3.5 weighted and he had to work throughout his entire high school career, we are no juniors. And now he has failing grades. He used to dream of going to Princeton but he knows the ship has sailed. What can he do now?
First, his employer and his family should be made aware that he needs to pass his classes. He needs to cut back on work enough to be able to do that. Are there siblings or aunts & uncles that could help out financially temporarily?
Second, even if he doesn’t get into Princeton there are many excellent schools that he will get into. Admissions officers realize that it is a huge responsibility to have to contribute to a family’s finances. They will understand the dip in grades. But he has to find a way to pass his classes. He should make sure that each teacher is fully aware of his situation, and he needs to find a way to not get so far behind. It’s going to be tough, but it is good that he has your support and concern.
Single, unavoidable disasters are what explanations were made for. Once he’s done all he can on this set of hurdles, and the dust settles, he needs to find out how the damage can best be repaired (extra credit, makeup exams, redos, etc.) and then go forth with a plan on how never to get in that situation again.
BTW, a 3.5 weighted isn’t competitive at Princeton in the first place.
He is getting through the work. He hates having accommodations made for him. But I think he really needs help. I am just going to help him get through this all nighter he is trying to pull. He did 4 of the math assignments at school and 2 summaries at work. So I think he will try to do as much as he can now.