<p>I’m not understanding the thread of the grade inflated APs and the student struggling at college. I’m guessing they didn’t take the AP TEST, which provides the norming for these classes. I’m hoping A’s across the board in AP classes followed by a series of 1s and 2s on the AP tests would be a big red flag to ad comms (and hopefully parents and students as well!), especially if the rest of the record (e.g. SAT/ACT) is also realtively weaker.</p>
<p>At our HS, if the student doesn’t take the AP test, they do not get the weighted GPA for the class (e.g. A=5.00 and so forth.) Weighted GPA in academic courses is used to determine Val/Sal and class rank.</p>
<p>Thank you capt. Do not underestimate mental health issues. Many of them begin to strike at that age.</p>
<p>I do on occasions see some pretty ill students. Luckily for me, the Dean of Students Office deals with most of them. Interestingly, the three that I have worked with were graduate students in their mid to late 20s.</p>
<p>Has anyone mentioned video game addiction?
I’ve seen some smart kids (all boys) with serious problems to the point of flunking out. . .
(S has issues, and I think his GPA would be higher if he quit the games–huge time waster).</p>
<p>Mental illness was definitely what derailed my D at her top 10 uni. She was incredibly organized, self-starting and on-track in high school. Sometimes I even had to hold her back a bit due to overworking, but all those skills were for naught in the face of serious mental illness that manifested in her freshman year.</p>
<p>My younger S, who had almost identical test scores, grades and class rank in high school as my D, and who was just as conscientious and independent in getting his assignments done, is now doing excellent work at his top 10 school on the other side of the country.</p>
<p>Students are not required (and in many cases, choose not to or unknowingly do not) to send their AP exam scores to colleges. In many cases, all the college sees is the student’s grade, not the student’s test score.</p>
<p>gladmom, we have seen this, especially with girls who felt compelled to be and were perfect at everything in HS. Good at every course, good at a sport, every hair in place, dressed nicely, … . The demands of college seemed to trigger some version of OCD or depression in several young women because they couldn’t be perfect at everything. </p>
<p>Our son’s friend (a boy) recently withdrew for health reasons from his school for the semester. Just seemed to self-destruct and we’re not clear why. Staying up late watching the entire series of a TV show. Waiting until the last minute to work.</p>
<p>Our high school requires students to take the AP exam if they take an AP class…and the school pays for the test.
The AP exam counts as the final exam for the course…a student gets an automatic zero if he does not take the exam.
after the exam the students work on a long research. paper.</p>
<p>I’ve been pretty independent throughout high school; my parents never knew any of my grades or scores until report cards came in the mail, I figured out my test preps and signups and college apps on my own, which I think is good. They never nagged me to get my homework done early or to stop procrastinating or told me I couldn’t go out with friends when I should have been studying, which meant I ended up figuring out a lot of stuff on my own. I didn’t have them telling me I should work on my homework while it’s still light outside, but I figured that out when it was 3 in the morning and I was working on a chem lab. They didn’t make me start my papers when they were assigned, but I started doing that after I got a C on a fairly small paper because it was written at the very last second. I still did well on the SATs, maintained a decent extracurricular load, and am heading off to an Ivy next year, so I’d say my parents “sink or swim” method worked pretty well.</p>
<p>My son who went to a Catholic school didn’t have to take the AP test (but did for 2) Friends in public school had too or lose the weighted scores also.</p>
<p>My son did well at college, through a few bumps, because he was always a little more mature in some ways, very observant. He didn’t drink watching how it effected a lot of students, he went to office hours, emailed his professors if he had questions and didn’t skip class. As he got more used to things, he knew what he could do and not do. He brought his video games home after the holiday’s, I think he saw he would get lost in “game world” and not get things done. His biggest fault was procrastination and his biggest complaint were professors who were hard to read or understand but that’s part of learning and growing, things wont always be “custom-made.”</p>
<p>Every student is different, but most he observed that failed, had no boundries, didn’t know how to balance party behavior with studying. Hopefully that comes with time. He also noted that the students that always had to study hard, did better than the ones that didn’t, but that would make sense.
My daughters are a lot like my son but like to socialize and talk more…we will see how it goes with them. : P
My husband worked on a campus for years as a police officer and he said immaturity, not thinking things out and drinking/drugs caused the most problems. Another big one were students that were on meds and no one else knew or parents that would take their son/daughter off them before they went to school and then things went downhill. Some would get very depressed, some would be up all night, some he would find wandering around talking to themselves, some would hurt themselves physically. The naiveity of the parents to think they were helping them because the student would “forget” to take his meds at school, caused more harm than good. Honesty and good communication with the school and health services can only help the student. And I must say it surprised me how many of these students didn’t live close, the parents had to come 4-6 hours away. When my friends son who was on depression meds went to college, he had to go to a state school close by for the first year so she could see how he did on his own (he hated it but complied) then he went out of state and finished up last year. Everyone is different, but I think if you aren’t sure your child will do well alone, it’s best to have them closer than have to fly out in an emergency.</p>