My child wants to go to med school but hangs out with blue collar students who are pursuing less academic degrees

[Anonymous]

DC does not have much exposure to higher level academics. Not at our flagship state school. Getting poor advice. Refusing to change schools or associate with stronger students. Good grades first year. Lots of Bs this year.
To me, he is no better off right now than the stronger students from his HS. I blame the people around him.
Pardon typos please.

[Anonymous]

I blame the parents.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a you problem.

[Anonymous]

i would blame him. if he has lots of Bs already, medical school may be out of the question. it will be a battle.

might be time to choose another path.

[Anonymous]

Give him time. He’s got years to go.

[Anonymous]

Instead of blaming the other kids, you should be putting the blame on him. He and only he is responsible for his grades and ensuring he is meeting the course requirements for a pre med path.

[Anonymous]

Maybe he is figuring out that he wants something different. Does he have to be a doctor? Is he just saying that because it's what you want to hear?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC does not have much exposure to higher level academics. Not at our flagship state school. Getting poor advice. Refusing to change schools or associate with stronger students. Good grades first year. Lots of Bs this year.
To me, he is no better off right now than the stronger students from his HS. I blame the people around him.
Pardon typos please.

I'm sorry but he's too old for you to "blame the people around him." You can advise him, then you have to let it go. Tell him that if he fails out of college because of bad choices, he's not moving home--job or armed forces. I know it's hard when they're young adults--but you do him no favors by not making him take full responsibility for his decisions and the outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of blaming the other kids, you should be putting the blame on him. He and only he is responsible for his grades and ensuring he is meeting the course requirements for a pre med path.

+1

He must not really want to go to med school.

[Anonymous]

I’m confused- why are there blue collar students at college?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Because he doesn’t have friends who are uber academic, he doesn’t get how much dedication it takes. He has the intellectual ability. He got overconfident after first year with all As. Then he signed up for tough courses second year but studied with his good ball friends. This semester GPA now 3.3. Not one A in a science course. No Cs though.

[Anonymous]

He has no shot at med school with Bs. Too late OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused- why are there blue collar students at college?

Their backgrounds. No kids whose family members are white collar professionals

[Anonymous]

Will be tough for him to course correct at this point. He knew how he was doing in these classes but made poor choices. That's on him not his friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Because he doesn’t have friends who are uber academic, he doesn’t get how much dedication it takes. He has the intellectual ability. He got overconfident after first year with all As. Then he signed up for tough courses second year but studied with his good ball friends. This semester GPA now 3.3. Not one A in a science course. No Cs though.

Back up. What happened in high school?

And why are his "goo[f] ball" and these extra hard classes that the strongest students aren't even taking?

And if he is intentionally challenging himself with harder classes then necessary, then he is too intellectually curious for medical school.

Let him choose a path that motivates him and that rewards his interest and effort.