I think my son is going to intentionally bomb his college interviews and/or essays...
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Anonymous
| because he's a follower who wants to follow his goof-off friends to a certain lower-tier party college. We control the purse, but I have no idea how to "make him" do well. |
Anonymous
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Maybe a gap year where he works at a real job will give him real life experience that will help him understand that his life will be better if he does his best. As in better college leads to better job leads to more comfortable life and that he will be bored if he does not work to his full abilities.
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Anonymous
| If he's the type to do something like that, what makes you think he's mature enough to go to a more demanding school? |
Anonymous
| What does he want to do with his life? |
Anonymous
| What schools still have interviews that impact admissions? |
Anonymous
| I think you need to give your child more credit than that and get away from that thinking. |
Anonymous
| Either let him go to the lower-tier school that he actually wants to attend, or decide that he's not a good fit for college at this time. |
Anonymous
Interviews may not get you admitted but it can get you rejected. |
Anonymous
| You can't op, he has to want it. If he wants it easy, and to party, you will just need to set guidelines on acceptable grades and when you will stop paying and he will be on his own. Plenty of kids do Ok after going to a party school, especially if they are extroverted and make networking connections. |
Anonymous
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I will not let him follow less accomplished friends to a party college. Period. End of story.
The issue is he thinks he's clever enough to get rejected and have to go to the party school, or if he thinks we're bluffing and will pay no matter what. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| Hey Helicopter Parent, if he doesn't WANT to go to a better school there is no way you can make him want it. It's as simple as that. Swallow your pride and send him to community college until he figures out what he wants to study so that he doesn't waste anyone's time and/or money. |
Anonymous
OP, you remind me of my father who is still convinced (I am 40) that I "threw" an ROTC interview because of one sentence he heard during the interview. He sat outside of the interview room the whole time I was there. It was so embarassing. I didn't want to be in ROTC, he made me apply. I didn't "throw" the interview, but clearly ROTC realized that I wasn't their kind of girl, based on my grades, courses that I took, extracurriculars, etc. Anyway, why do you want to pay for your son to go to a school he doesn't want to go to--this "more accomplished" college? If he seems to "think he is as clever" as you think he is, how do you know he won't either fail out of this super duper college he doesnt want to go? Do you think that he is going to go to college and become the kid you want vs the kid you have? |
Anonymous
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Kids who are unlikely to "present" well in interviews, for whatever reason, shouldn't interview. So, he shouldn't interview.
I don't know what to say about the rest of this. It sounds like you think he is a candidate for more selective schools, which suggests he must have decent grades, decent class rigor, and decent test scores. It seems weird that a kid would have put in the effort to accomplish those things but decide now to purposefully tank his application essays? If you don't think he's mature enough to realize that the purpose of college is to get an education, not to party, then you should be thinking about a gap year or some time in CC before moving on to a 4-year college. You can't make him care or want the same things you want. But you don't have to pay for what he wants. |
Anonymous
Which schools still do interviews? We have not come across any, including the Ivies we have investigated. |