Having an underachieving student start at community college

[Anonymous]

What are your thoughts on having a kid who is intelligent but has definite executive functioning issues or is otherwise underachieving attend community college for a year before transferring to a four year school? The student I have in mind has ADD and scored in the top 97th percentile on the PSAT (no discrepancies by section) with extended time but is a B+ student in a moderately difficult schedule. These grades are also currently slipping and to be honest aren't super impressive for the school they are coming from (current GPA is probably ~top quarter of the class). Said student is also minimally involved in extracurricular activities and spends a lot of time on the internet. I was also told that the student's guidance counselor doesn't think they'd get into the majority of colleges they originally wanted to attend (think top 30 or so USNWR level). I think the student's difficulties lie with either not studying enough or knowing their learning style, along with having poor time management skills.

Part of me doesn't want to "sentence" this student to community college when I feel like they should be doing better and still have half of junior year (along with senior year) to mature, but even the student's mother has said community college might be a best first step. The family in question could afford in state tuition (and wouldn't mind paying given the student did well) but isn't wealthy enough that name brand private colleges would be a definite option. I also feel a bit bad suggesting community college and having the mother potentially take my word as gospel because this student isn't doing objectively poorly overall, but can have very inconsistent results and doesn't seem like they would be mature enough to handle living away at a four year school. Thoughts?

Note: My hang ups about suggesting community college are more along the lines of implying that the student isn't high achieving enough to warrant immediately sending them to a four year school rather than anything having to do with community college stereotypes.

[Anonymous]

If it were my kid, I would send him to a 4 year school with the admonition that he keeps it together (2.5-3.0 at a minimum) or he is out.

A smaller liberal arts school would probably really help him, because the small size and small student body increases the likelihood that he will study when other people study. He will adopt his friends' study habits and find fewer distractions.

There are a ton of Midwestern LACs that will give a kid like that some scholarship money or make it affordable for a family that can afford in-state. - Kalamazoo, Knox, Augustana, Monmouth... look at the Associated Colleges of the Midwest

[Anonymous]

You're not the student's mother, so who are you to this kid? People need to stop thinking of community college as a punishment. It's an opportunity to get an education at a reduced price. For kids who are slow to mature, it's a great choice.

[Anonymous]

Is George Mason an option?

[Anonymous]

For some it is but for a 97% PSAT student who won't do any work in HS, it is an opportunity to prolong their already bad habits.

If nothing changes in the student's mind between now and when college (community or any other type) starts his "education" isn't going to be worth much.

"It's an opportunity to get an education at a reduced price. For kids who are slow to mature, it's a great choice."

"Said student is also minimally involved in extracurricular activities and spends a lot of time on the internet."

My first thought is that said student needs to get a job doing manual labor this summer.

[Anonymous]

A 97-percentile kid does not belong at a community college. It'll make them hate higher-education.

Yeah, yeah we hear about the success stories, but community colleges are full of dumb strippers, waiters, druggies, petty criminals, financial aid scammers, and terminally unmotivated losers.

[Anonymous]

I think underachieving students are more likely to drop out of community colleges than 4 year colleges where they go away. Community colleges have high drop out rates and lots of people only going part time or taking very long to graduate.

[Anonymous]

Said child will be bored out of his mind at cc. Send him to college with an understanding that he will us LD services and meds. Choose major wisely to play into his strengths. Possibly get geneds out of the way during summers at cc.

[Anonymous]

You could be writing about my kid. And I was very, very discouraged by his guidance counselor's advice. This is a B+ kid with good test scores; he is NOT a recovery case.

He was accepted at every school he applied to, ranging from competitive in-state to private universities with 25% acceptance rate. Generous merit too.

A B+ kid received A and B grades throughout high school, and will likely make A and B grades in college. Don't sell him short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it were my kid, I would send him to a 4 year school with the admonition that he keeps it together (2.5-3.0 at a minimum) or he is out.

A smaller liberal arts school would probably really help him, because the small size and small student body increases the likelihood that he will study when other people study. He will adopt his friends' study habits and find fewer distractions.

There are a ton of Midwestern LACs that will give a kid like that some scholarship money or make it affordable for a family that can afford in-state. - Kalamazoo, Knox, Augustana, Monmouth... look at the Associated Colleges of the Midwest

This is what I'd do too. A B+ is not underachieving.

[Anonymous]

A four year school will have more support, and he will be surrounded by hgh achieving kids. Ina community college, he will get lost and he will make friends with fellow slackers who will normalize poor work habits.

[Anonymous]

As one of the PPs noted, CC have very low completion rates (even taking into account transfers). I would worry that a student who struggles would struggle even more without a strong peer culture of students who will graduate.

[Anonymous]

Keep the CC option open, but expand the student's pool of possible colleges and universities. There's a big world beyond the USNWR top 30. Many, many schools out there can give this student--who seems quite capable--support and challenges. (And for in-state public options, look beyond the flagship/bragship programs.)

[Anonymous]

I would encourage that kid to pick a smaller school with a stronger special needs support system. I've heard amazing things about Mary Washington, for example.

What does your child want to do professionally? That should help drive the discussion. If they want to teach, I've heard great things about Longwood. If they want to get into nursing, I've heard nice things about Radford.

[Anonymous]

Did that with my youngest. In HS, he had some executive function issues, got good grades but only worked as hard as he needed to. Going to MC worked out great for him. Mostly, because he saw and heard about the adventures of his friends who went away to school. He realized what he was missing and understood that the only path to that was to knock it out of the park at MC. He got himself together.