Reply to Please Be Kind: 2.6 GPA

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Please Be Kind: 2.6 GPA"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Sounds a bit like me.  I had a 2.3 (UW) GPA, 1130 (super scored) SATs.  Strong in math and science, (but D in HS chem).  Really poor work ethic:  would get A's & B's on tests, but 0 for HW, averaging to C's or worse.  And I was virtually illiterate upon HS completion (undiagnosed dyslexia).  This was 1982.  SATs were something like 460 V, 670 M).

I applied to four schools (I wanted STEM):  Clarkson, Va Tech, ODU, and Florida Tech.  The assumption was ODU was a safety.

In the end, I got into Florida Tech.  ODU rejected me.  ODU....At that time they accepted 90% of the applicants.

The good news for me is since there was less busy work in college, I did much better, finishing my freshman year with a 3.8, transferred to Va Tech (better and cheaper), graduated with a 3.0. and STEM degree (2.0 was top 1/4 of tech's class back then), and earned my Doctorate.

Today I am an internationally recognized scientist -- very well respected, and make good money doing a job I enjoy.

The thing to be aware of, though, is there a lot more people who do not turn it around upon entering college than do turn it around.

It would be worth while to investigate why he is struggling to prepare him for success.  Another option is military; he will learn discipline there, but it comes with a cost.  (I thought about military, but every knew I was a nerd).

[/quote]
OP here. Thank you very much for sharing your uplifting success story. As I explained in an earlier post, DC has newly diagnosed anxiety/depression and Senior grades are improving (on meds). Prior problem was missing assignments (mostly A’s on worked turned in). Not lazy, but an anxious perfectionist with trouble “getting started” and following through. Thank you for giving me a story of hope.
[/quote]

1) I fixed the quoting.

2) A few other random thoughts.

If you can afford college without aid (I do not recall that), your kid will have a lot more options.  Full pay can be a hook at some schools, particularly smaller lower-end privates.  (That is how I probably got into Florida Tech).

Your child will have to work and turn in assignments.  Perfectionism is a problem -- a gap year to deal with mental health (including perfectionism)can be crippling in college.  In my case, my issues were a combination of zero self esteem, and this terror of being found out that the problems in school were ability and not work ethic. Not trying meant I could blame my lousy performance on my effort.  If I try and fail, then I have to own the inability.  As it turns out, I quickly discovered when I put in the effort, I end up in the top of the class.  I actually started doing well my final semester in HS.

Understand your child is not me.  Most people with my performance in HS do not go on to the type of success I have had (they may be successful, but focused more on less rigorous areas). One thing that happened with me is when my advisor looked at my record and met me, he decided there was something out of sorts, and arranged for a full evaluation in the mental health clinic.  There, they 1) identified my LD, 2) showed what my ability was (literally a Genious, possibly the smartest freshman in the school), etc.  My advisor because a strong advocate for me (and a friend; even though I transferred out after 1 year, I have kept in contact).

Finally, be honest with yourself about your child.  In my case, my parents did not think I would succeed.  They just wanted angry me out of the house.  The were shocked with my academic performance.  Growing up, it was "why can't you be more like your sister?"  Well, she did better in school, always accepting parental help, much higher GPA and went to a much better undergrad college (to start): RPI.  She finished college with a 2.1 GPA; she actually had to take an extra (easy) course over the summer to get her GPA over 2.0 so she could graduate.  Because of the help she received; she never learned to stand on her own intellectually.  She tried grad school, but failed.  And, as an adult, washed out of nursing school twice (did not follow rules), and failed in student teaching.  
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics