Anonymous wrote:Also, for low income kids especially, there are so many costs associated with college that are not captured in aid packages EVEN IF the kids are fortunate enough to attend a school that meets 100% if demonstrated need (most colleges don’t). Travel costs, food and a place to stay over breaks when dorms are closed, and on and on.

Truth!! It took me years to get through college because I had to drop out a year and work to save up money for those things not covered. So painful. I dropped out twice but made it through by tremendous will that most don’t have.

It is not publicised but I remember reading somewhere that the DCPS 6 year college graduation rate is around 20%. This is not uncommon for urban high poverty districts

I think you are making a LOT of assumptions. I did just fine academically but was a complete mess emotionally when I went to college — for a whole host of reasons. I also realized I didn’t want to be in the major I thought I wanted to be in when enrolling and was thrown for a loop being 1500 miles away from family. I withdrew at 19 half way through my first year and didn’t return to school for 3 years after I figured out what I generally wanted to study. I graduated manga cum laude and got a masters soon after graduating summa cum laude. Dropping out when I clearly wasn’t ready for the college experience was honestly one of the best decisions I ever made. It’s silly to blame a school for something you don’t have any insight into. How many kids at other DC schools — public, charter, and private — also leave college at some point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD was informed that 2 of her friends quit college and 1 is taking a break after a year.
I’m wondering what the cause is - - being exhausted throughout middle and High school or feeling defeated after realizing they are not well prepared for college level work?

College ain't that hard. Most kids who quit have some emotional turmoil (depression or anxoiety or family issues) or have problems financing it. Kids don't quit because they can't hack it.

THIS. My friend works in student health of a local well known college. Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds.

OP can keep on wondering and really pointless post. You have no idea why these kids dropped out. You don’t think kids from SWW, Wilson, and every high school around doesn’t have kids who drop out?

I have trouble believing: "Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds."

Do you mean the majority of the students seeking mental health care on campus are on meds?

There are A LOT of college kids with emotional problems. I am not sure why. Better diagnosis? Did these kids in teh past not go to college? Is there an increase in mental health problems. But, yes, I work on a college campus and it is huge compared to when I started 20 years ago.

Sense of economic pressure - student loan debt, prospect of lower-paying gig economy jobs, declining economic mobility? Pressure from parents because of the above???
Climate change - inaction will affect younger people the most and they see little being done

Not an easy time to be young (yes not all kids are worried about the above to a debilitating point). It's also far more acceptable to see out mental health treatment.

Harvard Medical School says 23% of college students are being treated for anxiety, with another 63% reporting overwhelming anxiety in the last year. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/anxiety-in-college-what-we-know-and-how-to-cope-2019052816729

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD was informed that 2 of her friends quit college and 1 is taking a break after a year.
I’m wondering what the cause is - - being exhausted throughout middle and High school or feeling defeated after realizing they are not well prepared for college level work?

College ain't that hard. Most kids who quit have some emotional turmoil (depression or anxoiety or family issues) or have problems financing it. Kids don't quit because they can't hack it.

THIS. My friend works in student health of a local well known college. Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds.

OP can keep on wondering and really pointless post. You have no idea why these kids dropped out. You don’t think kids from SWW, Wilson, and every high school around doesn’t have kids who drop out?

I have trouble believing: "Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds."

Do you mean the majority of the students seeking mental health care on campus are on meds?

There are A LOT of college kids with emotional problems. I am not sure why. Better diagnosis? Did these kids in teh past not go to college? Is there an increase in mental health problems. But, yes, I work on a college campus and it is huge compared to when I started 20 years ago.

I have seen evidence that there are a lot more kids on ansiety/depression meds than in the past.
But an "overwhelming majority" to me implies well over half, probably around 70 percent or more. That seems unlikely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? My college, MIT, wasn't easy.

Engineering and math isn’t easy at any decent school. But even at top schools, some majors are hella easy (eg psychology or gender studies at an ivy)

90% of most college degrees is just showing up and doing the work of whatever quality. There are a couple of "weed out" classes, like stats, that you may need to take twice and some difficult majors that students give up on after a semester (engineering and nursing, for example, though even there students mostly switch because they don't like the material not because they can't, with more grit than smarts or preparation, do it well enough to get a c).

I guess I went to a 10% school because it really was not like that (liberal arts, no ivy). But, I have heard this said. I do think that BASIS students won't be dropping out because they cannot handle the work itself. They would be dropping out because they're unhappy, or broke, and that could mean a lot of different causes. I wonder if overworked in high school can mean they need a break to figure out why they are even doing what they're doing, and where they want their lives to go. This is just a guess of course. You can easily find out by asking your daughter....

Anonymous wrote:DD was informed that 2 of her friends quit college and 1 is taking a break after a year.
I’m wondering what the cause is - - being exhausted throughout middle and High school or feeling defeated after realizing they are not well prepared for college level work?

Did you, uh, ask your daughter? They're her friends, after all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD was informed that 2 of her friends quit college and 1 is taking a break after a year.
I’m wondering what the cause is - - being exhausted throughout middle and High school or feeling defeated after realizing they are not well prepared for college level work?

College ain't that hard. Most kids who quit have some emotional turmoil (depression or anxoiety or family issues) or have problems financing it. Kids don't quit because they can't hack it.

THIS. My friend works in student health of a local well known college. Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds.

OP can keep on wondering and really pointless post. You have no idea why these kids dropped out. You don’t think kids from SWW, Wilson, and every high school around doesn’t have kids who drop out?

I have trouble believing: "Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds."

Do you mean the majority of the students seeking mental health care on campus are on meds?

There are A LOT of college kids with emotional problems. I am not sure why. Better diagnosis? Did these kids in teh past not go to college? Is there an increase in mental health problems. But, yes, I work on a college campus and it is huge compared to when I started 20 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh? My college, MIT, wasn't easy.

Engineering and math isn’t easy at any decent school. But even at top schools, some majors are hella easy (eg psychology or gender studies at an ivy)

90% of most college degrees is just showing up and doing the work of whatever quality. There are a couple of "weed out" classes, like stats, that you may need to take twice and some difficult majors that students give up on after a semester (engineering and nursing, for example, though even there students mostly switch because they don't like the material not because they can't, with more grit than smarts or preparation, do it well enough to get a c).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD was informed that 2 of her friends quit college and 1 is taking a break after a year.
I’m wondering what the cause is - - being exhausted throughout middle and High school or feeling defeated after realizing they are not well prepared for college level work?

College ain't that hard. Most kids who quit have some emotional turmoil (depression or anxoiety or family issues) or have problems financing it. Kids don't quit because they can't hack it.

THIS. My friend works in student health of a local well known college. Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds.

OP can keep on wondering and really pointless post. You have no idea why these kids dropped out. You don’t think kids from SWW, Wilson, and every high school around doesn’t have kids who drop out?

I have trouble believing: "Overwhelming majority of kids on anxiety/depression meds."

Do you mean the majority of the students seeking mental health care on campus are on meds?

Anonymous wrote:Huh? My college, MIT, wasn't easy.

Engineering and math isn’t easy at any decent school. But even at top schools, some majors are hella easy (eg psychology or gender studies at an ivy)

Anonymous wrote:Huh? My college, MIT, wasn't easy.

The BASIS students at MIT haven’t dropped out (granted they’ve been there for one semester).

Huh? My college, MIT, wasn't easy.

College is easy. My middle-schooler would do better than half the people in college.
Don't think dropping out has anything to do with graduating from Basis.

And they drop out too. I happen to know 3 in the last 2 years.

And let’s talk when Wilson manages to graduate all its students.