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I had a high scoring SAT son with a good, but not perfect, GPA (wrung out by much suffering over many hours during high school)- he would take three hours to complete a mundane worksheet package that another student could complete in forty minutes. I suffered through watching over the "A exams/F homework" dynamic for many (frustrating) years so I understand your situation there! Many colleges will accept a lower GPA with a really high SAT score. Whatever college your child attends, there will be those classes they find boring and the mundane work will have to get done. Having tried it out with both of my kids, I am not entirely convinced that the "hardest" or "most challenging" or higher ranked school necessarily peaks their interest more than a "lessor" school. My best advice is to have them start out with a doable schedule at a school they love in an area they like to live in. I am convinced that most kids who really want it can get a valuable education at nearly any college in the US so send them wherever the best fit is. Unfortunately, picking a college is a little like a blind date. Students don't really know what to expect until they are already attending. Good luck, it is easier in college as there are not as many tiny little assignments. Students either learn the material or not, do the reading or not, write the papers or not, and pass the exams or not. If you have an idea of where your son is looking, he can try to meet students from that school online and get copies of various class syllabi to see if he can figure out what the busy work quotient is and how interesting the classes sound. You will get more specific college suggestions in the College Admissions forum if you post more details about where you are looking and what you are looking for, along with his stats, including classes and EC's, etc. I know he will get a lot of respect from admissions for the extra family duties he has had to help out with over the years so be sure to suggest he mention that somewhere on the applications.
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