<p>My student was contacted by the college that he would need to take a college course this summer and pass it with at least a 3.0 in order to have his acceptance to be valid. The summer courses do not end until mid august. Should I make a contingency plan? Is this a colleges way of getting out of taking this kid?</p>
<p>It sounds like the student may have failed a class in senior year. Is that what happened? What class is this?</p>
<p>Sounds like the student had a rough senior year, and the school wants assurance that s/he can do well in a college setting. </p>
<p>Did s/he just send in a final transcript that would give cause for alarm? The college may not be trying to get rid of the kid, but save you from wasting your money on sending the kid to an inappropriate college.</p>
<p>If your kid “just” had a bad case of senoritis and slacked, and is fully capable of college work, then s/he should be okay. If kid was taking a number of advanced courses and could not handle the work, that’s a whole different matter. Yes, it would be advised to make a contingency plan.</p>
<p>So, is s/he enrolled in a community college class that can prove ability to get a decent grade in a college level course?</p>
<p>Failed the last quarter ending the year with a D…statistics…he struggled with it all year but gave up last quarter…the university wants him to take statistics again…he is signing up tomorrow for the statistics course at a local community college.</p>
<p>Is this a common approach when a student has a bad time with one class?</p>
<p>There are many schools that just rescind acceptance altogether. Your son is fortunate to get a second chance.</p>
<p>It feels like punishment to you and your son, but the school is acting out of concern for him. It’s better to be rejected and start out in a community college and then transfer into a four year school, than flounder in the four year school and be kicked out after a failing semester there, which he would then have to report to any college he would later apply to.</p>
<p>Perhaps hiring a tutor to ensure the 3.0 would be prudent. Good luck to you and your son.</p>
<p>One college course during a summer session is a light workload – at a semester system school, a typical course load is two courses in the summer or four during a regular semester. So he should not have too much problem with the workload, although college will require him to be more self-motivated with less hand-holding than in high school.</p>
<p>I second the concept of tutor…no room for failure …and with good effort and little assistance…all should be fine! 
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<p>I think this is a way of allowing them to accept him if he is missing a requirement or letting him make up a deficiency. Sure if you can make a contingency plan do it. But hopefully he can get help and get through it.</p>
<p>Sometimes borderline acceptances are required to do this. I have heard of both UT and Baylor, often high test score low grades kids, doing this that I know of.</p>
<p>Many schools offer conditional admissions. FIU, UF, FSU, Georgia Tech have all offered conditional admissions to people I know. </p>
<p>The challenge for your child is how to get beyond that basic statistics course. First, recognize that statistics is a math course. It is akin to logic and geometry. It is a memory course: remember the formulas and when to apply them. There are lots of formulas. If your child is not good at math, get a tutor. But the most important thing is to remember the formulas. Many students think they can pass statistics (and geometry) without memorizing the formulas… that is not a good position to assume. If you child took pre-calculus, it had lots of formulas to remember and apply. </p>
<p>For every hour spent in class, your child should be prepared to spend 2 hours out of class practicing. Get out the flash cards - they work for statistics. </p>
<p>I took five statistics courses, sequentially. Your child needs to dedicate himself to learning and memorizing the formulas. If he is committed to doing so, he can do very well in statistics. Finally, make sure your son has a commercial workbook which provides concrete examples, problems, and answers which demonstrate how the answers were derived. Good luck.</p>
<p>There are also schools that offer summer bridge program to students in this situation. Don’t take it too negative. </p>
<p>I agree with getting a tutor if needed. He should work on the class as if it were a full time job – meaning spending significant hours outside of the classroom on homework, practice problems etc. Often summer classes are a bit easier to get through because the student just has to focus on one subject.</p>