<p>My brother is studying Chemistry at a college t-5 program. He finished his freshman year with a 2.4 GPA and he has to retake two courses. The situation has gotten so bad that he has become so stressed with school, that he often causes arguments between my parents. He often yells about the situation, and my parents argue back. My mom feels sympathetic towards him, whereas my dad tells him he’s not studying enough. I’m worried that he will continue to perform poorly in college and perhaps go down hill – granted his courses will get tougher. </p>
<p>We try and get him to visit his professor’s, TAs, advisers, etc, but he says they’re never available. This however might be true, because his adviser claimed to have been so busy, that she was unable to meet with him for three weeks. He reported his one professor only had office hours twice a week, at one hour each, and that both of these times were times he was in class. </p>
<p>I believe he should switch schools, however he refuses the possibility of leaving his current school. </p>
<p>Has he emailed the professors to see if he could arrange a meeting with them outside of their normal office hours? Has he met with someone in the department regarding setting up a tutor? Has he ever stopped into the college’s “learning center” or whatever it’s called on his campus? The only way he’s going to get assistance is if he seeks it out. </p>
<p>Maybe his major or this particular school isn’t a good fit for him.</p>
<p>A lot of the time profs are willing to meet with a student by appointment if the student can’t get into office hours. What kind of classes is he having trouble with? Has he tried tutoring?</p>
<p>Other things to consider: How many classes did he take? Did he take on more than he could handle? Why is he studying Chemistry? Is there something else that might be a better fit?</p>
<p>I’m puzzled as to why a sibling would feel that s/he should do anything about the situation. But pressing on…</p>
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<p>This sounds, to me, like, how shall I say it, a creative interpretation of the facts. I simply don’t believe that all his professors are so unavailable. All he has to do is walk up to the professor after class (if he goes to class) and ask for an appointment. Professors might have inconvenient office hours, but they know that some students won’t be able to meet them then. Generally, a professor will make himself/herself available at other times, if a student requests it. One professor who dodges students? Maybe. All of them? Nope. I think your brother isn’t telling the truth.</p>
<p>It could be that your brother started out at a higher level than he should have in math and/or chemistry or whatever the classes are that got him in trouble. That’s not uncommon for a freshman who took the classes in high school to think that he can waltz in and take the next level in college while trying to get acclimated to college and being away from home. Sometimes those kids crash and burn.</p>
<p>I agree that the “professor is never available” thing sounds like a cop out. Maybe he should try to find an upperclassman tutor or maybe someone in the class.</p>
<p>Good luck. But in the end–your brother has to take responsibility for his own progress at college.</p>
<p>How is this your problem or your parent’s problem? A 2.4 GPA is low, but it is acceptable to remain in school --and if your brother needs to retake 2 courses, that’s his problem, not yours (or your parents). If he’s in college he ought to be able to figure this out by himself-- and obviously he KNOWS that he’s not doing as well as he would like, without your dad yelling at him. </p>
<p>So what can you do: ask your parents to LAY OFF. Obviously your brother doesn’t want your family’s “advice” - or he wouldn’t argue against it. Let him figure things out on his own. </p>
<p>If he graduates in 4 years with a degree in chemistry and a 2.4 GPA (assuming things stay the same) – then he will be a college graduate with a degree in chemistry. (If he graduates in 5 years with a degree in chemistry… he will be a college graduate with a degree in chemistry. If he decides to change his major to something that is a better fit for him… then he will probably end up being a college graduate with a degree in something else and a higher GPA.</p>
<p>I have no advice on how to solve the problem, but I’d say there is definitely a problem that needs to be addressed. Count me in the school of thought that if I’m footing the bill, then I have the right to expect a certain level of effort and performance.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen, career opportunities for college graduates with an undergraduate degree in chemistry aren’t all that exciting or lucrative, and a 2.4 GPA will further limit his employment options. I’m guessing that grad schools won’t look favorably at the 2.4, either.</p>
<p>Maybe he is not cut out for the chemistry major and would be more successful somewhere else. Best thing that every happened to me was failing accounting. I then switched to history, and had a perfectly fine undergraduate career doing something I liked.</p>
<p>I have heard the “profs not available” line before and with our S’s it just meant that they did not want to admit that they needed help and did not want to go to whatever length was necessary to get it. Call it ego or whatever, when bright kids are having trouble in college, it is sometimes hard to admit it. I presume at this point that the term is over so arguing about what has past is not very productive. However developing some kind of contract for the next term might be appropriate, depending on the real reasons of having to repeat 2 courses. Parents expectations should be spelled out but the solutions should belong to the brother.</p>
<p>A freshman finishing the year with a 2.4 is not that unusual, especially in a science or engineering major. My niece had a lower GPA than that at the end of her freshman year, and now, a rising senior, has made Dean’s List a few times. Sometimes it takes a year to sort things out. I agree that the level of courses this kid took might have been too advanced.
I think we all get used to the perfect grades discussed on this forum, but a 2.4 happens.</p>
<p>At most schools science courses are curved so the average grade is a B-/C+. If your brother took a lot of courses like that, it generally means he was hovering around average in his courses, or slightly bellow. It’s not bad, but he probably won’t be able to survive 4 years of this unless he starts working harder or switches majors.</p>
<p>"How is this your problem or your parent’s problem? A 2.4 GPA is low, but it is acceptable to remain in school --and if your brother needs to retake 2 courses, that’s his problem, not yours (or your parents). If he’s in college he ought to be able to figure this out by himself-- and obviously he KNOWS that he’s not doing as well as he would like, without your dad yelling at him.</p>
<p>So what can you do: ask your parents to LAY OFF. Obviously your brother doesn’t want your family’s “advice” - or he wouldn’t argue against it. Let him figure things out on his own."</p>
<p>I agree with this. If he were flunking out, I’d be suggesting that the parents pull their financial support, forcing him to take time off – with a job – to figure out whether he wanted to return to college.</p>
<p>As it is, the young man is passing and seems to be having the struggles that many students do particularly when they have difficult majors. He will need to figure out whether to switch majors or whether to modify his study habits so he can do better in that major. I don’t believe his parents or his brother can help him with this. He knows how to get help – advisor, tutoring center, professors, etc.</p>
<p>I’m one of those parents whose kid did not perform as well in college as I had hoped. You give suggestions, offer support, warn of later consequences (like grad school application success, etc), but in the end–I decided it was time to let go. All I asked is that she graduate in 4 years! DONE!</p>
<p>I’m one of those parents whose kid did not perform as well in college as I had hoped. You give suggestions, offer support, warn of later consequences (like grad school application success, etc), but in the end–I decided it was time to let go. All I asked is that she graduate in 4 years! DONE!</p>
<p>I had some, ah, colorful grades in engineering school. It took me a while to figure out that while I liked the <em>idea</em> of engineering, I wasn’t temperamentally suited to actually doing it…dreams of working for NASA died hard. But, for instance, I’m a far better writer than I would have ever been an engineer, where even if I had struggled and scraped I would have been very mediocre and would not have gotten to do the really fun & interesting stuff and would have hated my job, started drinking, gotten divorced, started a get-rich-quick business that failed…whew! I’m glad I changed majors.</p>
<p>Singersmom, bright kids learning to swallow their pride and seek help is indeed a problem. Fortunately, mine nailed that lesson in 9th grade so that when college came around she was always ahead of the curve.</p>
<p>I would have thought that, but my son is really good about finding tutors etc. It may be the result of boarding school where going for help was encouraged and expected and the kids had such good relationships with teachers.</p>
<p>She does very well in most of her classes but really struggled in one and left it so late before she would even consider going for help that she ended up having to drop it. And she has to retake it as it is a degree requirement, so is stuck retaking a class she hates instead of one of the classes she would really enjoy and is looking forward to. Sucking it up and going for some help would have saved her the retake. I may beat her with a big stick if she does not go for help next time round!! Hopefully she has learned from this :rolleyes: (<< is there a holding my breath and going blue in the face smiley?)</p>