Will my kid become a C student in college then? What kind of expectation should I set?
No way to predict. Some kids (like mine) did better in college because they had control over course selection, and sometimes the instructor.
It’s called Senioritis. Hopefully college will be a different deal and the student will do fine. Can go the other way, too, though.
Hahaha most likely not
My kid with very good stats looked like he might wind up with 3 Cs as a senior. I was literally calling schools to see if his admission would be rescinded. I will tell you though, you should not assume that just bc he was an A student in HS, that will continue in college. I paid for the “expensive school” because I expected my son to do great things in college. He became much more social, and was kind of a slacker. He is graduating in four years, but his GPA isn’t as high as it could be, and academically he could have done much better overall.
I would assume he has been accepted at and has selected a college he will attend next year. Well that would certainly allow one to relax a bit. Or maybe he is taking more college courses this year and they are more difficult.
If he has other behavioral changes–less social and communicative, not eating, changed sleeping habits, etc., then maybe you should be more concerned.
How kiddo will do in college is anyone’s guess. S did worse than HS because of, well things. D1 did as well or better. D2 did better.
One kid did about the same. The other actually got much worse grades (from being top 1% in high school), but he’s doing his dream job. He never cared about getting A’s, but it was mostly easy to in high school. In college he only cared about his major and he was surrounded by kids who were at least as bright as he was.
Our S did better in college than HS and was healthier there as well. He founded a club to pursue a new interest in rock climbing and played Ultimate Frisbee and enjoyed his major and the things there were to do at his U and new city. His SR year of HS he missed about half the school year due to chronic health issues. He told us he never missed any classes in college due to health issues.
D had health challenges in both HS and college. She soldiered through both and made some great friendships along the way.
Did the B’s appear in March? Or are the B’s a result of A’s in December, B’s in February, C’s in April, and D’s now?
College grading isn’t the same as HS grading. An A student would be likely to get a bunch of B’s (even the super strong, hard working ones end up with a C+ here and there if they major in STEM, and in Engineering a 3.0 is actually very good).
If a student does not slack off, then she can be a straight A students. Some choose to slack off in some subjects. They will not get an A in these subjects. If they decided to slack off in all subjects, then they will not have an A in any. One aspect that is important in college are to have a well balanced schedule with no more than 2 very hard classes per semester. Take less classes if you have a challenging schedule (like job, volunteering, other ECs,…etc.) or other obstacles to overcome like health or family issues. Higher level of time management skills will be required in college than in HS even for those who were overly busy in HS. Be prepared to step up your academics efforts in college in comparison to what you were doing in HS. There is a big gap between HS academic level and college academics level. It includes even those valedictorians that graduated from the most rigorous private HSs and decided to attend at in-state public college. Every day self-assessment is a good idea with the consequent adjustments if needed. And finally something that some college students hesitate to use, while it is widely available at every college and it is NOT beneath anybody to use, including the highest caliber students. SEEK HELP if you have a smallest doubt about your understanding of the concept, no matter how small the concept and even if you are sure that you understand but not 100%. There is no shame and there is no any kind of negative result will come out of your asking. There are many ways to seek help in college. There are prof’s office hours, after lecture informal talks, formal Supplemental Instructions, informal group studies, paid tutors and I am sure that I missed something.
The are no tricks or any kind of gimmicks to insure academic success. Plain straight forward hard work will accomplish that.
It is all going to come down to why. If his grades slipped second half, could be senioritis. If he slipped all year, was he taking more advanced courses senior year, did he load up on AP’s for example? Sometimes kids when they react a certain level of classwork find they don’t have the study skills to handle the more advanced work raising hand…Is the kid being distracted by outside things? Is he doing a lot more outside activities that take time away from studying and homework?
Another factor, can you see a breakdown on his grades? Sometimes kids do well on tests, but aren’t doing their homework or projects, and they get downgraded because of that…again, it comes down to trying to figure out why
I would also say you should be asking him about the grades, why they fell, if anyone knows he does. The key is identifying what caused the slip and then working on that. He also may be to be honest bored with the way high school and lower grades are, and will perk up when he hits college, you never know. No guarantees, it is why finding out why his grades slipped are probably the best answer about college.