<p>I don’t see why you would take religion and music out of his GPA. Does NY have some kind of “SUNY GPA” based only on certain courses the way CA does? If so, I’ve never heard of it…but then, we aren’t NY residents.</p>
<p>I must say, I think that the idea that a kid who is going to what I presume is a reasonably challenging private school and getting mostly As and Bs either won’t get into a decent 4-year school or needs to start at CC is kind of ridiculous. Is his GPA weighted or unweighted? Does his school weight or rank?</p>
<p>I think the big question is what areas does he think he might be interested in concentrating on in college. Lots of excellent musicians plan to keep on playing quite seriously but don’t intend to make it a career, some do plan a career, whether as a performer, teacher, or in some related field. Has he tried out for All-State, or participated in any other audition ensembles? Will he consider applying to a conservatory? He should probably do an arts supplement, even if he isn’t looking to go to Julliard or major in music.</p>
<p>I think you should take a look at Lawrence University in WI.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice and information! To clarify, there is no disability, just bad circumstances and a lack of aptitude. He came out of a performing arts middle school with no language. He now attends a prep school in another area and he is or is nearly the only kid who started language at zero in 9th grade. The other kids all had at least three years of at least one language and he and they all had the same curriculum and expectations. At the middle of 9th grade he had an average in the class in the single digits. Not because he didn’t do the work but because it was a disaster. The teacher took him in hand and it came up to almost 70 that year, which represented the greatest improvement in the freshman class. Second year he came up to an overall c with several extremely positive grades in there . This year his test and quiz grades are all Bs with more than a few As, but he can not speak the language at all and fails every oral badly. He can read, write and test as well as the other kids, but the speaking just isn’t there. I suspect that in light of the improvement, which has been substantial and fully supported by the teacher, that he will receive a B this year unless something changes. At least I am hoping. It may look like CCB on a transcript but in reality it would be FCB.</p>
<p>He is leaning now toward a career in accounting or finance, but he is going to audition at several schools to keep the door open. He would like to double major or minor in music, so that is critically important to him. We are looking at McDaniel, New Paltz, Oneonta, Seton Hall, Rowan, St. John’s, muhlenberg initially. Haven’t visited anywhere yer.</p>
<p>FWIW, my daughter had to quit AP Spanish this year when it was too late in the semester to pick up another class. She had somehow gotten As and Bs until this year but REALLY did not have anything near the mastery she should have to be in AP Spanish. One thing that set her back substantially, apart from lack of confidence, was that her beloved teacher died unexpectedly at the end of first semester junior year. He was the only Spanish teacher she had had who had faith in her and helped her believe she could keep up.</p>
<p>Despite her decent grades, my suspicions that she was struggling increased over the last year when I would notice how often she was using Google Translate to write in Spanish or translate back into English. Oftentimes she couldn’t even understand the directions in an assignment, so we finally pulled the plug. </p>
<p>I do think people are either gifted with an aptitude for languages or they aren’t. My college-age son took Latin and Spanish in high school and is now becoming conversant in Mandarin. He is studying in Poland next semester so somehow he is going to have to learn basic Polish at the same time he is taking Mandarin classes IN Polish. The thought just terrifies me.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that there are very bright students with mild learning differences that aren’t apparent until college.
I never learned a foreign language, not for want of trying, but since it is required to apply to a four year school, I never have.
If his command of grammar is strong, he eventually may get it. Have the teachers suggested an alternative to oral exams?
Even without a disability, this article may have info that could help.
<a href=“Learning Disabilities and Foreign Language Learning | LD OnLine”>http://www.ldonline.org/article/6065/</a></p>
<p>Nothing wrong with SUNY schools, especially with tuition less than 7k per year. 27 campus, and at least 10 in the range of your son’s GPA. How about Brockport? Very good music program and good school. Should he do well there, he could easily transfer to one of the university centers, such as Buffalo.</p>
<p>@zoosermom, I have one kid who is off the charts smart but severely dyslexic and just couldn’t do foreign language. He actually doesn’t appear to hear the differences in sound between mas (as pronounced by a Mexican) and mass as pronounced by someone in the US and certainly cannot distinguish between the two when saying it. He also puts the capital T in Tone Deaf – he is without question the worst singer I’ve ever heard and can’t tell whether the notes are going up or down. Due to this, he actually didn’t take foreign language in HS or college (in contrast to my daughter who took AP French starting in sophomore year) or music of any kind. This was based upon talking with the head of the school’s foreign language department and his neuropsych testing recommendations, which the school accepted. We didn’t have bad grades to work around, which kept his GPA high, but we did so because he had been diagnosed much earlier for learning disabilities. I agree with @compmom that you should get him evaluated as that would make the deficits easier to explain.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I strongly steered ShawSon to colleges that didn’t have distribution requirements that would require him to take language classes or classes with 400 pages or reading a week.</p>
<p>I don’t have a steer on schools but I would look for the appropriate kind of curricular flexibility.</p>
<p>For accounting or finance, the language grades won’t be as critical as math grades. And his ability to reason. Make nice with the GC. I think you’ll find a happy match.</p>
<p>I really think that my sons problem is that the beginning class in his school isn’t really a beginning class, so he didn’t get the real basics in the right time. Then our family was severely impacted by superstorm Sandy which meant that for almost two months in freshman year there was no one to help him at the point when it was becoming clear that there was a problem. From that point it was too late to save the first semester grade. But the teacher was enormously helpful.</p>
<p>Safeties, matches, reaches, good fit. You know how it goes. He was faced with an obstacle which he was able to overcome and has shown continued improvement. Shows persistence. And think, that’s not even the good part!</p>
<p>Unless he’s a good contender to win one of their full-ride scholarships and more importantly, is able to conform with their academic requirements to keep it*, I’m not necessarily sure it’s worth the risk considering the private school cost. </p>
<p>Not to mention there are many local public colleges with comparable/better accounting/finance programs…like CUNY’s Baruch College or other CUNY campuses where he’ll be paying the much more inexpensive in-city tuition rate. </p>
<p>What about Manhattan College or Fordham U if one’s going for Catholic colleges? </p>
<p>my daughter took Spanish from 6th grade through AP Spanish. I swear she cannot order a taco. She took it as a senior, AP, because the teacher promised her it would be fun and she’d get an A. At one point she had a B and I sent the teacher an email asking what was going on (my daughter had been sick and I sent the email to several teachers) and said it wasn’t fun. My daughter adjusted a little and so did the teacher and it all worked out. Except that she’s still horrible in Spanish. Took the AP test, didn’t study for it for one second (school requires them to take the AP tests and we didn’t have to pay for them) and they grade was as one would expect. Didn’t care. She completed the qualifications and never has to take a foreign language again.</p>
<p>By the way, English was a second language for her, but she no longer remembers her first language. She’s always struggle in English, doesn’t understand why we have two words for the same thing (sofa/couch, seesaw/teeter totter), doesn’t spell at all, so she did much better at Spanish than I ever thought she would.</p>
<p>I am still confused as to how a C in one academic class is enought to pull his GPA below a 3 if offset by As in 3 other academics and B in science. Should still be in the B range. Does foreign language count for more than English? </p>
<p>Regardless, I think he will do fine unless he is aiming for the tippy top schools. There is a place on many apps to explain why the transcript does not reflect ability or something. The explanation about middle school and the upward trend should really help.</p>
We don’t get an actual GPA until the end of this year, so I have been calculating as best as I can. The school grades on the 100 point scale, so it doesn’t translate exactly and the freshman year final grade was barely a C. I think the grades do reflect his ability in that subject, unfortunately! He is bad at it.</p>
<p>He is having a very good year, so much better is absolutely possible, but I thought it best to consider a list from the bottom up and pulling out his music since he is going to do a parallel admission list with some schools being audition schools and some completely leaving out the music. My son is a great kid, but known to be fickle. He is doing great now, but that doesn’t mean the bottom couldn’t fall out at any time in the next semester. He doesn’t know what he wants to do yet but is shockingly self-aware enough to understand that he may not have the right personality and strength of character to make music his career. I’m letting him explore all this, as he should, but I want to start a list with schools that are likely acceptances, likely fits and manageable financially.</p>
<p>Foreign language is required for many majors. It was one of hte placement tests that D. had to take before she could register for her first sememster of frehman year. I would check this first before you choose any UG.
On the other hand, I strongly recommend Rosetta Stone for improving the situation. I am amazed at how it works with somebody who never had any memory and the level that has gone down significantly with age - me. I am simply at awe how it works, but it does! On the other point, the kid may be way beyond the level of Rosetta Stone as it is for sombody who never knew the language and in addition, I am trying to learn the easiest of them all - Spanish.</p>
<p>I could never learn a language, starting in Hebrew school at age six, French from 6th grade - 12th and as an exchange student in Mexico during high school. I convinced my undergrad, after half a semester of Spanish, to let me out of the language requirement. I assured them I would never get a job where I needed a foreign language </p>
<p>S, who did okay, but not great in French, was beyond thrilled that his college has no language requirement. I think that was a big reason it was his #1 choice. </p>
<p>Zoosermom, just to be clear - his college has no language requirement to graduate. His grades in high school French were listed on his transcript when applying and he had 4 years of French in high school. His last year was College in the Classroom (U Albany) but he hated FL and didnt want to be required to take one to graduate college. </p>
<p>ZM, no advice, but just want to tell you not to give up hope that he’ll never learn a language. </p>
<p>I was in a similar situation when I was a freshman. My K-8 Catholic school never exposed me to foreign languages. My public high school peers had all had several years of exposure, even in the Language I courses. I was terrible at Spanish and always struggled to get a B (the B was generous and I worked my butt off). My RC in college required that we pass an oral language test so I stuck with it, but still was atrocious.</p>
<p>Finally, I spent a summer in Latin America living in a hut in the middle of the rain forest without an English speaker in sight. Suddenly, everything clicked. I am now near-fluent in Spanish. However, I came back to college, took another Spanish course, and got my lowest grade ever. For whatever reason, I still can’t take the classes so I teach myself and do language circles. </p>
<p>I believe your son is doing Latin so not quite the same, but just know that there is still hope if he ever does want to learn a language. It’s just that not all of us can learn it in school. </p>
Is his GPA weighted or unweighted? Does his school weight or rank?</p>