<p>The post about the kid who had Cs & Ds, then “woke up” and had an excellent selection of colleges is certainly the exception, not the rule. And I wonder if that kid was applying to engineering programs… boys have an edge in admissions to many other majors these days, which might explain part of the C/D/excellent college story. But for admission to decent engineering programs, I bet that would be very rare.</p>
<p>Also, question is whether OPs son really will “wake up”. As others have pointed out, a 2.4 GPA isn’t the result of just one D in math. Even with a lot of honors/AP classes, that GPA (about a C+ average) will be problematic for admission to many schools. The OP’s quote, “I’m sure he can succeed, given the chance” is kind of telling. He has a chance now, in high school. I have heard of nothing holding him back (if he has something that is, like a health problem or some kind of major family problem, it could make good essay fodder :)). But generally colleges feel that if the kid can’t “wake up” in high school, they are not likely to in college.</p>
<p>Also, if U of I/Urbana is out of his reach as an in-state kid, Purdue surely is. But it does sound like Purdue might just be a passing interest because his friend is talking about it. There are some good suggestions of other schools on this thread that are better possibilities. You should take your son on some visits to those schools, get his focus off unrealistic options if you can.</p>