<p>@soana63 - That is truly awesome for your S. The anecdotal evidence of your son does not really change my point. In my experience, he would be the exception not the rule. I compare how the 1st test score compares to the GPA. If the GPA is high and the initial test score is not, it tends to indicate that grades are inflated. I also know a TON of parents who just cannot let the kids make their own beds (so to speak). S1 has done everything pretty much on his own. He has made mistakes (such as not sending his transcripts right away), but it was his decision. Part of the reason he was not in the top 2 or 3 percent was simply due to transferring from a religious HS to a public one and the grades/weighting did not exactly transfer. The truly sad thing was that the private school was more challenging by a factor of about 3. Ultimately, he will learn more by dealing with the challenges.</p>