“I think it would be best for him to go to a school where he was in the top 25% of the school (instead of Georgetown where he will be middle 50%) as he will be competing with his fellow students for spots at law schools.”
My two cents: for law school admission, he will be competing not against his specific college classmates but against all other applicants. College GPA is critical, but rank among his specific college classmates is not. I have no advice on whether his GPA is likely to be higher at a less-selective college; rigor of the undergrad program does count for something when law school adcoms evaluate the college GPA, though it’s unclear how much. With the prospect of law school looming, cost of full-pay undergrad is understandably a huge factor.
“Both of us went to state schools and we are in the financial position to full pay for 2 kids private/out of state college and grad school, so we don’t put a lot of stock in needing a prestige school to have a “good” life.”
“He wants to go on to law school and before we go on to he needs to go to the best school to get into law school, a friend of ours went to MU and went to Georgetown law School and was offered a full ride to Law School at Wash U.”
As you may already know, prestige of the law school itself matters, often tremendously. There is a reason your friend chose Georgetown for law school over a full ride at WashU. But, you can cross that bridge when you come to it.
For choosing the undergrad school (and thus for making high school course selections that affect competitiveness for selective schools if desired), I’d look more closely at what your son wants to do in the long run. It’s not as though a degree in international econ from Gtown is interchangeable with a degree from a state U for opening doors in that particular field, but if he just wants to practice law in a domestic capacity, that isn’t relevant. (For what it’s worth, if he really likes econ in general, a regular econ major provides a nice foundation for understanding antitrust law.) Best of luck to your son!
Economics Major here and mom with a kid with some stress issues who has had to balance wants and needs. We have made some decisions that are not the perfect choices. At the end you need to do what is best for your child. I think that you are reading Georgetown’s requirements way to literally. Most of the schools have official minimum requirements that are significantly below the curriculum that the majority of the admitted and attending students are coming in with. Those bare minimums are mostly going to have something else really strong going for them. Your son has a great list of other AP courses and maybe that will be enough I think you son should take AP Stats. Even if the work load or teacher are difficult, the basic mathematical concepts are not. If AP Stats is too hard, then he may discover that an Economics major is not a good choice. The Micro and Macro courses he took are not why the major requires Math. In fact, many students will take those in parallel with Calc or Stats. It is the advanced Economics courses (Econometrics, operations research, Finance courses, etc) that need the math.
^The real issue isn’t Op’s son, but op’s son’s friend, who is currently a top student and will need admission to a top school with 100% need met, but hasn’t been properly advised. If that kid doesn’t get into a school with excellent financial or merit aid, things will be dicier, which would be a shame considering what OP said- “great student sees potential curtailed due to bad advising” would be sad for CC, where the entire community’s dedicated to giving good advice. However, with math stopped at Algebra2, that kid has no chance at the schools he’s aiming for and who knows what else he’s missing.
OP: is there a way for you to know what classes your son’s friend has taken, and to make sure it’s communicated to him, so that he can make up any deficiency is remediated this semester, over the summer, or next year?
Thanks @MYOS1634 - My son’s friend has just finished Trig. My son has informed him that his Math Analysis teacher said they will not be offering statistics next year - only AP Stats. His friend can not take AP Stats as Math Analysis is a prerequisite. At least I hope they don’t waiver Math Analysis! He also told him that AP Stats is harder than AP calc according to his teacher. My fingers are crossed that he will take Math Analysis now that his path to Stats is blocked as not taking Math Analysis would leave him with only 3 math credits. Other than his math, my son’s friend is in great shape. He has taken more AP’s than my son as my son takes Debate every year as an elective so that takes 3 spots that could go to AP’s . Friend is taking/taken AP Chem & AP Physics. He is in the 4th year of Spanish (I think he may be scheduled for AP Spanish senior year) and will take every History/social sciences AP we offer. He is also taking both AP Lang & Lit. Using my son as my backdoor to get the needed info to him seems to be working. I think it’s hard for kids like my son and his friend who have never struggled through school to accept that some subjects actually do require you to study hard and even - ask for outside help!
On a different note I did convince my son to add Spanish 3 & 4 into his schedule next year. His Scholar Bowl coach (our upper level Spanish teacher) gave him a little nudge. He will be taking a Spanish program of some kind over the summer to refresh. We compromised on the math for now. I’m hoping if Math Analysis goes well he can be convinced into AP Calculus. I know his GC would be happy to change that out at the last minute. I’m not holding my breath. I felt it was better to compromise on math if I could get him to take 4 years of Spanish.
@sahmkc. Great job Mom. Sounds like they are both getting good advice! While both would be great, I would think the Spanish is much more relevant to his current desires and goals. Hope his friend will take the Math Analysis Class. My son did well in Spanish, but really did not like it and really did not like when it got “hard”. He dropped after year 3. He is interested in STEM, so it seemed ok. He is now accepted into a program that will require a language proficiency through intermediate level (4 Semesters or they say equivalent to 4 years of HS). Due to other requirements for his specific major, he will not be able to start this until at least Sophmore year. He is likely going to start over with Chinese as he wants to try that and will have trouble placing out of any Spanish after a 2 year gap.