Right?! Middle school: got a C in the easy-A elective of digital art because they never handed assignments in, and same for first semester choir (choir! Who doesn’t get an A in choir!?) in high school, but perfect or near-perfect scores in math all the way. (…except for geometry where they had a ton of homework that was a significant part of the final grade…)
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Familiar story here, too. Loves learning and knowing many things, not at all motivated by other people telling him what to do and when to do it. He’s introduced many teachers to his favorite YouTube history and science channels—some even include them in their classroom resources now. He tutors like half his honors precalc class and his teacher just recommended him as a peer tutor for next year. But turning things in? Doing the assigned reading by the assigned date? Nope. He has come a long way and now sees the school “game” as worth playing—and finding the right medication for his adhd and figuring out his routines has been crucial—but the net result is quite a few Bs, even in subjects he loves because hi didn’t turn things in on time or at all.
I know he’s going to be fine and he’s maturing by leaps and bounds, but it has been a journey!
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Sounds like a lot of us have kids in similar profiles, they know the subject matter but can’t turn things in on time or make silly mistakes like not turning the page over or forgetting to put their names on the test.
I am glad this year is over S26 really took us for a ride, as usual he had multiple classes he needed to ace the final to get an A, you think by now I’d be used to it but no. Same story as usual he has his highest grades on the final when he puts in genuine effort.
He pulled not just a perfect score but also extra credit for his AP History class final, a class in which he never had a score higher than B+. The final gave him an A by .05 points. When I pointed out he could have done this all year long his answer was no the teacher just curved it. How many other kids got the extra points ? oh just a few it’s random. Right he was up till midnight working on his project I am sure the extra credit was random.
sigh At some point he will learn, I have no idea when, maybe in college. On the other hand D30 finished the year with perfect scores across the board and her teachers recommended her for advanced math. I suspect she won’t have any of the issues her brother has with timing and focus.
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One thing that helped us (still frustrating admittedly) to understand is when the neuropysch who did the evaluation explained to us not just that, but how, C26’s brain thinks differently (they are also mildly on the spectrum). I am so, so thankful that the IEP help at their school is really good. I have seen similar kids’ profiles online where the “executive functioning” skills teaching is either non-existent or is just hand-holding that disappears when they graduate. C26 - not ideal yet but so much better - has really learned a lot in this regard. Something also really useful is that they have learnt how to advocate for themselves with teachers (high anxiety kid too) - they have come so far on this to the point where we are completely no longer involved here. Again, compare to some other schools/kids I read about on Facebook where parent has had to helicopter all the way and then panics about what will happen when they can’t do it at college anymore. All of these are “skills” that came really easily to us and D19 - we just had to recognize that neurodivergent kids often don’t naturally have them.
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3.75 is a low GPA?
No, the just under 3.4 cumulative. Bear in mind rigor was pretty low through this time too. I would be FAR more comfortable with all the choices if it was cumulative 3.75! That’s why I said I hope colleges really do look at the trend.
I don’t think you should panic. My D24’s cumulative UW GPA was 3.33 and she got accepted to everywhere she applied.
The issue is that because of what C26 wants to do (and where they want to do it) our options a bit limited, even when we are not talking about competitive schools.. I am hoping SAT helps. The last intake GPA range for their desired major at Boulder, for example, was (weighted) 3.62 - 4.17 - so weighted, C26 is currently below that 25th percentile; but SAT was 1270 - 1410 so C26 is way above the 75th percentile. It’s just…really hard to judge. Hence my nervousness. And C26 is just so in love with Boulder a rejection would be extremely painful. (I know we try to not let the kids fall in love with a college, but it happens. TBH we all fell in love with it …)
We have a couple of proper safeties (auto admit) on the list but at this stage at least they are not wild about the options. Anyway ..one advantage is being CA residents, which leaves the CC-UC or SLO pathway as a viable option.
Yeah, I’m just going to be an anxious wreck until end Jan when the EA results come out!
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I have the high GPA meh test score kid… And while the schools she’s looking at are ALL test optional, every single school recruiting her has asked for her scores. So pseudo optional, I guess?
She gets one shot at a coach supported admissions boost, but has to apply ED1. While the coach support is huge, it increases the odds, but is still not a sure thing. And of course, the majority of the schools that are recruiting her have single digit acceptance rates, so it doesn’t make me feel all that confident.
So this summer, I’m making her think about her true safeties just in case, cuz you can’t be too prepared, right?
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This came across my newsfeed. I guess federal cuts to colleges are probably going to see hikes in a number of the colleges our kids are looking at ?
They are looking to raise tuition by 6.5% for instate residents and 7.5% for out of state.
“ The University of Minnesota is considering hefty budget cuts next year in the face of anticipated “financial challenges” driven largely by reductions in federal grant money and a trimmed-down state budget.”
Yes, it seems that our kids will probably face rising costs at many colleges, reduced merit and financial aid awards, cuts in programs, and reduced opportunities for research and internships. Many of these effects are already hitting students who are mid way through their degrees.
Thanks for sharing. We are looking at UM-TC…
And also hitting recent grads – particularly those interested in research and government jobs. My recent Tulane grad with a BS in Chem is feeling this now. One of his good friends and fellow Chem majors, who was set to continue her education, just had her PhD funding cut (so, essentially her PhD was pulled).
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Us too (not ideal as it’s secondary admission to major for arch, but still an option to look at)
Yes, UMN-TC is on my D’s list as well, but at this point she’s been looking more and more seriously at the Canadian universities, and now I actually worry that there will be a flood of US applicants to those… so we’re starting to look at the next tier of Canadian universities to be sure she has “likely” options there.
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It’s happening already - while still very much a small minority of students, the non-US destinations for our high school have shifted noticeably from UK/Ireland to Canada over the past year. I’m not sure how much of that was baked in before the change in administration and, let’s say (to avoid political opinions here in line with TOS), the manifestation in reality of reasons some people wanted to go beyond the US.
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I looked at University of Waterloo and McGill for S26, great schools but the out of canada tuition made them pretty expensive compared to our instate option. UK schools being 3 year made them more interesting but S26 doesn’t want to be that far away from home.
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A neighbor’s son is at Waterloo for engineering, but they’re dual citizens so maybe pay a domestic rate? The other ones from our school are at UBC and Toronto.
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Yeah that’s a big difference 18k vs 74k here’s the cost breakdown.
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They’d be $20k (citizens not resident in Ontario/canada)but yes still a huge difference.
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