Some advice from parents would be great

Northstarmom
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:01:27 +0000

“. I go to a top five LAC but I only got a 3.29 GPA–unless I can bring that up quickly, there go all of my post-undergrad options”

That’s not true at all. There are plenty of good options for students who’re even at the bottom of the class of a top 5 LAC. And your gpa is perfectly fine. Most students at top LACs aren’t going to get in college the sky high gpas they got in high school. That’s because they now are surrounded by students who are as smart or smarter than they are. The competition is stiffer.

" I live so far away from the financial and political centers of the country that it is difficult to find internships in my area of interest yet still live at home"

Most students don’t get internships until they are rising seniors, and unless they live in a big city, they probably have to move away from home in order to intern.

“I don’t have the financial resources to be able to do things that other students do–travel, volunteer overseas, take summer language classes, intern in Washington, so instead I’m stuck here.”

Welcome to the real world. You’re doing what most students do over the summer.

“I feel like I’m living two lives, one at school that I love with great friends who are amazing people and I love spending time with, and another with a bunch of dead-end losers from my hometown in the summer who would love nothing more than to get pass-out drunk 6 days a week.”

It’s your choice about whether to spend your time with them. You could choose to volunteer (I bet that your town – with its unemployment in the teens-- has plenty of need for volunteers) or to spend your time researching subjects that interest you or offering your services for odd jobs.

I have empathy for you: I went to an Ivy, and returned two summers to a dead end factory town that didn’t even have a movie theater. By the time I was a rising junior, I’d found a way to work in a big city for the summer, and I never returned home for summers. :)