Old Army Ghost said:
parents let your kids fight these fights for themselves
they dint need helicopter parents in college
Couldn't disagree more with this mentality. I had great parents and Dad was a huge Aggie but he had no guidance about anything school related in terms of academics. Made so many mistakes not understanding how to manage classes, look up profs, how to Q Drop, what classes to take at CC. After Freshman year I was sitting basically at a 2.0 and had to change my Major from Business to POLS with a MGMT Minor as my options had been limited. Started to figure things out and was 3.0 and above from there on out but the damage was done. With some planning and knowledge I could have graduated with the Business Degree I wanted and a much higher GPA. Turned out fine in the end but had a much harder road than I needed.
My elder son is a Freshman at Galveston doing Marine Transportation. He only took Pre Cal in HS but nearly got into 142 on the test. He went ahead and took 140 and 142 in Summer School at CC though just to get them out of the way and it's worked beautifully. His classmates are struggling in Math and he's done with it and able to focus on his other classes and has all A's. About a month in he decided to sign up for Physics online at CC as well and is knocking it out without pressure to make an A (though he is doing well in it anyway) and will take his 2nd Semester of Physics there as well by the same method. If he were STEM I wouldn't recommend it but for him this is all the pure Math and Science he will have. It's allowing him to take more electives in MART for different specialties and get a Marine Business Minor too and still graduate in 4 years as he had some additional Dual Credit from HS too. He's also likely to be able to keep a high GPA by being very strategic with his classes.
Younger son is a Sophomore in HS and academically very strong and high class rank so he should be auto admit barring a total collapse. He's Engineering all the way and currently crushing Pre AP Pre Cal so he will be through AP Cal II as a Senior. He should end up with a very high Math SAT score based on his Freshman PSAT and is really hoping for National Merit next year but it's hard to know as the margin for error is so small, would be huge for scholarships. Not sure what is going to be the best path for him in Math at A&M, he could likely take Cal III at CC or something the Summer before but I want to make sure he doesn't go so fast he screws himself by getting into heavy Engineering Classes too quickly without the right foundation. He wants to do Biomedical Engineering or possibly Mechanical and knows he will go to Grad school either in Engineering or possibly and MD or EnMed so it's a long path. Trying to figure out the right balance. Also looking at other college options for him either for "Reach" schools or scholarship money.
The point though is I got very involved with both of my boys to help them figure out their path and how to be ahead of the game and it's paid off big for them so far. They are happy and have a lot of options in front of them that they almost certainly would not have had without being actively engaged and showing them options and how to maximize their academic plan.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan