That's a tough one because he sounds like a great kid. He appears to have balance between work and fun and what's important. Since I don't have teenagers I would suggest that if you know someone who is currently attending the college he wants to attend, to have him talk to them about getting in. i.e. what he needs to focus on, with emphasis on why this person LOVES the college he/she is attending. That way he can see from a real person what it's like. Or likewise, maybe do the same with a person you know who wishes they had gotten into the college of their choice, and ended up attending somewhere else. Like I said, it may not be the best advice, I just know that sometimes our kids will listen to ANYBODY other than their parents, and it has a bigger impact. Best of Luck!

Is the college close enough to you that you could do a visit with him? Show him what life is like at college and how he needs to be ready for it?

I LOVED college. However, I didn't realize how much I would love school in college, so I didn't try hard enough in high school - so yeah, I'm that person BusyBee is talking about that wishes they'd gotten into a different school - especially now that I know I could have excelled there had I pushed myself more in HS!


As a kid, it's hard to see big picture.....and by the time we do, it's often too late Hopefully he doesn't have to learn that lesson the hard way - like I did!

The school he wants to go to is the same one his dad, grandfather, two aunts and uncles all graduated from (sometimes I call it the cult, LOL) He came home from the hospital wearing a shirt with the name of the college on it. (Texas A&M) he has been there many times and has met several students. He also has talked to a good friend of his aunts who went there and is in the field he wants to be in. Also he is in touch with a current student who is in the band, which in this particular school means the corps, which is kind of hard to explain, it's like that portion of the students who join are in military school. He is actually looking forward to it. When his grandfather went the whole school was military and didn't allow women. His grandmother has been taking him to football games there since he was a baby. I have told him I don't care what school he goes to, though that being a state school means it's cheaper than some. He has finally agreed to apply to all the schools in Texas that offered his major. (we looked out of state, but out of state tuition is so much higher!) I know he will be dissapointed if he doesn't get into his dream school, but it's hard to get into. He has a lot of friends who are seniors and having trouble getting into the schools of thier choice, saying they wish someone had told them when they were freshman that thier grades that year could keep them out of college, and then behind them you see thier parents turning purple in frustration, cause they did tell them! LOL. Adding to pressure is dh who was valadictorian of a huge school, but never had to study. He always had straight A's and school was always very easy for him. DS looks just like his dad and is very smart, but he is not his dad. Dh had no life! LOL, he read encyclopedias for fun. He still reads about quantum physics for fun. So he doesn't understand why his son can't seem to get it together and take it seriously. It will be such a releif when he gets accepted somewhere and makes a decision!

Gotcha.

That's how my dream school was - family connections, football games since I could walk, my first stuffed animal was their mascot.

Explain no more! haha

I do wish there was a way that kids understood that it ALL counted. Have you gotten the list of the requirements for admission? Maybe you could make like a poster or a chart for his room or something like a daily reminder of where he needs to be academically, extra curriculars, etc.? I don't know.....it's so tough.....

I think the hardest part is that he really needs to be in the top ten percent of his class. That's kind of a hard goal to quantify. It's a small school, so there are 84 students in his class. So he needs to be one of the top students. They only give rankings once a year. Last year he was 34th. We are hoping he has moved up this year, but won't know until August. His Principal was furious, because she was pointing to his test scores which were the best in his class and then his ranking and said they did not match! LOL It's so hard for kids at 14 and 15 to realize that suddenly everything they do counts. They can tank thier cummulative GPA in ninth grade. That's a lot of pressure. I am sure he will get into some college, even if he has to start at Junior college (which would be a lot cheaper!) All three of my boys have an easy time of school. DD has always struggled some. So I will worry a lot more about her when she gets to that point.