GPA GPA GPA

Very soon (if not already) students will be getting their schedules in the mail or on the student portal. It is the last opportunity the parent of a high school student has to manipulate their child’s schedule. The school district would like parents think that manipulation is not possible. “Not possible” is not the correct term. “Difficult” is a better one. And savvy parents need to learn how to manipulate the system within the parameters of the rules to get their child’s needs met. Savvy parents figure out a way to give their child the best opportunity for success.

Because when it comes to your high schooler’s education with an eye towards getting them into the best college of their choice, here’s the scoop: GPA GPA GPA. And what makes me an authority you ask? Experience. I successfully navigated 3 daughters to the tier one college of their choice--and not through athletic prowess, but on their brainpower (and mine.) And the added piece is my youngest daughter worked in the admission office at Emory in Atlanta, where she attends school--which is considered a “new Ivy.”

If you take nothing away from this blog understand this: under no circumstances do you ever permit your child to take a course that will lessen their GPA. So if for example your child is a 93 student, and by taking a honors or AP course, not only will your child not get the current target grade of 93, but will also have to work so ridiculously hard in that course that all their other courses will now suffer and result in a lower overall GPA, DO NOT LET YOUR CHILD TAKE THE COURSE. The only time you allow your child to take an upper level course with a high degree of difficulty that potentially will reduce their GPA is if they plan on taking that course of study in college—and if they do need to take it, you must get a private tutor. Dip into their college fund if you have to---you are going to be spending that money anyway once they go off to school. Do not rely on the school district. They will do little for you—or rather nothing that will address the specific needs of your child.

And do not get sucked into allowing your child take a course for “personal enrichment.” Colleges don’t care about enrichment, they care about grades. And if your child’s GPA and SAT scores do not make the first cut –it is over. And yes, they (college admissions) will scrutinize your child’s transcript to see how many upper level courses your kid takes---but you need to get through the first cut first before they can scrutinize it. So keep the GPA in the correct range. Dropping down in a course level and keeping the grade high is looked at as a smart thing—it is foolish thing to have a kid stay in an AP or honors class and do poorly when they had other options. And curriculum directors who encourage “personal enrichment” (for the most part—there are exceptions) have a different agenda—their focus is course enrollment—your kid often times is just a number on an excel worksheet designed to make them look good. Your kid is a statistic at a Board of Education presentation.

And neither should you allow ego—the parents’ or the kid’s—drive having your kid stay in a course that time will prove to be a mistake. When your child gets into the college of their choice no one will be “embarrassed” that they dropped their course level down from AP to honors or honors to regents level. In fact you will be laughing at the others who put themselves in a tenuous state for having allowed ego be the decision maker.

And here’s another piece. I have experienced excellent advice from the guidance department. My kids’ guidance counselor was absolutely stellar—the best of the best---his integrity is unrivaled. But guidance counselors have families to feed. So there are things they cannot say if they want to keep their job. And among those things is telling you who the really crappy teachers are. So if a parent tells you a teacher is awful, believe them. Ask all the other kids about the teacher too—they will know if the teacher is awful or not—and they will not lie. Never keep your kid in a classroom with a teacher who confuses rigor with roadblocks. Trust me, it makes no sense to torture a kid so “they will be all the better for it”—they won’t be—that’s an urban legend. All they (and you) will be is miserable—miserable for 9 months—that’s a long time—convicts spend less time in jail

And if you have to change the course level of an entirely different course to free up the needed period to get your kid out of the class with the ill-performing teacher—do it. Be inventive. The end justifies the means—it is that important. $55,000/year is a hefty sum to shell out to a college your kid didn’t really want to attend but had to because they didn’t get into the college of their choice.

So. Pass this uncensored unauthorized bit of information to anyone and everyone you know. I can tell you this, those who took my advice were always thrilled that they did. And those who chose not to, regretted it. And let me know how things work out for you either way. Remember: GPA GPA GPA. Never let your child  be a canary in a coal mine. Do whatever it takes—even if it means moving one town over for a year.