12/14/2016

Parents,

This week, students will receive their grades. I hope they do well. I thought that it might be helpful to give you my interpretation of the grades. While I haven’t seen the overall grades for this year’s class, our classes tend to follow similar trends from year to year. Grades should be available on December 20 although I expect they will be available earlier.

If your student receives a:

GPA = 4.00 - Only about 5% of our students will receive a 4.00 GPA this semester. You should be very proud of your student. These student’s will be on the President’s List.

GPA = 3.50 – 4.00 – Obviously your student did great. Only about 10% of our class will be in this range. Don’t be disappointed that your student got a B in a course or two. A GPA in this range is still a great achievement. These students make the Dean’s List.

GPA = 3.00 – 3.50 – These are good grades. About 20% of the class will be in this range. You should be very proud of your student even if the grades were not what they were in high school.

GPA = 2.00 – 3.00 – Typically these students had one bad grade and reasonable grades in other classes. About 40% of our class will be in this range. The issue for many of these students is retaining their scholarships. They should be able to raise their grades, but students in this range need to meet with an advisor to develop a concrete plan for the grades they need to get next semester.

GPA = 1.00 – 2.00 – Obviously these students didn’t do what was needed. About 20% of the class will be in this range. If your student is in this range, check the math/science grades in comparison to other grades. If the other grades are C’s or better, but math/science grades are D’s or F’s, your student was probably working but just got in over his/her head in some difficult classes. If your student got D’s or F’s in courses in English, Engineering 199, and general education courses (e.g. History, Sociology, etc), then that tells me that your student wasn’t making the effort. These students can recover, but they really need to make an effort.

GPA = 0.00 – 1.00 – Obviously these students weren’t making the effort. About 5% of our students are in this category. There were students in my class who only got 10 points for the entire semester. That was for attending the first day of classes. I never saw them again. These students will have a tough time recovering, but it can be done if they make a serious effort.

Students who have less than a 2.00 GPA will be receiving notice about actions they need to take. I will be teaching Engr 150 for students in academic jeopardy. About 95% of the students who take my class seriously will be out of trouble at the end of the next semester. My plans are to “impose” the discipline on students that they seem to need. This is also a good class for students who don’t have the GPA to keep their scholarships.

If I can offer some parent advice at this time, it would be this: Be careful of your reaction to your student’s grades. Obviously if the grades are above 3.00, you should be proud. Focus on the A’s rather than the B’s. If your student’s grades are in the 2.00 – 3.00 range, don’t overreact to one low grade. If your student’s grades are in the 1.00 – 2.00 range, ask your student what he/she plans to do to recover. You have a right to be concerned and upset (especially if the bad grades are in almost every class). I would expect that your student should be able to give you a very specific recovery plan. You may even want to do your own contract with your student. If your student’s grades are below 1.00, you really need to discuss whether continuing in school is the best option.

Let me close with the story of Bill. I first met Bill when he returned to campus after doing military service. His first attempt at college wasn’t successful, and he was suspended. When he came back, he was a much more serious student, but the time away from school really hurt him. After his first year back he was due to be suspended again.

I helped Bill enroll in some very easy classes over the summer. We can’t suspend a student if they are taking classes. We had done the calculations on his GPA. If Bill made A’s in his summer school classes, he would be above the suspension level.

Bill made the grades he needed and was able to stay in school. From that point on, his grades started to improve. His final semester in college, he made the Dean’s List.

Since Bill has graduated, he has had an outstanding career with major responsibility for his business. He is also a Colonel in the Army Reserves.

I have found that, for some students, getting the grades they need is like crossing the sound barrier. There’s a great unknown to what it will take to break through the barrier. But once students break through this barrier, it’s no telling how much they can achieve.

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One final note. For many of you, this is probably the longest period of time you have been with your student since August. In many cases, you may be struggling with each other. Students have grown accustomed to the freedom of college and parents haven’t yet learned to cope with this. My best advice to you is this: “Think back to this time in your life and act as you wished your parents would have acted.”