The Grothe Effect

[TheBullies]

...but if I had children right now (which I don't) I'd want them to aspire to a better school than USF. This may change as time goes by if USF continues to excel academically, but that's just my opinion right now.

I was there with you and felt the same way... But I think you would've seen the same at other state schools. I recently finished grad school (not at USF) and thought the same thing on the first day of class... and my school was/is fairly competitive as far as admissions.

I think it is understandable you'd want the best for your kids... I wouldn't mind if mine went to MIT.

[JerseyBull06]

...but if I had children right now (which I don't) I'd want them to aspire to a better school than USF. This may change as time goes by if USF continues to excel academically, but that's just my opinion right now.

I was there with you and felt the same way... But I think you would've seen the same at other state schools. I recently finished grad school (not at USF) and thought the same thing on the first day of class... and my school was/is fairly competitive as far as admissions.

I think it is understandable you'd want the best for your kids... I wouldn't mind if mine went to MIT.

MIT is overratted

sorry...still a bit of my 'rivalry' left over from my first years of college. I only met a few people from MIT and they were all cool and knew how to have a good time.

USF is the only in-state school I've been to so I don't have much to compare on that front but would agree it's probably not much different in other state run universities.

[IncrediBULL]

bottom line, just because a kid is good with books and academics, does not make them worldly.

To Sheriff's point, what you got in HS is not necessarily an indicator of future success.  

I saw a statistic a few years ago, and it basically noted that the overwhelming majority (like 65 - 70%) of all Fortune 1000 CEO's were C students in high school with an upper 2.x GPA.  Most did only slighly better at college, but used college for other aspects like sports, clubs, greek, etc...  It was their social skills combined with their degree that has propeled them, not the degree alone.

That being said, if I look at my high school graduation class, and the kids who were all honors/student govt, etc, many of them are Doctors, Lawyers, Politicians, or in other high ranking positions...  Those were the kids with the high SAT/GPA's..   (not me by the way, I was the C/B student in HS).  

Anyway, I think it is good we are moving up in the world.   UF has an enterance GPA average of 3.9 now.  It  is like a 1300 something SAT too....    We are not there, but certainly attracting the best students is a good thing...

[OSMOBULL]

I'm glad I went to USF when I did.  No way I would get in with the grades I had.

I said the same thing

same here, im getting out when the goings r good n will only get better

[IncrediBULL]

True, it is grade inflation.  But it is due to the volume of Honors and AP style classes kids can get these days.  It is possible, via dual enrollment, to complete your freshman year of college by taking college classes at high school, during your jr/sr years.  this was not possible even 15 years ago.   So some of it is due to the improvement of the public school system in offering more options to the smarter kids.

My daughter is in 9th grade and is currently taking about half of her courses in honors or via the honors track. That will increase next year, and she will probably take college level classes by her jr year.   I suspect her sr. year will mostly be dual enrollment type courses.  She took the SAT in 7th grade as part of a Duke University program she was in.  I think I was a sr when everyone was taking the SAT in the old days.....

Not trying to brag, but these are the types of kids that USF is accepting these days.   Most of my daughter's soccer teamates, and friends are of a similar track and will graduate with extremely high GPA's and SAT scores.  Hopefully many will consider USF.  It is doubtful my daughter will go anywhere but USF... 

She is a bulls fan.  And it is due to the football program and going to so many sporting events that she is such a huge fan.

Congrats incredibull!  Sounds like your daughter is on a great fast track.  Bestow some wisdom on a few of us parents with young children on how to keep them focused.  I've got a 7 and 3 year old, boys, and my wife and I push school, and sport.  Any advise is appreciated.

I consider myself very fortunate with my oldest.  I have two others, one in middle school and one in elementary.   They are all girls, and all very different.   It is too early to say with the other two, but hopefully they follow the same track.

A statistic we recently heard was that 80+% of high school students who are connected to their schools (clubs, team sports, etc) will go to college.  This is at a time where 40% of students who start 9th grade will not finish on time with their class, and may end up as a drop out or with a GED instead.   Scary.  

The wisdom which has been passed on to me by friends who have older children is ensure your kids are involved.  Get them in the band, or in a sport, or in clubs.  Also have a healthy dialog with them about school.  With my daughter in 9th grade, we basically let her act as an adult and speak with her in that manner (unless she is making a crazy decision about something).  Our goal is for her to understand what it means to be an adult before she has to be one - and a major part of that is making decisions.  

It sounds like you are doing the right things with sports, academics...  That is all you can hope for.  I don't think there is a magic wand with this kid raising thing.  I continue to make mistakes and learn new things each day....  

But, if I can get 2 out of 3 of them to be USF Bulls, I will have achieved my goal....  

[IncrediBULL]

I'm glad I went to USF when I did.  No way I would get in with the grades I had.

I said the same thing

same here, im getting out when the goings r good n will only get better

Good news is that as they take smarter and smarter kids, by virtue of our degrees we "appear" smarter than we are... hoo - hoo, heres to raising the bar a bit.... 

[Yung Money]

Wow 3.73? My high school GPA was worse than that, glad I got in a year ago instead of this year.

[TheBullies]

I'm getting smarter, then?

[CousinRicky]

And they wonder why students graduate and then move back in with mom and dad. They are not mature enough at 21 to be thrown into the real world. I'm all for education... but maybe that says something about our education system. College is suppose to be the best four years of your life. Most kids now look at it as a drive thru by taking "honors" classes in high school that allow them to complete a year before they even get to college. Someone needs to wake these kids up and tell them to enjoy their college experience. Rodney Dangerfield said it best in "Back to School" in his graduation speech (I know someone can find it on You Tube).

I'd say my 2.19 GPA from high school in 1993 is easily comparable to students that are getting 4.0's now. Think of the teachers that are currently educating these students. Most of them ended up as education majors by default. Considering a majority of them defaulted into their education positions, do you honestly believe they are going to fail current students... nah, no child left behind. Parents coddle kids so much, teachers feel threatened if they actually fail a student because the parents berate them from every angle.

I remember Reaper on here going back to school to get his education degree. There are very few on here that start with that as their intended goal. Congrats Reap... now fail some students and get those inflated GPA's down!

And as Chuszai just stated... "I swear, I can't understand how some of these people even graduated high school sometimes". Refer to my statement above. A low 2.19 GPA back in the early 90's was very equivalent to a 4.0 GPA now. My frosh year, I tutored 33 girls in College Algebra (or maybe hooked up with them)... and God knows how many papers I proof read for people in Fontana Hall. I too was amazed by what I saw. I proudly can talk about my high school GPA now. But maybe that is the difference between education in Northern VA and Florida in general.

Our USF Grad in the photo below is now teaching math to your middle school kids - BY CHOICE.  Not that I wouldn't like to see her make more money in engineering or actuarial science.  But she believes she can make a difference and is stuck making mid $30's in what this state calls an education system.

I won't go any further but that got a bit of a rise out of me.  I won't go on about how 85% of USF freshmen flunk their first math class (this was 6 years ago when she started, according the orientation presentation). 

[NinjaPenguin777]

Dumb people have the most power sadly. Having recently graduated high school I can tell you that there were people in honors and AP that should not have been there. Public high school is a joke. I studied maybe 3 times throughout highschool (not kiding). I got a C one time in physics and that was it. My GPA never dropped below 3.5 and I came to USF with 21 credit hours. People don't have to take a test before they breed unfortunately