Brainy Bird got his first high school report card today. One grading period down, fifteen to go….all A’s. One might be delighted. I am certainly happy, but he has some improvement to do if he has his sights set on the nation’s top STEM schools. His passion is computer programming. He took home a 100 in computer science, his absolute favorite class and teacher. Along with a 98 in Spanish, which is his least favorite class. He had a 94 in AP English, we will take an A in English anyday. Where we fell short was two missing homework assignments in advanced Algebra II took his grade from a 98 to a 94, and he had the same sort of issue in chemistry. He is admittedly bored in his engineering class, and boredom led to some missing/sloppy work, and a 94.
The top schools are going require him to have a GPA of 96.5 or higher. Do the math; he is falling short right now, and that means he has to score even higher than a 96.5 in the future. I am not in any way disappointed, or discouraged. Quite the opposite, Brainy Bird appreciates what he has to do to meet the goals that he has set for himself, and I see a super-motivated young man.
It is exciting to see my son so happy.
I am amazed at the quality of the education that he is receiving. I think that it rivals that of an expensive private school education. I also think that his public school education exposes to him to amazing kids and diversity that he would not find in private school. Brainy Bird’s teachers are engaged and passionate about what they are teaching. They are led by an administration that embraces this passsion. I was blown away yesterday by Brainy Bird’s counselor. She is incredibly well informed not just about college, but preparing for life as a whole. I wanted to hug her for reinforcing what I have told Brainy Bird. I also liked that she put him at the center of the conversation. She talked to him, not me. I was impressed with how well thought out Brainy Bird’s goals are.
Our next step, is to identify Brainy Bird’s tiers of educational options. He has this defined somewhat already. I can’t wait to go to college visit. The three tiers are:
Tier 1 – Elite schools (also known as expensive and highly selective)
Tier 2 – Top ranked schools that Brainy Bird should expect to be admitted to with his potential if he stays on track
Tier 3 – A local option, which for us is a college in Houston. My gut reaction was to completely balk at this. I am a huge believer in going away and having a college experience. I am glad I stayed quiet. Tier 3 is not a “One decided to be lazy and not live up to their potentional” option. Tier 3 is life sometimes goes awry and there are lots of life circumstances that prevent a child from going away for school. There has to be a fall back plan in such a case.
We are going to have fun over the next few months forming our list of tier 1, 2 and 3 schools, and I have no doubt that this will continue to evolve over the next couple of years. So far there is one Tier 1 school on the list, MIT, and one Tier 2 school, the University of Texas. When UT is in your Tier 2, you are pretty good shape, but you have lots of work to do over the next four years to get there. Like I said, one down, fifteen to go.
One thing that the last four years at my present employer has taught me is that an experience with an organization whether it be an educational instituation, place of employment or charity depends largely on what an individual makes of it. I see Brainy Bird making the very best of what his amazing school and devoted teachers and administration have to offer him.