This thread is simply to reassure parents who are dealing with under-achieving gifted kids.

After graduating from high school with a stellar 2.5 GPA, my high gifted son informed me this morning that he is on track to earn a 4.0 for his first semester in college. This despite a very full load of 17 hours including two sciences and two math courses towards his mechanical engineering degree.

After a plethora of emails, phone calls and conferences with teachers and counselors over the past 12 years just to keep my son on track, I really worried whether he'd ever get self-motivated and stay on task.

So if you have an under-achiever, don't lose hope. When they care about the outcome, our kiddos CAN put the effort into their work.

Congrats to your son and what a relief for you!!

what awesome news! congrats to him on finding the inner desire to do this. YAY for you, you must be feeling such a sense of relief.

Congratulations and thanks for letting us know - that does make me feel a little better

That's super!!
I don't know what changed for your son, but I can share that for me, I did my best work towards the end of undergrad and into grad school when my classes were superfocused on MY interests and finally I got into the meat of things...

That's great news!!!! Does he have any comment on this change?

Yes, he does, herenow. He says that for the first time he sees what he is learning as something he has chosen for a goal he has for his own future. Before it was mandatory, easy, and mostly annoying.

Congrats! Your news is exactly what I needed to hear today.

Thanks, M&M. I was hoping this would not come off as bragging, because I sincerely meant it as a straw of hope for those who may be struggling with an underachiever. I know I really, really worried some days about what his future would hold if he didn't get motivated and develop a work ethic.

that is great! you must feel so happy!

I can echo that too...it's probably better that I didn't know how high school and college would be because I would have been trying to skip all of HS and go straight to college! lol!