Parent to parent: Making the grade

By John Corrigan

My wife and I have been to a few 50th-birthday parties lately, and we’ve been catching up with people we first met when our kids were buzzing around the soccer field or giggling their way through the school play.

We shared what little wisdom we had then -- teachers to seek out, coaches to avoid — and continue to do so now, even though our kids are away at college or headed there soon.

So what about some perspective on college grades? UC Davis students get their fall grades on Dec. 23.

When I ran into a graying acquaintance, a guy who happens to be a lawyer, at one of these recent soirees, I couldn’t help but ask: What’s the secret to getting into a good law school?

His answer: Get great grades, not just good ones. Students who aspire to the top schools need to “scorch the earth” around them, he said, with a grade point average that makes them stand out like an untouched evergreen in a burn zone.

Good advice, no doubt. But what if your kid isn’t exactly an earth-scorcher?

Raising grades, standing out

By virtue of being at UC Davis, it’s a safe bet that your son or daughter is smart and talented. But the higher you climb, the tougher it gets. And college is also a time of distractions, where even the best students can find themselves struggling to get the kind of grades they earned in high school.

That could become a hindrance if and when they start applying to professional schools or graduate programs. That’s their challenge, of course, and not yours, but here are few things you can do that might be helpful.

• Ask about grades every quarter. You may not be getting report cards any more, but you still have a role to play in encouraging achievement. Show interest in grades, praise accomplishments, and you may inspire your student to go the extra mile.
• If your student is struggling, suggest ways for him or her to boost grades, just like you probably did when he or she was in middle school. Your student might have forgotten about seeking extra-credit opportunities or thought tutoring was just for high-school algebra. Encourage your student to think creatively about ways to improve grades.
• Look for ways to offset sub-par classroom performance. It may be too late in your student’s college career to budge the GPA significantly, but it’s almost never too late to round out the collegiate resume. Getting involved in campus organizations and participating in internships can help a student stand out from the field, even if his or her grades don’t.

These simple suggestions may be obvious. But don’t presume your student knows these tactics, even if you do. As I’m reminded every time I go to a 50th-birthday party: These kids haven’t been around as long as us.