Seeking anecdotes of students in college after 1:1 high school

Hi there-

For medical reasons, my daughter did online high school for four years, with a bit of 1:1 at Tilden (one English class during the summer, which she really enjoyed). She is currently a sophomore at University of Denver and it seems to be a good fit. One of the reasons behind our support for her choice to attend DU was their Learning Effectiveness Program which, for a quarterly fee, provides another layer of academic support - not specifically for tutoring, but more for navigating the college experience with a weekly 1:1 counselor meeting and benefits like early registration. There are many 4-year schools - large and small - with similar programs, and I think those should be seriously (if not exclusively) considered for any student who struggles with traditional high school learning, for any reason. I think without this individualized help, college life would've been much more difficult for my daughter.

After talking to many parents who have been in a similar situation as you, I would advise comprehensive neuropsych testing if you haven't done it already, to better understand his unique challenges. And my final suggestion is to to put your student in a place of learning that is comfortable for him, where he can enjoy learning and feel validated and confident in his work. Thoughts of college readiness or college selection are premature if he doesn't get to a place of feeling successful in school. Hope that is helpful! Feel free to message me privately.

My kid had an IEP for similar issues. He fulfilled his foreign language and math requirements (A-G) at Tilden Prep. When it was time to apply to college, we only looked at places that cater to kids with learning differences. Southern Oregon University in Ashland has a Coaching and Mentoring program (e.g. Classes start tomorrow. Have you bought your books?) and that worked for him. I believe Landmark College in Vermont offers something similar but was out of our price range. He only had to take one math class in college and no foreign language, so that helped. Your situation might be different.
I want to stress that our kid very much wanted to attend a 4-yr college straight out of high school, so we worked hard to help him achieve his goal. So I would just make sure this is what your kid wants. Our other child had zero interest in college and after struggling for a few years is now launched into a career that brings him great joy. Best of luck!

That sounds like the same kind of very difficult situation I went through, so my sympathies to you!  My 2E kid transferred to Tilden full time after a disastrous freshman year in public high school.  It would have been the right decision for us even completely ignoring the college prep factors, because it so vastly reduced all the stress the entire family was experiencing as a result of his school struggles.  And I credit his graduation from high school to the 1:1 mastery-model approach at Tilden; Tilden gave him the option to even apply to college, which of course is a different question than how well prepared he was when he got there, but he never would have been accepted to a well-regarded state university and been able to give it a try in the first place if he hadn't made it through high school!  I'm so grateful that we were able to marshal the financial resources to get him there and keep him there through graduation.

After Tilden, he went off to university with no supports beyond the counseling services available to all students at his school, and he did reasonably well through his first two years (which included the spring 2020 pandemic shutdown and 2020-21 all-remote-classes year), applied as required for and was successfully admitted to his desired major program.  Then in the middle of his junior year he failed a required upper-division course, which would not be offered again until the following year, and long story short, he ended up leaving school altogether.  It remains to be seen whether he will ever return and finish his degree.  This is not the outcome I hoped for, of course, but here's the thing: He is now a fully self-supporting adult, living in his own apartment, happy with his life and content in his career, which at least up to this point has not required a degree.  I really can't complain, given how many of his peers, whether they've earned a college degree or not, are still living with their parents, floundering in the job market, not really fully "launched" as they approach their quarter-century.

So, of course your situation may be different in all sorts of particulars, but I encourage you to think about the choice of high school for your kid mostly in terms of the high school & teenage experience itself - including the impact on you, managing all the tutoring and monitoring - and not to prioritize college preparation too heavily. There's no intrinsic reason that a student who finds success with the 1:1 high school model can't also be successful in traditional college classes, any more than a student who does well in college lectures and seminars can't also be successful in the working world which after all is, in most cases, structured very differently.  And your kid, with three failed classes already in 9th grade, is in an emergency situation; if he wants college to even be a possibility, he needs to do something different in order to finish high school. One step at a time! Or, as they say, you can burn that bridge when you come to it. ;)  Once high school graduation is a more realistic expectation, you can start thinking about whether the next steps include the "standard" or traditional college experience, or not.  Either way, my best wishes to you and your kid.

Thank you all so much. These stories and perspectives are really helpful. The comment about the current situation being an emergency especially resonates. Prioritizing the obvious needs of my kiddo right now and then looking at other goals, like college readiness, makes sense. We had a terrible 504 meeting today where my kid left in tears and I felt pretty demoralized. It's time for a change for sure.