My son Joe is going to graduate High School in less than a month. He thinks he would like to go for Mechanical Engineering as a major. Joe has of late, not been a great student grade wise as “senioritis” kicked in early in the term, and he has let his grade point average dip a bit. That and his lack of focus has made it tough for his parents to support this given his recent history. But as his parents, we have to.

Last Friday afternoon, we all took a trip to tour Florida Polytechnic, a public State University that specializes in STEM and the #1 Public college in the southeast (and top 20 in the US for engineering) so a tough school to get into. We learned it only opened about 13 years ago and has a relatively (for now) small population of about 1,800 students with typical class sizes of 17-25. The campus had impressive research labs with tons of programs for the sciences and mathematics fields (we saw a designed and built solar car that placed 7th in the country in its last race). The dorms are very new (a 4th dorm building is going up later this year), and the campus is designed to offer a comfortable atmosphere, especially being a bit remote in Lakeland, Fl (about an hour and a half from our home).  All in all, we were impressed and knew this could be a great place for him. Frankly, we were surprised (as he was) that he was accepted here given his grade point average and SAT scores. So, a decision must be made by May 1^st.

He is nervous and a bit intimidated by what he saw, but the bright spot here is that with all the recent arguing between him and myself over getting his act together in HS, he told me he just wants to prove me wrong that he can do it. So, he has our full support, even if it means student loans and being away from home for the first time (other than sleep away camp, lol).  I think dorming with others may do him some good. Time will tell, sooner than later as he must decide this week, one way the other.