...their "prep school." If you aren't quite up to a rigorous scholastic environment (and trust me, not many are ready for that experience), they send you to prep school to "catch up" on your academics.

From my personal experience at my little Virginia "AA" high school, I had excellent English instruction, but absolutely crappy math instruction. When you got to a school like VT, you better be ready to "catch up" in a hurry if you have any intention of making it there. Thankfully I went to a CC for a couple years and finally had one good math instructor (for 5-hour calculus). I walked out of each class with a, "wow, I actually understand that" kind of experiences. It was like the veil had been lifted, and I understood how crappy my high school math instruction had been. My high school "Advanced Composition" class was in reality a college freshman "English Composition," so I basically had the college class in high school.

I feel the best way for kids to make up for a lack of instruction in high school today (without a prep school) would be to hit the Kahn Academy courses in their spare time while they're still in high school. Need to do that BEFORE attending a school like VT because they won't have time for "make up" work once they get there.