[thaumasiotes]

> My oldest son, despite his stellar IQ, completely drowned in projects. No idea what to do, when to start, how to start, how to finish it, and even when he finished it, he forgot to turn it in. He simply needs more guidance.

> He's now finally getting better at it, at 16, which is about time, because at the university, you have to be able to do all of this.

You definitely don't.

[mcv]

Struggling with this is exactly why I never quite finished my degree. All the papers where I had to choose what to write about, without having an immediate topic I just had to write about, never even got started. Thesis is an even bigger project. Dropping out and not having to do it anymore felt like a relief.

[thaumasiotes]

At my university, a thesis was one option. You could substitute a middling GRE score.

American universities are pretty keen to graduate you if that's plausible at all. See also: remedial classes.

[em-bee]

you may be comparing different countries. not needing to be able to do all of this sounds like a very school like university. the universities i know are not like that, and you most certainly need those skills.