Yes, struggling over writing essays is often due to the topic being less interesting to the writer. Through high school, most instruction on writing is done in conjunction with analyzing fictional literature. Students who do not find the latter to be interest or their academic strength may find writing essays on that subject to be a struggle, even though they may find writing essays about something else (e.g. history or science) to be much less of a struggle.
3 Likes
My son started looking at small colleges with about 2K students. He ended up at a University with aboout 17K undergrads. He decided he could make a large campus feel small but couldn’t make a tiny campus big. He looked through the club and activity listings for the larger school and realized how many opportunities there were at the large school. He joined things that interest him and has been having an amazing college experience. He doesn’t feel lost. He’s found his “home” on campus and is thriving,
I’d recommend doing the same for U of Minnesota. They have over 1000 clubs offered. Look for the sort of things you could join on campus to enhance your 4 years of living there. For example, this is a link to the Catholic group on campus. They say that 1,200 students go to mass each Sunday which is almost the number of students who are at UD. If wanted, this could be a group that helps you feel at home.
5 Likes
I have no idea which school is better for you but since no one has really commented on UD, my cousin attended University of Dallas about ten years ago and speaks very highly of the school. He’s gainfully employed and owns his own advertising business 
He is Catholic and grew up in MA but stayed in Dallas after school.
3 Likes
Once you get past a certain point in a language, you have to write a lot of essays in that language. You are already at that point in French. With a 5 in AP French, you will probably be placed into a French composition class to help you develop the necessary skills for upper level French classes.
Of course you can just keep learning the basics of new languages without ever going too far in any single one.
1 Like
Ooh that’s a great resource thank you!
1 Like
It sounds like you’re surrounded by a wonderful group of people offering varied perspectives to help guide your decision! When it comes to weighing the influence of your parents in choosing a university, how much do you feel their insights reflect your personal and career goals? Especially considering your Pre-med focus, this decision might significantly impact your future path. Given your acceptance to both UMN and UD, each with its unique environment and strengths, how do you reconcile your personal preferences with their advice?
1 Like
Well, update, turns out my mom is EXTREMELY against umn because she’s worried about my safety 
she’s…not letting me go there. My dad is ok with me going there.
As for the premed thing, my parents support me but they did not push me to study anything, they were just like: study whatever you want!
I was really set on umn, but I’m starting to think that my mom is right, that I wont be able to handle such a large environment, that it’s not safe, and that it’s not a good fit for me. I mean, it’s safe to say that I’ve been pretty sheltered my whole life, and I’m not super independent either. 
I’d still be able to succeed at the university of Dallas though, right? Even if the whole religion/core curriculum doesn’t seem to be my thing. I’m a pretty flexible person.
Literally tens of thousands of kids are safe at UMN. Don’t let your parents’ unwarranted fears stop you from attending the college you’d chosen and which is much better for your goals.
(Btw Dallas is a big city too.)
You should ask to join the Women in science hall
https://housing.umn.edu/llcs/wise
If you’d rather live in a co-ed environment
https://housing.umn.edu/llcs/taylor
They even have substance-free housing
https://housing.umn.edu/llcs/substance-free
If they’re worried about your Catholic faith, there are 15,000 Catholic students at UMN and there’s a dedicated center just for them to meet, pray, organize… 1,200 students attend Mass on Sunday, voluntarily - more than at UDallas.
You even have more choices than a college that restricts your choice of major and is very far away - NACAC just started publishing their list of colleges that miscalculated yield and still have a few places&financial aid
Gustavus Adolphus, a very good college, safe and student-focused
2 Catholic colleges in MN
St Benedict
St Kate’s
Even Marquette university
Is accepting apps
You can send in the apps and see what happens.
But UD has a very big core curriculum you’re not into, restricts your major, and seems like a poor fit (not to mention there’s no reason to think Dallas is safer than the Twin Cities). 4 years is a long time just because your mom is worried about safety at UMN.
4 Likes
I looked at the data for both schools and yes, it looks like Dallas (campus) has a lower crime rate than Minnesota (campus), but that does not mean that you cannot be safe at the University of Minnesota. You absolutely can…and most students safely attend this school.
One of my kids attended one of our smaller instate schools (under 7000 students). There were 37.02 crimes on campus per 1000 students.
One of my kids went to UNC. There were 20.72 crimes on campus per 1000 students.
The U of Minnesota has/had 22.56 crimes per 1000 students.
Both of my kids remained safe for all 4 years, as did their friends. Many (not all) of these crimes are related to theft. We reviewed safety measures all the time, and my kids knew not to walk alone at night, etc.
Have you visited Minnesota with your parents? Maybe listening to them discuss campus safety and how to remain safe will help them. Of course nothing is guaranteed…and that includes Dallas.
I would remind your parents that if you attend medical school, or any type of grad school…you may be at a large campus, city campus, rotations where crime may occur etc. You cannot escape crime (unfortunately), but you can develop strategies to help remain safe…and that is important.
I would visit Minnesota with your parents if possible. I would also remind them that if you attend school in Dallas…while the campus crime rate seems low compared to Minnesota…you may be off campus as well…where the crime rate is a lot higher.
4 Likes
And some of them will be at times that require you to come or go in the middle of the night.
3 Likes
Exactly!!!
Basically, it’s better to learn basic safety skills now - especially since the campus is safe (most crime is theft - students leave their bike without a lock or their wallet on a table, forget their phone or laptop in the library…)
You’d probably worry even more if you looked at the crime rate in Dallas - and they’re not talking about the theft of a phone, graph calculator, or bike there.
I know it’s scary for parents to think of their daughter in a big city but you’ll be on campus, UMN is safe AND they do their utmost to guarantee safety: there’s a 24/7 walk service so you never have to go anywhere alone and even a “virtual guardian” app so you can have a friend follow you along and check you get where you said you’d be.
Your final choice is not UMN or UD though… remember there are other possibilities.
If you want really safe+premed excellence+near home (and no 19-course-core), you’ve got Gustavus. (Actually safer than Dallas).
You can contact Theresa Naumann admission@gustavus.edu to ask.
For St Benedict
Contact: Cory Piper admissions@csbsju.edu
St Kate’s
Contact: India Klipfel ieklipfel782@stkate.edu
St Thomas
Contact: Kristen Hatfield admissions@stthomas.edu
Marquette
Contact: Undergraduate Admissions admissions@marquette.edu
4 Likes
But also beware of large parties with alcohol.
You’ve gotten some great advice on this thread but I wanted to add that if your parents insist on UD, you can of course still accomplish all of your goals.
4 Likes
You are in Minnesota. I would think parents would support you being closer to home! Maybe she’s just struggling with you going away.
I think a visit to UMN is in order. Also maybe Mom reads this thread?
You can accomplish your goals if you go to the small school, but aI would counsel anyone against a knee jerk negative opinion about safety at UMN and a presumption of safety at the other school. There are a lot of factors in personal safety and even the opportunities thought to be the safest may still have issues. And if looking at straight numbers, UMN is a very big school, so all numbers will be high. Look at statistics relative to population.
Hang in there!
1 Like
I have never personally visited UD, nor am I Catholic, but since people on this board seem to be pushing you towards UMN, I want to just give some reassurance if you choose UD for yourself or to appease your mom.
I have a very good friend who went to UD who is one of the smartest, kindest and most accomplished women I know. She is a high-powered international attorney with 6 kids. Two of her daughters graduated from UD. One got a masters in teaching and one did ROTC through school and is now deployed. The entire family is well educated, accomplished and more importantly, GOOD people. If those are the people you will associate with at UD, you will be well served whether or not you choose to go into medicine.
9 Likes
If her parents follow the UMN parents page, I am not surprised at their reaction. I have a very street smart kid and it even made me question the safety of UMN. There is a lot of talk about gun crime and car jacking bordering campus and not a lot a talk about anything else.
As suggested, perhaps your parents visiting the campus or other smaller campuses still accepting applications will provide more choices.
I also suggest that if you visit UMN to visit during the week while classes are in session. We visited in the summer and so much more of our focus was on everything but the school and the students.
2 Likes
I don’t think Mom should read this thread because it’s personal… but mentioning Catholic (or Christian) colleges closer than Dallas as well as all the safety measures at UMN could work.
The 19-course core alone should be a good reason to pause and think about your choices - you’ll need to add the premed pre-reqs plus courses for your major (and since they only allow biology and it’s a low ROI major you’d need to add a stats or informatics/data science minor to have a job in case MD/DO school doesn’t work out…)
There will be overlap, of course, but these aren’t distribution requirements (“gen eds”) where you pick from dozens of choices, most of which work with the premed pre-reqs. It’s more like a typical Great books program, which is awesome for those interested but not quite a good match for science majors, especially premeds.
ALL students at UD take these courses: 4 semesters of classical literature (in chronological order); 4 semesters of history (US, then European); 3 courses in Philosophy; 1 course in American gov (Constitution, Federalist Papers); 2 courses in Catholic theology; 1 course in Fundamentals of Economics (non traditional, in that it involves readings of writings by the Pope - the only economist noted for that course is 18thC Adam Smith, no Friedman, Stigler, Hayek, Keynes, Stiglitz, Duflo, Zucman 
); the only overlap with premed pre-reqs is a math class of your choice and 1 Biology class which can be GenBio1 and 1 Physics class. There’s very little focus on understanding a wide variety of people, especially people different from yourself (which is essential for health professionals), Psychology, Sociology, Diversity focused classes are not seen as part of your core education.
https://udallas.edu/academics/core-curriculum/books.php
(A more niche concern, this statement “a competitive MCAT score is a 30 or above” on the pre health advising page.)
4 Likes
And that’s because the MCAT hasn’t been score like that since 2012.
2 Likes
(^ Yes - the score has been 472-528 for about 10+ years.)
3 Likes