[qyote]My worry is upper specialties down the road that when looking at worthy candidates perhaps an upper level Ivy school will give the edge needed to get into a specialty
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Your child’s undergraduate college will have NOTHING to do with his eventual match to a specialty for his residency. NOTHING at all.
One thing you may want to consider is that I believe you are asking if the Ivys or other elite schools offer advanced standing, not if they accept transfers, since as I understand it your kids have collected credits in college courses while still technically being high school students, and are not actually enrolled at an undergraduate institution. I think that is a different question than the one you posed, but is maybe more accurate and might be leading to some of the confusion. While I am not certain, I believe that while some Ivys do permit transfers, none award advanced standing to matriculating high school seniors, which means that your kids are likely looking at four undergrad years rather than three. Also, I personally would not discount the advice to see how your kids score on the ACT/SAT at least before thinking of any Ivy as a serious option, given the insane admit rates at those schools.
and even perfect scores on the SAT/ACT are NO guarantee, not even close, to admission to the most selective schools.
@thumper1, not all schools do committee letters. Certainly something to investigate.
@WayOutWestMom that was some excellent info! Thank you!
One of the earliest responses mentioned trying to be a transfer and mentioned Cornell in particular. I think out of everything if that was an option would be the best and the time they saved me giving me the name of the one to focus on! Amazing input! I never said it would happen. Just one of the best suggestions. Other suggestions about considering GPA, Research, etc. Those responses gave me areas to focus my research.
Oh and yes Advanced Standing read about it, asked about it, but not determined till after 1st year but you can read the basic guidelines and assume that would be the case.
Messed up should have taken SAT2 last year when taking Biology and Chemistry. That was one reason trying to decide if should bother to take it. Not required for state U. Really mad I was not looking into what they were doing or would have had them take last year when covering the appropriate subject material. One of many mistakes made.
Yes read the excellent article about kid that built a reactor and did NOT get into MIT. I understand all of that. Just not the ? I’m asking. I’m just trying to decide what would be better choice. Obviously I’ve read and done research to where I think its a good chance of acceptance, you never know 100%, but enough to where I have to research and prepare accordingly. Is it worth it is the ? If so then need to take the SAT2, do the common ap, with the essays. Otherwise no reason to bother with any of that stuff!
Still lots of great information to keep in mind. I read one thing and think state U and then another poster gives me reasons to consider otherwise. However lots of great information to consider and again appreciated thank you!
Like I said upstream…there are tons of colleges between your state university and the Ivies.
I’m having a lot of trouble understanding the Ivy or bust drift in this thread (bust being your state school).
If, and I mean IF this kid is this super, there are many other options for his undergrad study besides two semesters at state university or three years at an Ivy. MANY. You don’t seem to want to explore these other options…why?
At this point, YOU have made no mistakes. Your kiddo has not yet applied to college, and hasn’t even really created a balanced list of schools to which to apply. That needs to happen now.
If he hasn’t taken the ACT or SAT yet, when will that happen?
What year is this kid in HS now?
“My worry is upper specialties down the road that when looking at worthy candidates perhaps an upper level Ivy school will give the edge needed to get into a specialty field.”
Again, this is completely untrue.
You’re not getting it - A) Medical schools in the US are “flat” in terms of the education they offer and how they are viewed and B) Performance in medical school is what will drive the ability to compete for the high-demand residencies - not where someone went to undergrad.
The medical field is a very NON-prestige-driven field compared to law or graduate business.
Can you clarify - are you using Ivy as a shorthand for “elite private university” or are you using it to refer to those particular 8 schools? Because the latter doesn’t make any sense - I don’t know who’s lied to you that those 8 schools have magical dust over and above other elite private universities, because they certainly don’t when it comes to med school.
@thumper1 mentioned in earlier posts the pro/con of both. Narrowed it to Ivy or State because not interested in visiting a million schools and paying all those application fees. I think you can go crazy with all these universities. Nothing wrong with the State U. Therefore narrowed it down to the 2 best scenarios in my opinion and trying to go from there.
Guess I’m not properly impressed with Duke etc. Perhaps my bad but sticking to the original ? and focusing on these 2 options. Not interested in making this more complicated. Perfectly satisfied with these two routes. I think that either will be fine. Lots of info given and I believe you can make a case for either so I feel you can’t really go wrong but would still like to make the best choice.
Made tons of mistakes just mentioned in previous post should have already taken SAT2 when taking those courses on the level that is tested. That is a giant mistake in my opinion. Should have possibly tried to graduate this year instead of being stuck taking all the classes at the local college next year. Already mentioned that and other mistakes. Just took ACT. Was trying to decide on rather to bother with SAT2. State U have no interest in SAT2 and does nothing for you. The only reason to take them is if you want to apply to certain U like an Ivy.
LOL I didn’t say they were walking on water. In fact I specifically stated they are a hard working overachiever. They have simply reached a point where we need to do research to make best choices for the future goals. I personally only applied to the University I wanted to attend. I have never understood why people want to visit and apply to tons of schools.
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Some parents will always say to take the cheapest route, and others will push for the top rated school that the student can get into.
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Well, there are lots of choices between “cheapest” and paying a lot more for a top ranked school (assuming that the family doesn’t’ get super aid).
My kids didn’t go to the “cheapest” choice, but I guess they could have if they wanted to. I don’t think the choice needs to be one extreme or the other.
If this student is that strong (and it sounds like he could be), then he could have lots of choices.
So will your student be applying to all eight Ivy League schools…and your state school…and that’s it?
No one is saying your kid needs to apply to a ton of schools. No one is saying your kid needs to visit a ton of schools.
But your research is faulty.
Good lord, don’t want to complicate things so you’re going to look at 8 completely different universities in the same athletic conference and simply toss aside the other elite colleges and universities?
What are the student’s stats???
I’m going to jump on the bandwagon here.
Not considering schools outside the extremes of Harvard or “regular state school” is, IMO, a bigger mistake than whether you have or haven’t scheduled tests yet or got the kid in to this or that class (which I don’t consider mistakes because they can be easily rectified or just aren’t a big deal). I know that you’d be happy with free/almost-free state school, but the kid has to be happy with that as well.
But again, it’s your kid. If they are happy with the flagship if they don’t get in to Harvard SCEA, there isn’t a problem.
Just read that study somebody posted https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/roth_nicholas.pdf Can’t believe people want to go into medicine! Yikes! Amazing anybody wants to go to med school.
Was never looking at 8 just looking at one Ivy in particular, possibly Stanford (not sure) and State U. Said Ivy kin generic term because I figured that was all the info anybody really needed to answer the ?
Somebody mentioned Cornell may be transfer option so will def. research that option. Plan is to decide what the #1 choice is and will apply for early admit. Then if not accepted will go ahead and apply to the other. Decision remains the same - is an Ivy worth it over state U? TONS of responses and in general feeling the state U is probably the way to go.
Not trying to hurt anybody’s feelings but not interested in other schools. Ruled them out a long time ago.
What if the kid decides he doesn’t want medicine? Will he be happy at State U? I think you are missing the boat on getting a huge merit scholarship at a school like Muhlenberg, for example. If he goes that route, he gets an excellent education at low cost and if he decides against med school he has had many opportunities to do research and explore other areas.
Not saying this couldn’t be done at State U but I’d really, really make sure that that school was a good fit for the kid esp if he drops pre med.
I’m curious- when your kids classmates were all busy signing up for the SAT 2’s, what was your kid thinking? I’m still feeling a disconnect between a parent so heavily invested in the plan that he/she claims not to care about (i.e. doesn’t want the kid to become a physician) and a kid who didn’t realize that the subject tests are best taken immediately after having taken that subject.
Who is heading off to college here?
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Not trying to hurt anybody’s feelings but not interested in other schools. Ruled them out a long time ago
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Weird. why would that be? Why would it be either your state school or Stanford (or similar)
“Really mad I was not looking into what they were doing or would have had them take last year when covering the appropriate subject material.” One of many mistakes made." I’m thinking a kid who isn’t organized and mature enough to have discussed this with guidance and plan this sort of thing out themselves isn’t ready to leapfrog over college into a demanding career like medicine. If mom is still micromanaging/directing this kid, this kid isn’t the equivalent of a college junior. Which is fine. He’s 4 years and an awful lot of independent living younger than that.
You’re still too focused on whether he can complete the minumum requirements for a chemistry degree at this school in 2-3 semesters. I glanced at the requirements for a BA, not even a BS, at our state flagship and it didn’t look like you could do everything beyond chem1 in a year. I’m puzzled as to why you think a kid who does so many classes at cc and the bare minimum at a 4 year college is going to out-compete kids who have done far more. I am not an expert on med school admissions but your plan seems to me to put him at a huge disadvantage.
Is there a way he can avoid getting an AA degree? He’s likely to be better off for admissions and scholarships if he applies to colleges as a freshman and then if you and he are still in rush rush mode, uses his credits to graduate in 3 years.
well, you have a 95% chance of your DS having ONLY 1 option for college. [ Unless he is a recruited Athlete and star student] As for the state U. , I sure hope you are not referring to the UC’s.
Did you even consider that HE may not be comfortable with those limited options??
I see disaster for your son come April 1.
OP, I’m assuming you came here to get take advantage of the collective wisdom of CC parents who have been here a long time and seen all kinds of admissions disasters. Dont you think its time to start listening?
Any time a teenager, let alone a PARENT, says they are only going to apply ONLY to top colleges , most CC parents eyes roll. 8-|
WE KNOW what is likely to happen.
From what I understand, many med schools want to see research experience, service work in the community, shadowing and/or EMT type experience. S1 has friends who were EMTs at MIT while they were students. The demonstrated maturity and social skills to handle the intensity of med school and residency are as much a part of the selection process as grades and MCATs. Do not let your student cheat him/herself out of these kinds of experiences.