And to add to Mathyone’s excellent suggestion- a Freshman (even one who plans to graduate a semester early) gets the benefit of advising and counseling from the git-go. At a large university where there may be four different versions of the same (more or less) class, you need advising to make sure you are taking something suitably rigorous based on your preparation, but not so tough that you’ll be flunking the class by October. I think entering as a Freshman after community college makes more sense then becoming a super junior/first semester senior.
" I think entering as a Freshman after community college makes more sense then becoming a super junior/first semester senior."
This is not realistic, as he will be treated as a transfer student by any top college because he took classes after HS graduation, which gives him even tinier odds of being accepted.
or am I missing something?
I think he is a dual enrollment high school junior now. He may be able to avoid the AA.
Your kiddo can apply early to the Ivy…but should also apply at the same time to his state university. This is allowed.
The reason for this…it is possible your kid could qualify for merit aid at the state university, but the deadlines for applications for those are usually before December 1.
You won’t likely have your ED or SCEA or EA decision (depending on which school you choose) until,after December 1. Your kid could miss out on some merit aid by delaying the application to your public university.
If this kid is smart enough to pursue this route…he should also be smart enough to help select the colleges.
This sounds like a parent hunt to me.
As DE credits become more ubiquitous, some top colleges essentially ignore them if you want to apply as a Frosh.
Menlo- kid is still in HS and as far as the parent has posted, is taking community college classes concurrently. I don’t think a kid who hasn’t graduated from HS yet needs to apply as a transfer student, regardless of how many CC classes are under his belt.
OP, in my opinion you are not providing enough information to get decent opinions on the question you are asking. Your question seems to be Harvard for three years v X state school for one or two. Any meaningful opinion would require knowing the state school,/program, knowing the approximate money difference, how that money difference affects your family’s unique situation and knowing what the students’ stats are. On that last point, you seem to be beating yourself up on not recommending your kids take the SAT2s, which implies they took the SATs already. How did they do? How are they doing in the college courses they are taking now, and how rigorous is the curriculum? Without this level of detail, I don’t think you are going to get much worthwhile information on your precise question.
Every premed I’ve met who is a student in our area is a certified EMT and volunteers at least 12 hours per week for at least a year with our local rescue service. At my daughter’s college they are working in research labs and volunteering in hospitals already as freshmen. My impression is that most successful applicants have at least two of these three medicine-related activities on their resume.
I think the OP and son need to research what is required beyond basic coursework for med school admission these days.
I think the OP needs to figure out the next plot reveal in the script because the story isn’t hanging together.
"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. "
But “the Ivies” is an arbitrary designation - looking at the world of elite private schools and cherry-picking the 8 Ivies is about as arbitrary as looking at the world of elite private schools and cherry-picking those that have one-syllable names. It’s a nonsensical way of dividing up the world. Penn and Cornell “fit” with Northwestern and Wash U. Columbia “fits” with U of Chicago. Princeton “fits” with Vanderbilt. etc. It makes more sense to look at the kinds of schools that your kid might be interested in, than to arbitrarily pick those in a given athletic conference.
Can I ask - are you newer to this country? You seem to have a lot of misperceptions about both undergrad and med schools and I am wondering if it is different in your home country?
Yes, I totally agree with this!! Reading the OP’s comments on this thread is starting to make me feel like I’m watching a slow motion plane crash.
I’m still wondering if the OP has one child or two (or more) facing this issue?
OP, have you spoken with the child/children’s guidance counselor?
No feelings hurt. Just feel sorry for your child. Rushing him through undergrad education (which I think will only hurt his med school chances to boot) and an absurd “only ivies are worth spending money on” approach to college.
One of the biggest criticisms my wife hears, (and she was both a chief resident and than later a director of a residency program) is both the maturity (relative to other peers and contemporaries) and lack of socialization of folks who go straight through undergrad or do a condense 7 year program. From the outside, many doctors are already socially awkward as both the length and intensity of training don’t allow for too many interactions outside of school and the hospital. What I’m saying is that I agree with several of the posters above, that the undergrad period is not just a preparation for professional training, it is real opportunity to broaden ones’ interests as well as circle of friends --they are providing sage counsel.
Not really adding anything new here but the one point that needs to be made more directly is that applying to “Ivies” (and I’m talking about the top 10-15 schools in the US, not just one athletic conference) is a complete LOTTERY these days. They get 2x-3x as many kids who are valedictorians with perfect GPAs, perfect SATs/ACTs as they have spots in the class, and they actually don’t want a class full of just these kids - they want diversity. Applying to one elite school is like buying a lottery ticket and waste of money. If that’s the amount of time you want to spend on your kids’ education, just send them to State U. There are plenty of CC threads about how the game sucks, and kids shouldn’t apply to a bunch of schools, yada, yada, but that’s the current situation in higher education - if you are at all interested in having a chance, you need to play the game.
If you are truly interested in doing right by your kids and researching the situation appropriately, spend some time on the admissions and stats threads of some elite schools, and see the types of kids being rejected from the top schools - there are more kids being rejected who look like your kids than are actually being accepted. This forum helped me immensely this year as a first-time parent (I was able to help narrow down my son’s list, and even predict merit awards very accurately), and we all try to give back to others like you but we can only do so much - the rest is up to you and your kids. Good luck!!
The comment about how only Harvard is being considered because that is the only Ivy the OP knows people living nearby also puzzles me. Is there a concern about the son not being ready to be independent or why does this matter so much that all other schools are ruled out? It’s always nice to have friends or relatives in the area but if this is an absolute requirement, is he mature enough to be in med school the following year?
^ That what I asked earlier.
Is am new to this message board, but Doesnt this new OP seem like the same person that posted last week about they didn’t want to pay for the elite school but hadn’t told their kid that…i think the OP on that was Ilikemoney, and then the moderation said they were not coming back, not for real? This seems like the same person under a different name
@HappyDaze, almost certainly a different person.
You should be able to tell by the writing style.
Lots of folks second guessing my initial ? or interested in other stuff. I just have that one basic ?. I do not want to get into every personal detail. Already went into way more then I intended. It was/is a basic question. I feel like a broken record saying the same stuff over and over again. Its gotten to be a really long thread me saying the same things over and over is very boring for everybody.
The EMT thing was something I had wondered about!!! Interesting to see that mentioned! That thought had occurred to me to suggest. I will def.research that further.
@mathyone my child is extremely independent but I would feel more comfortable knowing I have multiple friends and even family in the area. My child has friends in the area. Legit consideration we took into account. You have to let some factors guide you.
Ivy will cost $$$$$, more years (your time is the most precious resource of all) and would require taking courses that they probably would rather not retake ie English. More of a math/science kid. I guess you can say only school I would be willing to spend $$$ on if I thought it was worth it, thus the ? We narrowed it down to these two options. Personal choice that we tossed the rest. Perfectly happy with both options but would like to make the best choice.
Lots of judgment here that is entirely misplaced and frankly not helpful. I personally think its rude, inappropriate and uncalled for. Those posts make me regret asking for help. However there have also been a lot of useful advice that is much appreciated and given me things to consider and research.
Anyway I have a huge bias towards a state university. Makes me think of Big Bang Theory when Sheldon says “For example, after I learn Finnish, I’m not going to learn Finnish again.” I know they have taken all these courses and are not really interested in taking those again but would like to move forward. Plus to State U.
Our other children are quite different and this will not be an issue. This child is the super motivated high achiever of the bunch. That said this child has their flaws like everybody else just in other areas. They are motivated and actually love to learn. They were watching college lectures online by 4th grade for fun and have played surgery games online forever.
@boolaHI mentioned the social aspect. Yes they are shy but very confident. Socially awkward not sure if that is the term I would use, I’d probably say shy occasionally. This is a very valid concern we have taken into consideration. Its a more complicated one though because I think personalities are not really going to alter. We found old video of 1st birthday party and it was astonishing to think back and realize since birth they’ve always been different.
Going to add looking into EMT to my list. Thank you for the advice. You can do that at the local college.
Thanks for the help.