<p>Some kids just don’t take the linear path. Yup I’m guessing their is a “guy” involved or at the very least a new female friend, but she seems to have a plan of her own in place which seems sound and thought-out. I’m assuming she’s not at home now by your reference to being in Canada…so you’ve already got time under your belt of not having her at arms length.</p>
<p>Guy or no guy involved, this girl knows what she wants, and made a very thought-out plan how to get there. Kudos to her. You should be very proud of her.</p>
<p>As a HS graduate without proper qualifications (no degree + invalid TESOL certification*) I don’t know how she can get any TESOL work in Germany. What visa would she be on, can she work on that visa? Tough questions, but she’ll have to consider this if she wants to work vs. just going there to learn German proper.</p>
<ul>
<li>The only TESOL qualification worth nuts is the CELTA (and maybe Trinity TESOL)</li>
</ul>
<p>IMO this is an interesting plan and <em>maybe</em> good plan, but I’d have a lot of questions about it that should be answered first:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How realistic are the daughter’s plans to become fluent enough in German in just one year to get admitted and do well at a German medical school? It looks like she is talented with languages in general, but being able to chat with your German neighbors may not be enough to write college papers and in German and understand lectures at a German university.</p></li>
<li><p>Do the German medical schools have a specific German language proficiency test that non-native German speakers must pass? If so, how hard is that test? What is the pass rate?</p></li>
<li><p>Do German medical schools even admit foreigners, especially from non-EU countries? There may be very sharp limitations on the number of slots open to her.</p></li>
<li><p>Why Germany? Why not go to medical school and become a reconstructive plastic surgeon in the country where she already lives? Why add these unnecessary language and citizenship barriers to an already difficult educational/career path? (Perhaps here’s where the unnamed boyfriend comes in).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I don’t know how anyone can, with such little information, say that this is genuinely a good plan. I don’t think anyone here knows for sure what is going on, and you, as a mom, probably know better than everyone here. On one hand, she could be a mature 17 year old who can take on the world and take on this adventure of self discovery and this new culture, but on the other hand, it could be a love sick girl who would say anything to get her mom to finance a runaway with her new boyfriend. I don’t know, but I would be worried sick if this was from my daughter. All I can think of is a normal 17 year do not come up with such a plan to go to a new country that she does not know much about and plan so far as to going to definitely transplant herself and go through all the process of becoming a doctor there. How about taking a year off, travel and maybe learn a few things about Germany and see where you go from there? I would talk to her and make sure you fully understand where she is coming from. Many 17 year old are not beyond occasional good guidance and proper counseling.</p>
<p>Should the OP worry about her kid? That one’s easy! Of course she should worry about her kid. We all worry about our kids, even when they are walking straight down the middle of a well-trodden path towards a goal we like.</p>
<p>As to HOW MUCH she should worry . . . . There are several things about the daughter’s e-mail that raise questions for me. Does she have the math and science background to be accepted as a medical student in a German university? I don’t know a whole lot about European universities, but I know from friends in Spain that their child (now a university medical student) did practically no humanities in high school (something that upset the parents, both of whom are medical researchers and physicians). The OP’s D seems to have done mainly humanities in high school. So it’s a little hard to believe she is in a position to be accepted to a medical faculty. </p>
<p>Also, what level of German will she need? Clearly, this kid is a good language student, but German is not in the same language family as Spanish and French (which are really quite similar, except phonetically). I think it would be a pretty big stretch to go from 0 to medical school in German in the course of one year, much less 0 to medical school acceptance in 7-8 months.</p>
<p>She may also want to consider requirements for medical licensure in her home country. Granted, at the moment she seems to be saying that she intends to live the rest of her life in Germany (based on her web research, or something). But she should understand whether, if she decides to move back, anything she has done there will transfer over. (That includes college course credits, too.)</p>
<p>To adopt a metaphor from astrophysics: Clearly there is something out there that is distorting this girl’s path. Maybe (probably) a guy, maybe something else. The OP can’t see it yet, but it’s there. She really ought to see it, and before we fall all over ourselves praising the daughter’s focus and maturity, we should be asking why the daughter hasn’t put all her cards on the table with her parents.</p>
<p>EDIT: Lots of us had the same thoughts at the same time, obviously.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If my parents were the sort who would be disappointed in me and think that I was throwing my life away because I wanted to spend a year being immersed in a foreign culture, learning a new language and being self-sufficient, with a plan to go to college afterward, I’m not sure I’d put all my cards on the table with them either. I wouldn’t trust them to be rational.</p>
<p>My big concern would be, if she plans to come back to the US (or whatever her home country is) and practice medicine, will she be able to get a license with a German degree? Has she researched this? If she plans to stay in Germany, has she researched their immigration policies, and does she think that she knows enough about the society, without having lived there, to make that decision?</p>
<p>I do think that there are things to be concerned about here, but not necessarily the ones that the OP is concerned about. A gap year, done well, is not a permanent derailment of someone’s life.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Or maybe not.</p>
<p>I’m unclear why this young woman must be hiding something/have an alterior motive. She might but she might not.</p>
<p>The girl plans to spend a year in Germany to ‘establish herself’. She will have plenty of time to figure out the answers to coureur’s and JHS’s questions, which I agree are important questions.</p>
<p>But even if there is a German boyfriend in the mix and even if she later finds out that she can’t very well become a reconstructive surgeon in Germany, I do not see what long term damage the year in Germany would have on the girl’s life. </p>
<p>If this were my child and if she sent me such a letter I would be happy for her. Why would I be “speechless” or think that she was ‘throwing away her future’? </p>
<p>I am truly puzzled by the parental reaction.</p>
<p>BTW: A German medical degree will be accepted for the purposes of entering a medical residency in the US (subject to passing the exams). In many ways her medical training in Germany will be far more rigorous than anything she would get here in the US. Her reconstructive surgery qualifications would most likely not be recognized here- she would have to go through residency again. And those are not easy residencies to get admitted to, especially as a foreign medical graduate.</p>
<p>If she wants to do the MBBS in Germany a gap year is recommended. There you delve right into the science of medicine and etc. She should take a year and see what really wants to do in life.</p>
<p>However, I would also maybe get her signature that she will attend college after this gap year just to reassure you.</p>
<p>I think the daughter was very direct and honest with her parents. After all, she is only a rising senior. If there is a boy involved, I honestly think that will come out but I also think that having encouraged her to study abroad and be so fluent in languages is very much encouraging her to continue that passion. My question is, why squish it now when it can benefit her so much. </p>
<p>I think a well planned gap year is a great idea. I have a friend whose both sons attended Ivy schools (yale and harvard), their younger sister was strongly encouraged by both of them to take a gap year so that when she started at her school (princeton) she would be much more likely to take advantage of every opportunity that came her way. their feeling was that four years FLIES by and if you don’t have a clearer path when you start, you “lose” time that could be spent taking advantage. She will start her freshman year next year after having spent the first semester traveling in Europe and taking a few classes and the second semester somewhere in Asia doing relief work. She had a ball and has gone from being a regular med student to one who will also major in international politics and policy.</p>
<p>Sorry to go off topic a bit but I’m curious. If a student is planning on taking a gap year, do they still apply to college senior year in high school and then defer? Or do they apply to college during the gap year and is so do they apply as transfers?</p>
<p>A surprising number of Seniors at D’s prep school are “taking a year off” before college. They seem to come in two flavors: </p>
<p>*Students who were admitted to a college, and have deferred matriculation for a year to explore some passion or make money.</p>
<p>*Students who mysteriously “are taking a year off” with no link to a college. Several are top students who did not gain admission to colleges that met their expectations or goals. It has been a wicked admissions year. Others are just mysterious. </p>
<p>I wish these unaffiliated students luck in the next round. After 4 years of prep school, this may not have been the expected outcome. </p>
<p>What are other schools seeing?</p>
<p>A student can apply as a senior and defer - many universities (such as Harvard) actually encourage this. You can also apply during the gap year - not as a tranfer student - just the same way you normally would. The only disadvantage of the second approach is that it may be harder to line up the teacher recommendations - on the other hand - if you have a stronger senior year than junior year, you can use those teachers for recommendations. Depending on what you do during the gap year, you may have more fodder for essays or non teachers to give you recommendations.</p>
<p>I went into college having spent a gap year in France. It gave me an opportunity to learn French fluently so I could take advanced literature courses, and I also used French to do research for my senior thesis. Additionally my experiences in France introduced me to looking at architecture.</p>
<p>pugmadkate,
Students can apply to colleges during the senior year, and then defer a year after being accepted. Some schools (like Harvard) encourage this route.</p>
<p>They can also apply during gap year. They still apply as freshman (not transfers), as long as they did not take too many college classes during the gap year to disqualify them, in which case they have to apply as transfers.</p>
<p>Edit: crossposted with mathmom</p>
<p>vicarious: Actually, I agree with you completely. </p>
<p>jessie: I’m not certain I have ever let you know how much I learn from your posts. I am often amazed at your combination of intelligence, sensitivity, clarity, and honesty. So, thanks! Anyway, of course you are right, and I wouldn’t expect my own 17-year-old to be completely honest with me right out of the gate on something like this, and I WOULD expect them to anticipate a more negative reaction from me than I would actually have. But I would be asking questions and trying to pick apart the strands of what looks like an elaborate fantasy. German. Germany. German medical school. Reconstructive surgery. Now.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the information.</p>
<p>I’m trying to get my D to seriously consider the possibility of doing a gap year. No dice. She’s chomping at the bits to go to college.</p>
<p>I think a gap year is great, but I would have lots of questions about the feasibility of this plan. It is unlikely that an American student can simply move to Germany and “establish residency.” It is very difficult for non-EU citizens to work in any EU country. What sort of visa would she be on?</p>
<p>Give me a break. If my daughter were studying French in Canada for a year and then wanted to do the same in Germany, I would have a serious talk with her regarding her goals and whether she’s playin you for another year. She already knows several languages and wants to immerse herself in another, but then says she wants to go on to med afterwards. Frankly, I think she’s postponing the hard word ahead of her for a year in Europe to add to her year in Canada. I had a cousin who did the same thing, tried to string out “travel overseas” and transferred from school to school to “find herself” and avoided commitment. BTW, don’t confuse a relative good IQ with common sense, the two don’t necessarily come hand in hand.</p>