I’ve been reading along and haven’t commented yet, but taking a gap year and not taking advantage of what UMass is offering seems like the worst possible option. What happens if NEU doesn’t work out in a year? That offer didn’t sound definite to me. You could be left without NEU and without the special program at UMass. This could result in you ending up at UMass anyway, a year later, and without all the advantages they are giving you now. Why would you do this? It’s like watching a train wreck happening and not being able to do anything to stop it. I do not understand the infatuation with NEU at all.
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I have three concerns for option 2:
- Socially isolating as I indicated above. You deserve to have a four year residential college experience, with the opportunity to actively engage in extracurriculars.
- medical schools don’t want core classes to be taken at community college level. That means you would have to take all your med school prerequisites in three years or take more than 4 years to graduate. Neither is an attractive option.
- I worry that NE will make it difficult for you to enter next year and it will not be as guaranteed as you imagine. There are many kids accepting at Oakland and London who plan to apply to transfer after freshman year. NE was initially planning on these students never coming to Boston. They are going to face serious overcrowding in fall 2024 or they will turn down many transfer requests. I think they are going to give a preference to students who are paying tuition to them as freshman. I don’t want you to turn down UMass only to have NE not work out.
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OP:
Your parents are from another country, if I recall from your previous post earlier in this thread.
One thing that immigrant parents often have a very hard time realizing here in the US is that in American culture/society, aside from a profession like Wall Street investment banker, there aren’t any of the stigmas here to NOT graduating college from an “elite/prestigious” institution.
Also, the job that you do is not always determined here in the US based on your undergrad degree. After you get your first job post-college, employers mostly only care about what you know, what you can do, your attitude, your willingness to work hard and get along with others.
It doesn’t matter if you went to Harvard or Princeton or NEU or wherever.
It’s really really hard for immigrant parents to realize this. Most of my D24’s friends’ parents are from other countries and it’s come up enough that the senior school counselor talked about it in a recent “applying to college” presentation.
THAT’S probably why they’re so insistent on NEU. That plus your health conditions.
What your parents also don’t realize is that their insistence now on doing a gap year and reapplying to NEU could absolutely result in you not attending NEU at all.
That’s a pretty big gamble and that would be a waste given your abilities and talents.
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Just adding that if I recall correctly, OP’s dad is an MIT alum. There seems to be some bias (blinders?) towards prestige (shown in the initial list) that is proving difficult to let go of./feeling empathy for someone who seems to have little agency over their own decisions
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…was I able to stay off CC? No. Am I very stressed? Yes. Will I power through it? Also yes. /sighing
Also yes I have immigrant parents and yes, my dad is an MIT Sloan school of Business alum, but he didn’t go to a top undergrad school here. /sighing
Is there any upside to a gap year, if I do what I listed of thinking of doing? /nervously
I’m going to weigh the pros and cons of each and see what I want to do- I just don’t want to screw over my future is all. /sighing, frustrated at myself
I’m just praying this all works out. I just want what’s best for me and my future. /honestly, hopeful
The last thing is what we all want for you. Really the only safe move for you is to accept the UMass offer by May 1st, sign up for orientation etc. . Taking these steps is not irreversible and will buy time.
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Dear OP,
I’m married to a south Asian and have three sons. One son is in his first year of pre-med at GW, and my second son will be entering Wake Forest next year as a pre-med. (the third son will most def not be pre-med and he’s a freshman in HS).
We live in the northeast where Northeastern is very well known and many apply there—but not many people apply there who want pre med. There’s also a lot of negative talk about how northeastern is handling admissions—from not requiring supplements (what “prestigious” school does that?) to placing students at all of the different campuses (which is absolutely their right). No one will be surprised if there is a fallout about northeastern in the foreseeable future.
I feel for you. The UMass offer would be a no brainer to our family. I hope we can try to train our south Asian brothers and sisters to understand that prestige isn’t what they think it is. Making poor decisions in the name of perceived prestige is a problem.
As someone has said many times before here, you do you. I just hope all works out for you in the end.
Salaam.
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Forgive me if I missed this, but what are the exact terms of the NEU Boston offer?
It should be further up, if you scroll a little! /warmly
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Another option, although I don’t think on the table, would still be Oakland. Then NEU is there with no risk provided the student does ok academically and the health care can be handled.
OK- got it… so you would “join your cohort” which means that’s not a gap year…? Unclear?
Oakland just isn’t feasible for us in the slightest, as I think I’ve said a couple times. /thoughtful, sighing
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That’s what I am wondering…if OP and their family has done any research into the possibility of care in Oakland. Then it’s a year and Boston is a sure thing.
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Not really. It doesn’t change anything in your application.
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We have! There aren’t any specialists there who specialize in my rare disease, and the one that I am seeing who specializes in it is here in Boston. /thoughtful
Even if I did quite a bit of clinical shadowing, took SAT/ACT, did some online college classes, and reapplied (potentially.) Wouldn’t that show perseverance and dedication in a way, despite my challenges? /confused, curious
So, you’ve got like 100 moms and dads here telling you the same thing. The UMass opportunity in your lap is an incredible one.
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I knowwww. I know. /sighing, admittedly
I’m going to need to talk to my folks tomorrow about this and have a super long conversation to figure out what to do. /honestly, sighing
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And applied to different colleges. You will likely get into a different set of colleges but not the same ones that you didn’t get into this year.
At this point I’m not sure who the OP is trying to convince. The cc posters who’ve been providing practical advice or her parents who’ve frankly fixated on NEU without any evidence of any specific advantages conferred by such a choice. UMass is a no brainer here.
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