<p>I never said I hated petersburg. It is a very eye opening city. It is very… Poor and dirty is what I mean when i say I wish to never go back. Did i mature from being around stuff like that and enduring what I have? Yes. I didnt have time for foolishness in high school. I had to maintain grades in classes I knew I could succeed in when math brought my GPA down each time I attempted to grasp its concepts. There was no point trying to raise an F in Algebra 2 when I tried with 3 people to help me, even buying self help books to ensure I knew the material. It was all an alien language to me. I stayed up until early in the morning looking over the same material. Sometimes until 3 AM. Algebra 1 and Geometry were fine but even I got low C’s in those classes. I was so terrible at Algebra 2 I never even took trig/pre calculus my second semester of my senior year because I knew I would fail it and it would drop my GPA lower.</p>
<p>I said I hated Williamsburg. Which is where William and Mary is. I am from Petersburg. It is my hometown.</p>
<p>OP, I am sorry about your situation and I wish you the best of luck. In life, all of us have to play with the cards that are dealt to us.</p>
<p>Just like you, I am very close to my family and it is probably because of my heritage also. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to your parents but would they be good role models or good to get advice from? No one is lucky or unlucky all their life, one must have made a series of poor choices to end up in jail, to have a home foreclosure, bad credit, not very high income and little or no potential of getting higher income due to retirement. Would what they want you to do lead you down to a similar path as theirs?</p>
<p>I don’t know you or your family well enough to say what a good path would be, an expensive private 3rd tier college, community college, etc. But over the several years I have been on this forum, I know that many posters are very smart, knowlegable people who are successful in life and would give well thought out reasonable advice. It is definitely worth while to give their advice some serious thought.</p>
<p>Good luck and best wishes.</p>
<p>You said you already got your schedule and you’ll be taking bio, Spanish, and history. A typical freshman pre med schedule might be bio, inorganic chem, calculus, English. If you haven’t taken precalculus yet, you are starting out behind schedule to finish pre med requirements in 4 years. </p>
<p>Has all of your tuition been paid for the semester?</p>
<p>The same question I would ask any kid: do you understand that pre-med can be grueling, and that much of the expectations for successful pre-med will include rigorous math? And that, quite reasonably, you may need alternate ideas for post-grad? This is not an indictment, just looking for yesses.</p>
<p>Remember, my kid was weeded. If you google, this can involve tests on material not covered, expectations of an understanding not logically connected to lectures or reading. Not at all colleges. But where it exists, it is brutal. Many tales of where the best grades in the whole class,after a test, were C. Or some prodigy throws off the curve. My young brilliant top dog friend flunked organic at her first college, transferred for other reasons, re-took it with a prof who was reasonable. An adult I know, changing careers to an aspect of medicine, struggled through organic and the math. Any kid has to be prepared for this pitfall. Other than word of mouth, I don’t know how to predict. One could try to find the number of prospective pre-meds in the freshman class versus by senior year- but that is not commonly available. A poster once wrote about 200 or so in his class, whittled down to something like 30. This is another reason to look at local colleges, if your dream stays and this college isn’t the right zone. You can also consider that many kids who don’t complete a pre-med major (there are some limitations,) can go off to “post-bacc” prep. But that’s another reason to mind your finances. </p>
<p>It is not a loss to consider the widest picture possible. It is a hedge against being caught not knowing what to do next.</p>
<p>OP, do you have a plan of action to improve your math skills? If you’re going to do premed, I really suggest doing some studying over the summer to go over the material from your previous classes and get a head start on the math classes you’ll take in college.</p>
<p>Yes, many of us, and I am one of the many, care for the elderly. it is a two way road for many, in that their social security check/pension/assets/home can also help out families struggling with finances. Not the case here, but I see that a lot. </p>
<p>Be aware taht caring for an elderly relative can mean some really tough financial curve balls. It is a privilege to be able to care for an elderly parent as many are not in the shape or we are not in the shape to care for them. Nothing we can count upon. </p>
<p>Your title quesiton was whether your father is unreasonable in what he is saying he can and can’t pay of your college costs. Though it doesn’t matter whether he is or not, as he has the right to hold his stance, most of us feel is is quite reasonable in setting the limits of what he can affford. Hopefully, you have not pushed him over, beyond what he can afford. It can catch up, and leave you in bad shape if you did. That he said or says he can pay, does not mean he can or will, and being left midway in college with the funds dried up can be a serious problem.</p>
<p>I think you are all being played. Just MO. If I am correct, it’s a shame someone would toy with people who are just trying to help. I suspect this is a game for him/her, even if parts of the story are true.</p>
<p>Agreed^ so you should all come help me instead, I listen and promise to be polite/ consider all suggestions, “one parent refuses to give out tax info” now that’s what I call unreasonable. So please help!</p>
<p>My freshmen class consists of 70-100 people. Only about 20 are doing science majors. 5 are interested in Pre-med. How do I know this? All 20-25 people showed up at my freshmen orientation and each pre med has the same advisor as mine along with 6 other girls who are majoring in various subjects like forensic science, biology, genetic engineering, and more. I am not taking general biology. I am taking Biology 121 which is i believe a step or two above 101 at my school. My back up career plans involve me getting a Ph.D in romance languages or Spanish and becoming a Professor.</p>
<p>Just so you are aware tenured professors are on the way out. Schools are moving away from that model and competition is fierce. Someone around here posted a link to an article on it recently that you may be able to google and it reflects what I know of the associate professors I know teaching at our flagship u.</p>
<p>Ah, here… google:</p>
<p>Faulty Towers: The Crisis in Higher Education | The Nation</p>
<p>A PhD in Romance Languages? </p>
<p>That is a very poor backup plan. PhDs in some fields have decent job prospects, but not ones in the languages. </p>
<p>Language departments are increasingly using adjuncts and hiring for Lecturer positions, not Assistant Professors, the first rung on the tenure track.</p>
<p>A very good friend of mine with a PhD in French is now running a university’s study abroad program. He’s brilliant, with fine scholarly publications. Tenure track jobs in these fields are very competitive, as in 150-200 applications for one job. The person who gets the academic job went to a top PhD program and has multiple publications in scholarly journals. And the pay for this field is below most academic departments.</p>
<p>You’d be far better off teaching Spanish in a high school or using Spanish in a business context.</p>
<p>By the way, OP, what’s your college’s medical school admissions rate?</p>
<p>it says in my pamphlet that over 80 percent of students applying to a medical, dental, or veterinary school gain admittance.</p>
<p>I can’t find their med rate. But 8% grad’d last year in bio/biomed majors. Not that that’s the only way to hit med school. The freshman class last year was 145. With so many moving on or needing more than 4 years, it is hard to get an idea.</p>
<p>“Our graduates have gone on to continue their education in top medical, dental, veterinary, and other health professional schools, including: Arcadia University, Physician Assistant Program; Howard University, genetic counseling program; Jefferson Medical College, King’s College, Physician Assistant Program; New England, College of Optometry, Ohio State University, College of Veterinary Medicine; University of Connecticut, School of Dental Medicine; University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine…” and more.</p>
<p>Oh, pgirl, bingo! 80% of those applying… Not 80% of those who started as premed. It could be 5 applied and 4 got in. To med, dtl or vet. </p>
<p>And your quote is admissions-speak. It could be over the last five or ten years. …not griping, clarifying. So you see 2 med schools there, Jeff and UNE. the others are PA or MS programs. Also, not all kids who go to a medical U, post-grad, are studying to be an MD. Some programs include masters work.</p>
<p>But you’re going to try your best.</p>
<p>Usually I am the first to call people spoiled brats, but somehow, your post does not sound spoiled. Not sure why. You sound like a younger child who has always gotten the short end of the stick. And your dad is collecting child support for you, or was anyway. That child support should pay for your bills from before 18 yrs old. After 18, or 19, depending on the court order, there might be something saying your mom has to pay part of college. However, since she is in jail, I am not sure how she could do either.</p>
<p>You should contact that college and see if they can help you anymore. </p>
<p>I know what it is that made you sound not spoiled…you understood that $1200 a month in student loan payments is too much, even if you are a doctor. And know what else? It is never the lower amount they say it will be. You can start compounding interest before you can pay, or while you are paying a reduced amount due to being income contingent. We started with an estimated payment of $400 a month. That was about 18 years ago. Yeah, we now pay $1000 a month. We would have more than paid the principal back years ago, but the interest was compounding. When the older kids leave home, we think we will have to sell the family home and downsize and use the difference to pay off the student loans. I hate to lose our home, but I see no other options. My children know this too. They do not want loans at all. They may have to have them, we will see.</p>
<p>Eightisgreat is right! </p>
<p>And it troubles me that so many CCers on the attack. Remember - it’s a kid…uh young adult you are talking to here…</p>
<p>My sister is hearing impaired and is partially deaf. She has a cochlear implant and an auto-immune disorder that made her partially deaf and almost blind. I am not making this up. So I guess you could say I have always had the short end of the stick. They put more attention and emphasis on her. The $1,200 a month isn’t a loan. It is a non interest payment for my college’s EZ payment plan that they offer.</p>