“The only option I can see is that he drop Italian senior year. He’s not especially good at language. He is, however, excelling in science and is thinking of going premed. BUT…he doesn’t want to drop Italian because most selective schools like to see four years of a language.”
- Pretty much irrelevant concerns in regard to premed. Premed can graduate from ANY college his heart desires, medical schools do NOT pay much attention to the name of the college of the applicant. The best is to choose the cheapest option that kid still likes a lot and do the best anywhere that he attends. The number of APs in HS is also irrelevant, some classes are recommended to start in college at the intro level for premeds.
Why do I know some facts? I am a parent of the first year resident, who took very relaxed approach to her academic career. The results were beyond expectations. So, relax, enjoy the ride, create great memories of fun process. Do not get me wrong, EVERYTHING will be on the student’s shoulders, no matter who is around him and where he attends. However, great opportunities to excel and participate in all kind of medical ECs are absolutely everywhere. I recommend to pay attention to one important aspect - quality of the pre-med committee and the college name will not guarantee anything in this respect. Ask current pre-meds at colleges under consideration. We missed this point and D. just got very lucky with her pre-med committee, but not everybody can say that.