How does your daughter feel about these classes?
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The ones at Juniata or Rhodes?
She has no problems with ones at Juniata.
She would prefer not to have ones at Rhodes but leaves the door open. She wants to visit college first and meet students there. She clicks very well with admitted students online at Rhodes, and Juniata forum is not active… But we liked students on campus at Juniata…
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I think she’ll find the farther south she goes, the more religious the colleges feel even if there aren’t any religion classes required. Discussions in psych or philosophy classes may take a religious bent just because of who is in the classes.
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Maybe, maybe not - depends on the school.
NSE still is itching at me. It’s an easy flight, a cheap flight, and most importantly, it’[s an almost assured path to med school.
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POE are more flexible than majors but are roughly what some LACs also call “concentration”.
Religion at the college level, especially at a non-religious college, is an academic field of study. A good example is to check what type of Bible is used: the Oxford bible is a text for scholarly study, unlike sth like NRSV or Living or CEV which are used for “Bible study” (although students may be provided with 3 or 4 versions of the same passage to compare how the translation choices impact understanding, for instance). It studies how some religions have impacted ways of thinking, stories we tell, art, or how it is embedded in conflicts, as well as a form of literature (so Bible or Q’uran passages are studied for their cultural impact, for their literary quality… in the same way the Aeneid or the Epic of Gilgamesh or renaissance sonnets are studied). It studies religion as a field related to philosophy, asking big questions. It presents the texts as “sth some people believe is true” not “this is the truth”. It is not seen nor taught as “the word of Gxd/g.ds/g.ddesses” nor as dogma - all colleges however will have clubs that support this study for students who are interested in furthering their faith. Both are very distinct and separate.
That being said, Juniata is an excellent place for premeds because it is very supportive - unlike some places, which try to weed out*, they try to support.
(* there are two kinds of “weed out”, ie., decrease in the number of students from one level to the next: one that is “natural”, ie., kids realize the subject is not for them; and one that is structural, ie., the program is designed so that fewer and fewer students are enrolled, thus eliminating lots of 1st year students.)
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@momsearcheng After your visit to Rhodes I would love to hear your impressions. It is a school my daughter applied to and was accepted.
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Aren’t you go by yourself? We are going only in the middle of April, so our impression maybe too late for you 
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I wish we could. We live in Europe. We are from the US but have lived overseas for awhile. We did visit over the summer and my daughter loved Rhodes. It became one of her top schools, if not her top at the time. I don’t think we can swing another trip back to re-look at schools. I wish we could since we have not seen the campus with students or met with professors.
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Sure. But keep in mind that different people are looking for different things.
I have a hunch that DD will love it but may choose another school due to DE credits transfer, proximity to home, and trying to avoid the Foundation curriculum discussed above. In our case it would be her call. The current list of Pros and Cons of Rhodes is huge (bigger than any other school on the list of 20 we have.)
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Correct. (My DC is at Juniata now). What they call a POE is what most schools call a major.
I am certain the OP’s daughter can avoid religion classes in school if she so desires. I am also certain she will encounter religious issues on her first day of residency and most days thereafter, and will be a more effective doctor if she understands the basis for them. Plenty of atheists study religion to better understand the beliefs of 2 billion people in this world
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Totally agree. However, you do not require all doctors to read “sources” and read millions of interpretations of sources for all possible religions in the world. For example, there is Tanakh, and the Bible, and libraries full of interpretations. I am sure you would not expect a doctor to master and compare all of them. So I see minimal benefit for DD to study what would be considered correct way of interpretation of at one college or the other from the instructor point of view. All views are a bit different.
I dont think any college believes there is one correct way of interpreting the world. Most do show an open-mindedness towards various religious beliefs and expects their students to show respect for all beliefs. At some point in her development, your daughter will need to do that too, but perhaps not yet.
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I would appreciate all to stop there to discuss benefits of any religious views and their interpretations and my DD benefits to study them in college.
My daughter is very open minded and respective to ALL religions. She does not need to take 3 semesters of classes to respect them more…
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Then why the pushback on not wanting schools that may have, what you consider religious courses? Your daughter doesnt care…… so?
And as a pre med, those classes could only be a positive thing. My daughter, as a MD treats, and interacts with families of patients of all religions and knows how to respect each of their cultures and religious views.
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To be clear on concept, the only persons who can act as a moderator on a thread is a moderator, usually identified, as is the case here, by highlighted text.
Users who are not moderating, including the OP, should refrain from directing other users as to what they can and cannot post, since any user in good standing is allowed to post only any thread so long as they follow the rules.
If anyone needs a refresher on the rules, they are linked below. I’ll call special attention to #6, which states that discussion of a moderator’s actions and/or the rules is prohibited on the forum. Any user is free to flag that does not comply with the rules, and a moderator will review.
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7 posts were split to a new thread: How Do I Delete My Account
Best wishes to your D.
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Just stopping by to mention that Maryland is getting TWO new medical schools: one at Morgan State University in Baltimore and another one at Meritus Health Center in Hagerstown.
So if the OP’s daughter decides to pursue the traditional pre-med path, she now has more in-state options for med school.
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Deleted.
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