<p>To be blunt: our DD, 20, rising junior, is extremely smart, but NOT an academic. Her very high SAT scores and grades got her into a top, small LA. She has inattentive ADD (no longer on meds) and a problem with math (confusing 3, 6, 9 as well as misreading + and - signs) and after struggling for the past few years to be a science major with unrealistic dreams of being an astrophysicist, DD has finally acknowledged that maybe she wasn't cut out for that field. So she returned to what has made her happiest during her childhood, and she is finally achieving success and personal fulfillment. </p>
<p>DD has decided to be a Humanities major because of her diversified talents and interests (and her ADD). What she is best in: dance, music, and filming. She can sit in a video lab for hours, editing, mixing, using all sorts of gadgets, gizmos, and advanced software. She's done this since she was 10. She loves making documentaries. Her school has no film facilities and thus, DD has had to teach herself everything she knows. Also, she has a part-time job as a professional belly/samba dancer, and great mimicry skills allow her to acquire dance moves as well as foreign languages very quickly. She has traveled all over the world with us multiple times, as well as on her own, and she is stimulated by visiting exotic places. She enjoys writing (770 SAT, Essay 11). Those ^^ are her greatest talents.</p>
<p>Now, her deficiencies: she is not the focused type of student who can study a finite subject in-depth. One of her peers spent an entire year abroad in Florence and returned to the US to continue studies in advanced Italian, and Italian Opera, to culminate in a senior thesis on one particular Italian opera movement. This is the complete opposite of how DD operates and is why, unlike the vast majority of her peers, she has no desire to go on to grad school. She is already chomping at the bit to get back to a more "hands-on" and less academic world. Also, planning long-term is anathema to her. </p>
<p>DD's goal--at this moment--is to do a senior thesis about West African dance. DD has arranged an exchange this fall into a school where she will take an Afro-Caribe dance class, an Afro-Caribe music class, a video/filmmaking class, and an elementary French class. </p>
<p>The following semester exchange, next spring, is the problem. DD wants to study at U of Ghana. She wants to take an African dance class, an African music class, and another film class. She will be required to take an African politics class as well as the local language class, thereby eliminating continuing with French. Furthermore, the way U of Ghana exam schedule is structured, students have to take classes at all one level, so if she takes a level 200 film class she cannot take a level 400 dance class or 300 level music class. Understandably, she is there to experience Africa so she knows she will have to be extremely flexible, and may end up being in classes that are beneath her levels, and as so many past students report, the classwork is secondary to the experience of living in the culture itself. What she really wants is the opportunity to film local dances, so she will have footage for her (proposed and forever changing) senior thesis. </p>
<p>Our dilemma #1: D will need malaria medication. The most common long-term med is doxycycline, and unfortunately, DD is allergic to it. The other medication, Malarone, works well, but has not been approved for long-term usage as it builds up in the liver, and is limited to a 28-day stretch (plus the monthly cost is $250!!!!). There is a distant third option, Lariam, but doctors here will prescribe it due to extreme side affects, and even the US Army no longer uses it. This leaves DD with no option but long sleeves, long pants, and massive amounts of DEET spray for 4 months. I have not told DD about this yet as I just discovered these facts myself.</p>
<p>In the meantime, DD mentioned that she saw an excellent filmmaking program--far superior to that of Ghana-- at an exchange U in Istanbul--coincidentally, a place from which my hubby and I returned with glowing reports. DD has always been interested in Mideast cultures and music, and has experience in belly dance and tribal dances from that region. There, DD could continue with French and would have access to some phenomenal filming opportunities. She could always seek out dance on her own. No malarial meds required and the food and living conditions are superior to Ghana. The only problem with that particular U is there is no African studies nor African dance, and right now DD's focus is on African dance. However, as her parent, I wonder how long DD's interest will remain on African dance, as last year her interest as in was obscure dances coming out of Colombia, and the year before that, Bollywood. </p>
<p>DD's interest in film has remained a constant. It's her subjects of filming that are always changing, as are her dance interests. I cannot imagine that West African dance will hold her attention for the next two years. Yet if I point this out to her she will dig in her heels and become defensive. </p>
<p>The money situation is not a concern, as all options will cost the same (staying here at home will actually cost more!). </p>
<p>I am asking parents who have been in a similar situation, with a child of this temperament, if there might be another option which we cannot see? I did think that DD could always study in Istanbul and then, on her return flight home, IF she is still interested in African dance she can do an en-route stopover for a couple of weeks in Ghana or Senegal to get some filming in. [I am counting on the fact that she may have lost interest by that time, and hence, no need to stop there]. If she was still interested, it would be a minimum expense and would allow her to take the anti-malaria medication in the <28 day period. But if I voice the possibility of not going to Ghana for a full semester---oh, woe is me! </p>
<p>Is there a better approach I can take to this, in speaking with DD, a person who reacts and is a bit rigid about her cause of the moment? She returns home next week and will be relaxed and (fingers crossed) we can have some time to work this out. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>