Congratulations on your achievements! I never guessed that you were an Indian based on your sports interest.
Can you suggest some sporting events on TV to watch which you are hinting at ?
American Football, Hockey (Ice), Baseball, Tennis, Golf and Track events at college level have a fewer representation in proportion of their percentage in the population, IMO.
That info was given by my D and I havenât attended with her during campus visit and donât have any classes either.
I am a firm believer students shouldnât be forced to take any religious class in schools or university. I am against to send my children to those schools regardless how good or great they may be.
You should have known that even before applying, there are few handful in country that falls into that category. To bring religion at time of decision making doesnât seem right and ofc, it is your choice, not to attend SLU or Loyola or any other Jesuit school.
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Only religiously affiliated schools and universities may have such requirements, not public or private universities. It is your choice and one should not even apply in such situations. Forget about SLU and find some thing better for your D.
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i have never heard anyone not attending school/colleges due to some religious classes requirements. if this was a requirement, i would have not even applied to in first place.
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Considering what you had indicated so far, it seems UMKC is a good choice for you.
If UMKC allows for gap years, you can use them as you indicated.
Please ensure your C is aware of tough 2 years including summers.
Ensure she has enough friends to form her support system.
Re: Religious conversions
Educate your C that there are groups of missionaries even in non-religious schools who think every student is a target for conversion.
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Let me be very clear, D rejected SLU not because of those courses, just it wasnât fit and her choice to say no.
SLU and UMKC are very close in rankings, she rather go to UMKC BA/MD and pay public tuition fee rather than wait for 2nd year to know whether she got in Med School and pay private Tuition.
If not UMKC, she will attend U Rochester, end of world but D will decide which direction she wanted to go.
So you rejected SLU for different reasons than your D?
Interesting debate in SDN ( I have no contribution though). like bird-in-hand, people debate fish and ponds.
What is the size which is considered the boundary for large class ? N = 200 ?
Any comment.
my guess is around 150.
I had nothing to do with SLU, it is her decision. Now it is UMKC or Rochester.
You already got enough info, letâs know on May 1st. Also, post in results thread with real reflections.
I actually think this is a good question to bring forward and I am going to answer for future readers. (This is long so be ready to scroll)
While I have two Masters degrees in soft sciences, I am a 180 from my upbringing and both my husband and I are the cycle breakers. So we donât really have contacts, especially given the transient nature of our lives for 20 years. Our financial path is comfortable (which wasnât always so at all) but are nowhere near wealthy-we have state retirements and my only portfolio is my picture albums LOL. So these dreams for both my sons meant we had to figure it out.
Thatâs the background to say this: my son did, in my opinion, extremely well. We are fortunate to have his tribal connection to fund many of the things he wanted to do, like his applications. But to find things like a research position- he emailed 75 professors at different schools around us, and I paid for an Uber 2 days a week for a year to drive him to his research location because both his dad and I work. He isnât the popular kid- thatâs his brother and totally not this oneâs personality. But he established close connections with a select group of people, adults like his counselor included, and created study groups to help each other and they all did similar clubs so he felt comfortable in those environments- comfortable enough to run for offices and to spend quite a bit of the time volunteering (many times he and his friends did it together)
He found activities like Medical Explorers through a Google search. He found his shadowing by asking a club advisor whose husband was a PA if her husband might be willing. He found his surgical shadowing by emailing three local hospitals and his hospital shadowing by googling all hospitals in our area and contacting all of them about teen volunteers. He spent 6 months in tutoring to get his ACT score up and move it from a 33 to a 35.
and many of these things he searched came from me looking at threads like this one. I read the success stories, sent him snippets and screenshots, trying to figure out what we could and couldnât do within our community. I bought him study guides and quiz books for anything we felt he had a deficit in, like his chemistry for example (though he didnât take the subject tests). He attended so many college admissions presentations and contacted numerous adcoms.
Now he did have some connections. We had the financial support of his tribe and I work in a school so I would hear about opportunities and push him to apply. We were able to use his tribal funds to pay for consultant support which was especially helpful for the essays and interview prep.
But at times he chafed against how much was being asked of him- so we had many many talks about this path and if he wanted to go a different one. This was never about me as a parent- my only caveat has always been find a career you love and do it well.
So much of this journey was about researching and hustling. Donât be discouraged if you arenât in a position of experience to navigate this process. Read, research, and get those things that matter. Establish that connection with the high school too- quite often things go unapplied for as kids donât put themselves forward. Itâs doable even for those of us who shop at Tar-jay instead of Rodeo 
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Great post. I doubt many in my tribe answer it truthfully. Fact is not very easy for most HS students to find clinical volunteering and research opportunities without connections given limited skills, age restrictions and liability issues. Some programs have paid summer programs to address these and they became more competitive. I sometimes wonder may be because most of the parents invested so much into getting those experiences for the kids they would pretty much have no choice but go for whatever BSMD program they get into. Instead of saying that some may be come up with scary stories?
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I forgot to mention- he had applied to about 8 of those summer programs- accepted to 3. All canceled due to Covid. Most had financial aid potential or were free.
Those were also found on these types of sites. I read about them, made a list, sent them to him, and he picked the ones he was interested in.
And out of the 75 professors he emailed for research, 2 responded. Thatâs it. Itâs a lot of work for a small payoff at times.
Some stuff didnât pan out. He wasnât able to do EMT program in Florida due to age restrictions. He lost out on BU SMED because we found out (after the fact) his semester long DE classes didnât satisfy the full year requirement that Boston had for particular courses even though he earns a full credit per semester due to the nature of the course. It didnât always align.
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Thank you for this message. I donât have a lot of connection just like your son, but I guess you just keep fighting. Sometimes it doesnât seem worth it, but your sonâs success truly makes me hopeful.
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My sarcasm meter is off. So, Iâll answer.
Badminton, table tennis, archery, shooting, diving, gymnastics, speedskating, figure skating, swimming, wrestling, boxing⊠for starters! The so-called ORMs have an amazing representation in these sports. My cousin is into equestrian sports and sheâs expressed that thereâs a growing interest for ORMs in that sport. Give it a few more generationsâŠResources meet opportunity meet ability + Asian parents (read: dedication!)âŠwe will be kicking ass (maybe not in basketball or football.)
American Football, Hockey (Ice), Baseball, Tennis, Golf and Track events at college level have a fewer representation in proportion of their percentage in the population, IMO
You as a parent of a child should take some blame for it! 
That said, American Football, basketball, and T&F are predominantly dominated by black athletes and have obscene representation to the proportion of their percentage in the population. Hispanics dominate baseball. Iâm sure you stated the obvious like I just did.
If you want the exact representation based on demographics, Iâll give you the NCAA and Title-IX. Suddenly, you will find scholarships for certain sports (none from your list) for universities to be Title IX compliant. Then, thereâs the side door to deal with sports like lacrosse and water polo! The rest are all club sports only with no scholarships.
Student-Athlete Representation by Race:
We are too hung on MDs, BS/MDs, Ivies, and T20s. Maybe I should use that dedication to be a catalyst for ORM sports. Get into top school + scholarship via sports!!! The matchâŠColumbia - Womenâs Archery | Stanford - Speedskating (My friend got in last year) I Brown PLME - Equestrian I Harvard & MIT - Crew | Hopkins - Lacrosse | BU BS/MD - Field Hockey (Womenâs). Maybe that will put us ORMs on the map when it comes to sports. 
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Opportunities are all around. They donât cost you nor do you need connections.
Many states have CNA requirements where you donât have to be 18.
Start with your fire station for EMT opportunities thatâs free (16 yrs minimum)
VA Hospitalsâ volunteer programs are free.
Once you get into a VA, make friends with physicians. ThereâŠyou have your shadowing!
If you are thinking gap year after high school (like I did) and are 18, Peace Corps can be a great add to your resume (Look for 9 month opportunities as most are a two-year commitment.)
Your community always needs help in some form. Truly care about it and it will show in your interviews.
Be passionate about SOMETHINGâŠanythingâŠConvince the adcom that they missed out big in their life by not trying basketweaving (The essay!)
And yeah, have a good GPA and test scores (The say optionalâŠbut they expect it I guess)
Lastly, Every program has certain expectations/requirements/patterns. Cater to them!
Thatâs all I did or thought about doing (I definitely would have tried Peace Corps if not for COVID-19. They shutdown all programs.) I laid an egg last year on BS/MDs. I did OK this year. I hope that information is helpful in someways.
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