<p>Agree , time to make a decision, step back, visit and go with it.</p>
<p>Sorry, no by “processing issues,” I mean he has been diagnosed in the past with some type of processing disorder. (I’m not sure of the specifics.) This is a student who received some pretty intensive learning support in the past to learn how to compensate, which clearly he’s done beautifully in his relatively small (~75 kids in his class), private school. </p>
<p>Did his mom interfere when he was in elementary school by making sure he got some academic intervention, or was she just an overzealous parent who wasted her money and her son’s time? I suspect her son would say the latter, but how does one ever really know? She’s a teacher herself, and she was pretty sure there was an issue there at that time. Has it resolved itself? Does it matter? Those are the things this family is weighing as their son makes a final decision. </p>
<p>And if it’s not too late to apply to a few more schools so he can compare, what is so terrible about considering that as an option? I know of many folks who found and were accepted to “dream schools” at the last possible moment in the admissions process. I was one myself and am very grateful that I had a wonderful guidance counselor who picked up the phone and made a call on my behalf even though I’d missed the application deadline for a school I thought I had no chance of gaining admission to.</p>
<p>In the end, of course, it’s this boy’s decision. That’s part of growing up, but college is a huge expense and too many kids find out they made a bad choice and have to exert a lot of energy a year or two later when they look to transfer elsewhere. I don’t see why trying to get it right the first time is a bad thing. And it may be that one of these schools he’s already been accepted to will be just perfect for him, which is why I was hoping I could get some specific feedback about the differences between the premed programs at Temple, James Mason, Drexel and Penn State.</p>
<p>Again, I appreciate the feedback.</p>
<p>Plenty of kids are positive they want to be doctors at age 17, and naturally turn elsewhere as they learn more about different fields. Being a doctor is something they know; there are professions they’ve never heard of at this stage. Why sweat it?</p>
<p>Well, I think that’s the approach they’re going to end up taking. But just to be clear, it’s not the default choice of career in this kid’s school, and his parents aren’t doctors, so it’s not like it’s the “family business.” He’s pretty passionate about becoming a physician (and he’s shadowed several in clinical settings). While the odds might be stacked against him, I guess his mom just wants to help him make a choice that will give him the best chance of success. </p>
<p>I’m really not up on premedical programs (my kids have no desire to be doctors!), but it would be nice to know if some schools are good at steering their less promising premeds into other allied health professions (like nursing, OT, PT, and pharmacy) or healthcare management, etc. Not that the science is easy in those either but I suspect it’s not so highly competitive.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I suspect this battle has been going on in this family since the college search started. The time to get the kid to visit and assess LACs was last summer, not at the last minute. I don’t blame the kid for not wanting to toss in last minute applications to schools he thinks he has no interest in. If the parents wanted to make a deal on him needing to apply to LACs, February of senior year is not the time for it. It seems to me that they want to muscle him into something he is dead set against. And we all know how that usually goes with our kids.</p>
<p>If this kid isn’t going to cut it at pre-med, he won’t cut it anyplace (LAC or his current list). The schools he is into aren’t “rocket science” schools. He has a perfectly good opportunity at most of them to satisfy the pre-med requirements and get his shot at this. I agree that they are not schools on my kid’s list, and I do like the LAC environment. But the parents are not the ones going to college here.</p>
<p>And while frazzled2thecore has a good list of questions to ask, I also suspect from this story that the relationship between kid & mom is at the point where she can ask all these questions… but he is going to stick his fingers in his ears and say, “La-la-la – can’t HEAR you!”. I think she might want to just give him a list of questions to evaluate pre-med programs (preferably from a neutral internet source – like a website, not just one of us), and suggest that he review his school list with this. Tell him she will help him find the information if he is having trouble. Then leave it at that.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Excellent suggestion! And then I’ll direct my friend to the “helicoptering parents” thread on the main page. ;-)</p>
<p>The mom should have forced him to visit a LAC or two during their college tours in Jr year. If he saw it for himself and hated it, then there’s pretty much no way mom could force him to apply now. I agree with intparent, the time for force him to complete his LAC app was in Oct-Dec, not a hail Mary in Feb. If she has not been able to force him to apply to a LAC from Oct - Dec, why does she think that she will be able to force him to do it over the next few days?</p>
<p>I would have mom look at the LD support that is available at each of his accepted schools and consider that during his evaluations. If you want an idea of the premed info for each of his accepted unis, you can try the pre-med forum.</p>
<p>Click on discussion home at left, top and scroll down until you get to pre-med forum, and post your question there. I guess your question is which uni has the best matric to med schools or which uni gives out the easiest As for premed required classes?</p>
<p>As others have stated, many kids start out “premed” and then change majors and the pain and reality set in. That’s why I would choose a uni based on their LD support.
BTW, there is also a forum for LD unis. Click on discussion home at left, top and scroll down until you get to LD forums.</p>
<p>Not all larger publics have lots of huge classes. My D went to JMU and none of her classes were the size of the the intro biology class I took at the much smaller William and Mary in the 70’s. Only 12% of the classes there have 50 or more. A third of its classes have 20 or less. The school is known for its involved, hands on faculty. Labs are largely taught by faculty. She never hesitated to contact her teachers about anything. She was a music major so that’s to be expected, but JMU requires more gen ed hours than any music program I know of and the faculty access was true in her science, history, math and English classes. </p>
<p>Don’t assume that he won’t compensate in a lecture environment. There will be lecture environments in med school so better to figure it out now than then.</p>
<p>It is not what colleges have the best med school admit rates. That’s for the culled group, the reduced number of kids who make it to mid-junior year still aiming at med school and with the goods- grades and faculty support. The weeding happens wherever; it’s not always about class size.</p>
<p>If your young friend has whatever sort of processing issues, I’m sure there have been many challenges for the parents over the years. It’s not always stereotypical helicoptering; sometimes, it’s honest trying to get the kid to weigh, to take an extra step, to consider the what-ifs, to guide them into the life skills they need, but don’t quite have. In cases like this, it’s not so easy to say, “back off” or let him live and learn, sink or swim. Been there.</p>
<p>What we did with D2 was prepare her for alternatives: if pre-med doesn’t work… We didn’t ask for agreement, ask her to research, or analyze or pursue a list of questions. We planted seeds, so when the time came, she had ideas in mind of what she’d do. </p>
<p>I’m not sure a last-minute app to an LAC does anything more than reassure the adults. If he were accepted, then what? The cycle starts again. He doesn’t sound receptive. At a certain point, you swich from astute analysis or covering all the bases, to gently mentioning fall-back ideas.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As I said in my initial post, he did visit F&M during his junior year (along with several other LACs) and loved it. But when it came time to apply, he went with the prevailing approach of most of his friends and classmates and applied solely to larger schools. She’s never tried to force him to do anything; she may be regretting that now, but that part is pretty much moot at this point.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your advice about checking out the LD support and the premed forums. I’ll send her there; I have no stomach for premed discussions in general! </p>
<p>cartera45, thank you so much for specific feedback about JMU. That’s the kind of info I’ve been hoping for.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thank you, lookingforward. This is exactly the case. Genuinely appreciate your thoughts on the matter!</p>