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Post by joew on Jan 25, 2014 18:50:04 GMT -5
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Post by joew on Jan 25, 2014 18:51:32 GMT -5
FWIW, it says I should go to Harvard.  |
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Post by gailkate on Jan 25, 2014 20:12:48 GMT -5
What doesn't ask, Joe? Is there a quiz only you can see? Are you lost in space or am I?
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Post by Gracie on Jan 25, 2014 20:24:04 GMT -5
I can't see it, either. I guess I need to go to college.
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Post by liriodendron on Jan 25, 2014 20:46:18 GMT -5
We are starting to look at colleges for our son. Could this thing that only Joe can see be useful?
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Post by doctork on Jan 25, 2014 21:18:04 GMT -5
Maybe Joe will enlighten us shortly.
Meanwhile, Howard mentioned that he is tired of nursing and is thinking he should become a physician assistant (PA-C) instead. I asked him what was involved in that endeavor and he said he had no idea. I have an idea of who would be paying the tuition bill, so I investigated. Long story short, it takes 2 and 1/2 years and $60,000 - $80,000. I don't think so.
So I think one really important thing to consider on where to go to college, is how much will it cost? Without piling up loans either, please. Never mind my favorite color.
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Post by liriodendron on Jan 25, 2014 22:13:04 GMT -5
I have a college for Howard! Unfortunately, I'm not so sure they offer a Physician's Assistant program. www.cofo.edu/ |
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Post by doctork on Jan 26, 2014 1:20:42 GMT -5
Alrighty then, we're all set!
I just tell him he is able to get the PA-C for free at Hard Work U - in the Ozarks! That will be the end of the discussion, and we won't have to even get into whether or not they have a PA program.
Oh BTW I am "going to college" starting Monday - at Coursera. I signed up for a course on terrorism. So far the website is a bit odd, but I will report back more later. It is free, also with the caveat "so far."
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Post by doctork on Jan 26, 2014 18:54:07 GMT -5
My Coursera class starts tomorrow but they have opened the class website for introductions, pre-course quiz, and preliminary discussion. So far it looks like it will be very interesting, informative, and fun. There are class members from around the world. Great idea, this MOOC business.
Oops, it occurs to me that the first time I read it, I didn't know that MOOC means "Massive Open Online Course" so I should include the translation for usage prn (if needed).
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Post by gailkate on Jan 26, 2014 19:50:49 GMT -5
Thanks, I had no idea what you were talking about.
I admire the urge to keep learning and stretching, but have you mentioned to Howard that he's a little older than most people looking at a career change? Sometimes I find myself thinking like a person who might need to network or update my resume, and then I remember with immeasurable relief - I'm retired! Nobody would hire me on a bet! Tell Howard that's what he should be looking forward to.
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Post by joew on Jan 26, 2014 21:59:15 GMT -5
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Post by doctork on Jan 26, 2014 23:03:10 GMT -5
Aha! The truth comes out - I shouldda gone to MIT! Oh really - I do believe MIT is No Anthropologists Allowed, but Pre-Meds In Disguise Are Possibly Accepted.
I am watching the Grammy's and I forget which rap artist is performing right now, but there are so many bleeps, you can't hear it anyway.
Speaking of Grammy's, Ringo Starr just performed and looked & sounded great, and I think he and Paul will perform together shortly. And given that I watched the recent Rolling Stones HBO special featuring Mick Jagger cavorting on the stage like a teenager, I don't rule out careers, even new ones, stretching out into one's 70's.
No, it's the 2.5 years of not working while I shell out the $75K, all in place of essentially the same thing for peanuts - namely 12 - 18 months of online grad school at the State U to get the nursing masters degree to be a nurse practitioner (NP), while continuing to work full-time and maybe even your employer pays the tuition. Neither one of us has plans to retire anyway.
Say, the MOOC course-mates are checking in; there are about 70 so far, from 6 continents (no one from Antarctica yet), all kinds of backgrounds, all ages of people. And MOOC is free! The terrorism course I am taking is out of University of Maryland, but there is a complementary course out of University of Leiden that many classmates are also taking.
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Post by Gracie on Jan 27, 2014 0:17:50 GMT -5
DUKE!
Me??
You got: Duke University
You’re basically a tiger mother, or a tiger father if you’re a dude. Yes, you can be a little aggressive, but that’s because you care so much about everything that you do that it’s practically leaking out of you. Your struggle is learning how to hone that passion into something great.
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Post by liriodendron on Jan 27, 2014 6:28:55 GMT -5
I got Duke, too, Gracie! Maybe we can be roomies! (Did you pick the BBQ and Scooby Doo Gang?)
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Post by jspnrvr on Jan 27, 2014 6:50:45 GMT -5
Northwestern!
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Post by Gracie on Jan 27, 2014 10:47:38 GMT -5
I got Duke, too, Gracie! Maybe we can be roomies! (Did you pick the BBQ and Scooby Doo Gang?) I DID! and I think we'd be awesome roommates! |
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Post by gailkate on Jan 27, 2014 14:45:36 GMT -5
This is so mortifying. I did go to college, honestly. But I can't find anything to click on for this quiz. I've gone round and round trying to find an openable link and never get there. I'm theorizing they know I should have gone to U Mich, which I did for 6 years, so they just don't bother offering suggestions.
I think I'll be a roving housemother and just check in on all of you. |
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Post by Jane on Jan 27, 2014 15:35:31 GMT -5
It said I should go to Northwestern, but I don't think I could get in. I keep having that dream where I'm going to college but no one wants to live with me because I'm old. Plus the elevator is really crowded.
My grandson desperately wants to go to University of Michigan and then to medical school like his dad. However, it's to the point where getting into U of M is really hard. I think they took two kids from last year's graduating class at East GR, and it's one of the top-rated schools in the state. Ben is in the ninth grade, the lowest grade he has ever had is an A- (and he was DEVASTATED), he is in sports and band. BUT, his standardized test scores are very mediocre. OTOH, my niece goes to City, another top-notch school with an international baccalaureate program, has a bit over a 3. but scored 36 on her ACTs (that's perfect, by the way). So I wonder who would be able to get into the best school? (BTW, both Ben's parents are U of M grads and Elisabeth also went to grad school there, but Scott went elsewhere for med school.)
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Post by doctork on Jan 27, 2014 20:05:11 GMT -5
If he really wants to go to medical school and Michigan is not looking like a realistic choice, maybe another strategy. MSU also has a good medical school. The truth is all US medical schools are good (at least MD schools, I don't know much about DO), as the curriculum and standards are all the same nationwide - very rigorous.
Go for one of the other top drawer not-University-of-Michigan colleges with a good pre-med program, which might be a small private liberal arts school that is not Ivy, then launch toward med school from there. There are plenty of good colleges to choose from.
Ben is in 9th grade. Junior year he should take the PSAT, score well, then go to (well get invited, interviewed and accepted into) the Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP)at Cornell during the summer between junior and senior years of HS. TASPers almost always get accepted into the top-notch colleges and grad schools of choice, usually with generous scholarships.
BTW, Deep Springs College is a most excellent very small (two year) private college, it is free, associated with Telluride Association, and most of its grads continue at the Ivy of their choice. Best college no one ever heard of. Men only.
Then there is the fact that a lot of pre-meds decide along the way they don't really want to go to med school after all. Ben is young and may change his mind, so don't stress too much now. He is already doing all the right things.
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Post by Jane on Jan 28, 2014 15:43:07 GMT -5
His dad didn't get accepted at U of M med school (they told him he should be "honored to be wait-listed". They can be a bit uppity in Ann Arbor.) Scott was accepted at MSU and Wayne State, and went to Wayne State (Detroit). There's a med school joke: A man came into the ER with a strange ailment. The MD from U of M said, "Well, I've read a lot about this but I've never seen it." The Wayne State doc said, "I've seen this but I've never read about it." And the MSU doctor said, "I've never seen this or read about, but there, there you poor dear, I'm sure it will be just fine." In other words, U of M=theory, Wayne State=in the trenches, MSU=touchy-feely. When Scott was a resident, he hated working with MSU residents because they worked eight-hour shifts and then went home! Scott had no such restrictions!
Now I think two second-tier state schools in Michigan are going to have med schools in the near future--Western and Central.
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Post by gailkate on Jan 28, 2014 19:12:29 GMT -5
One of Kalamazoo's hospitals is very well rated (Bronson? not Borgess) so that could be a good program. Central? all my snobbery rises in horror, but maybe that's an old bias. I would think Ben would get legacy points at U0fM, but did they ban that in the civil rights case? Funny that UofM has gotten so exclusive. I mean, sure, everyone knew it was THE university (  ) but it was also proudly public, not like those hoity-toity Ivy schools. And, as K said, many students decide being an MD isn't their choice. a friend of mine dropped out of UofM med school and went into research where he's been very happy for decades. |
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Post by doctork on Feb 1, 2014 16:57:20 GMT -5
That's unusual gk, for someone to drop out of medical school once admitted. It is such a grind to get in, the admissions committees so selective, the annual cost of education so high (much higher than tuition charged, the rest being paid by the state, by grants, by donors), that the schools do everything they can to keep you in once you are there.
Most people get weeded out by the required college pre-med courses, the MCAT's and then the application and interview process itself. That said, there are sometimes one or two class members who get there, and in the first week or two decide medical school is not for them, so they leave. Someone is promptly called up from the wait list to fill the spot.
I am remembering one such "called-up" classmate who said he felt two weeks behind the entire 4 years, though he graduated and did just fine.
If one is not completely dedicated to being a physician, s/he shouldn't go to medical school. If you are smart enough and hard-working enough to do med school, you can probably make a whole lot more money elsewhere, and have a lot more time to see your family and have fun.
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Post by gailkate on Feb 2, 2014 1:02:28 GMT -5
My friend was high-Mensa, perfectly equipped to sail through anything he chose to do. But he was also rather shy, introverted, limited on people skills, and unlike many doctors (present company excepted) he wasn't arrogant enough to think those flaws were immaterial. He wasn't going to be the kind of doctor he'd want for a member of his family, so he swallowed what seemed to him a failure in everyone else's eyes and did what his gut told him was right. I really admired his decision and still think the world of him.
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Post by doctork on Feb 2, 2014 10:05:54 GMT -5
Seems like a reasonable choice, not a failure, to me.
Students like him often choose medical research, sometimes an MD-PhD combination program, or they choose a specialty with high level intellectual content but minimal patient contact, like pathology, radiology, radiation oncology. They still have to do 4 years of med school, a minimum of 12 months of which will involve some direct patient contact.
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Post by Jane on Feb 2, 2014 14:48:09 GMT -5
When I went to college, it seemed like U of M and MSU were comparable, but I don't think they are any more.
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Dopey Member
) but it was also proudly public, not like those hoity-toity Ivy schools. And, as K said, many students decide being an MD isn't their choice. a friend of mine dropped out of UofM med school and went into research where he's been very happy for decades.