We finally got a chance to sit down with a guidance counselor at Rite's high school and go over Rite's goals and options.
Rite wants to go to Standford and eventually go into medicine. He's been pretty consistant on that goal for the last 2-3 years. He also wants to play soccer in college.
Sooooo...with those goals in mind, the counselor mapped out 2 plans of action. Consistant to both plans is his sophmore year. He is finishing up geometry and will be starting Algebra II at BYU Elearning in the next couple of weeks. The hope is to be done with Algebra II by August. His math teachers and the guidance couselor feel that will be no problem for him.
Given that works as planned, his sophmore year is Pre-AP English, AP US History (a toughie), Spanish II, Chemistry, Pre-Calculus and Choir--if he doesn't finish Algebra II by then, he can still work on it then take pre-calc at BYU next.
Then the options for junior and sophmore years really open up.
He can continue on the AP schedule. Try to complete all 8 courses (maybe more will be offered by then, too) and go for being valedictorian and scholarships if things work out with ACT/SAT scores being high enough.
or
He can do Post Secondary Options completely and skip 11th and 12th grade and go right to college freshman level courses taken at the University of MN. The courses are graded at face value and are not weighted (which is so strange, imo) so he would be out of the running for valedictorian. However, he'd almost certainly be accepted to continue studies at the UofMN starting in his junior year. Basically it amounts to 2 years of college at state expense. Depending on ACT/SAT scores and PSEO performance he'd be in line for a full scholarship to finish up. The big downfall is he wouldn't be able to play soccer, most likely, at the high school just because of scheduling issues. It is possible, but somewhat difficult. The other downfall is he is stuck at UofMN, which is a great school, but not in the top 4 where Rite wants to be. Other schools would accept him only as a transfer student and not as a freshman and that limits his scholarship chances and college choices.
However, he wants pre-med and the guidance counselor said this actually sets him up perfectly for going on to medical school at any of those top 4 schools, if he continues to progress well, at the age of 22 or sooner depending on how many courses he takes in his junior year. She said he could actually finish college in 3 years if he made the right choices and did well.
We, THANK GOODNESS!!!, have a year to decide his route, since he doesn't have the options until junior year.
My feeling is WOW $30,000 (minimum) in tuition, fees, room, board and other expenses will remain in Fite and Bite pockets!! Plus, having the option to go to college 2 years early is an honor in and of itself. Only the top 10% of the students can take these options, she told me today. Plus, we could save even more on room and board because he can stay home until he finishes using this option. So that's roughly another $20,000 saved.
Which way would you encourage your kid to go?
