17 year old med student?

[MarissaNicole]

I just can't help but think that the 17 year-old is going to get dubbed Doogie Howser - which I may be dating myself if you don't know who that is

[Amiens]

In dh's med school class there was a 17 year old. He was homeschooled and went to college at age 13 or 14. He graduated med school at 21 and went onto do residency in neurosurgery or neurology. I wish I could remember. If Nellie were around I think she would remember.

[Amiens]

Benzi Kluger, MD went into neurology and is a professor with the Dept of Neuro at Univ of CO.

[scrub-jay]

Benzi Kluger, MD went into neurology and is a professor with the Dept of Neuro at Univ of CO.

I should ask DH about him!! His class is currently in neuro block! Crazy medical connections!

Wow I think it's both amazing and scary I'm sure for them. I think everyone wants to rush into what they want, so it's interesting that other places and programs have opportunities for that. Being prepared and mentally capable at such a young age to deal with life and death is commendable. But I am sure there is a lot of downfall for them too. Where was their youth? With that great gain, I am sure there is great loss as well.

[houseelf]

Our society (as in modern American society) has bumped up "childhood" all the way into the late 20's. In most of the rest of the world your childhood ends in your mid to late teens. And, really, there is no reason for teenagers to be as immature as they are today - except that is what is expected of them. They are coddled and little is expected of them. Our society is quickly losing the overall ability to teach people responsibility - so the age at which responsibility kicks in is increasing with each generation. Needless to say, our children are not going to follow that particular societal trend.

ITA.

Warning--hijack

I heard a great political talk show host comment on this once. To see Friends and Seinfeld, it is normal to live self indulgent life without real purpose well into the forties. Not that everyone needs to get married and/or move to the burbs, but I agree that the adolescent lifestyle has been pushed down to encompass younger kids and extended way up past adolescence into middle age. It's bizarre and creates weirdness on either ends.

Two generations ago, young kids cooked, watched their siblings, and worked in the fields. Now college freshman get wake up calls from mom to ensure that they make it to class on time. :huh: This is so common place that if you want to try to give your kid some responsibility and/or freedom, you have to do a gut check to make sure that going against the current culture is the right thing to do.

[SoonerTexan]

Haha, my problem was always wanting to "grow up" too quickly!

It's true though...we have a couple of friends who are just hanging out on mommy and daddy's money biding their time. Almost no one we know graduated from college on time. One wants to be a pro-cyclist and is living in Belgium 6 months out of the year. Eventually he plans to go to law school because of course he has to be rich and get back to the area (Highland Park--Dallasites should know it) somehow. Haha...his dad is a doctor...

[SuzySunshine]

I don't understand the obsession with equating graduating "on time", AKA the 4 year plan with success and equating not doing so with failure or laziness.

Who said that?

I don't think most people expect people to finish college in 4 years anymore unless they came to school with college credits. I think the key is the maturity level, not the age and some parents are just enablers to immaturity. I doubt those same parents' child would be going to med school at 17.

[poky]

Who said that?

Marissa kinda did:

Almost no one we know graduated from college on time.

Which is kinda funny, actually: DH and I didn't graduate "on time", either - he graduated after 3 years, and I graduated after 5.5 (with two full degrees). Takes all kinds, and I totally agree with Cassy; it's not really a very good measure of success at all.

This article struck me as kinda interesting, re: maturity at college age:

http://agathon-sbh.blogspot.com/2010...standards.html

[SuzySunshine]

But Marissa didn't say that it equates to failure or laziness.

[poky]

But Marissa didn't say that it equates to failure or laziness.

Actually, she did seem to be equating it with immaturity and laziness, referencing earlier posts, at least in the examples she gave.

[Chrisada]

The only way I graduated in four years was by going to summer school every single summer. In recent years, a lot of schools require so many credits to graduate that it is almost impossible to do so unless your overload your schedule. Neither my sister nor brother graduated in four years.

It's true though...we have a couple of friends who are just hanging out on mommy and daddy's money biding their time. Almost no one we know graduated from college on time.

And I think there is some validity to it WHEN kids are being fully funded by their parents and are just screwing around / exploring educational passions as a way to avoid adulthood for as long as they can. Then there are the (ever growing) groups of students who take a non-traditional/longer route largely BECAUSE they're carrying an adult load and paying their own way.

As with everything, it's not black and white.

[scarlett09]

I commented about this on a recent, different thread that the number of students who take more than 4 years to attain their bachelors degree is on the rise. A lot of it is because what Chrisada mentioned - an increase in the number of enrolled students and a decrease in the number of available classes. You could always contribute taking more than 4 years to ineptitude (there are always lazy people), but what about those students who changed majors, need to take a leave of absence, transferred from another institution, etc? There are a plethora of factors that may lead to a student needing more than 4 years to graduate. Honestly, I've seen a lot of students feel tremendous pressure from parents to finish in 4 years, even though they want to study abroad, double major, etc. I wish I could find the stats from my grad classes about the rise in number of years to graduation.

[Pollyanna]

I commented about this on a recent, different thread that the number of students who take more than 4 years to attain their bachelors degree is on the rise. A lot of it is because what Chrisada mentioned - an increase in the number of enrolled students and a decrease in the number of available classes. You could always contribute taking more than 4 years to ineptitude (there are always lazy people), but what about those students who changed majors, need to take a leave of absence, transferred from another institution, etc? There are a plethora of factors that may lead to a student needing more than 4 years to graduate. Honestly, I've seen a lot of students feel tremendous pressure from parents to finish in 4 years, even though they want to study abroad, double major, etc. I wish I could find the stats from my grad classes about the rise in number of years to graduation.

Absolutely! It took me 5 years to finish undergrad because of transferring schools (and I took 9 to 12 units every summer). I know LOTS of kids that had to work full time and needed to take lighter loads so they could support themselves and get good grades. Especially, the increased requirements combined with the decrease in class availability makes a HUGE difference. I think taking more than four years to graduate being attributed to laziness is the exception, NOT the rule.