Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 10:05     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have a relative who did first semester in Spain with a different school not knowing Spanish and they had a good experience— used it as a base for visiting all over Europe too (low cost airlines mean for $50 you can fly lots of places for the weekend and find a fun hostel)

I actually think it might be good timing for pre-med (if you want a semester abroad) because by junior year it may be difficult to go away and still meet all your requirements?


Actually the opposite for a pre-med bio major. The most important years are freshman and sophomore because those are the years you take the pre-med classes.
You actually get more liberty the final two years.

I would never do this (Madrid) as a pre-med major. People are talking about travel and fun and all that comes along with doing a semester abroad.
Pre-meds that are successful at matriculating to medical school (because statistically the vast majority are not) really have to put their nose to the grindstone out-of-the-gate freshman year. Sure, there are non-traditional students who decided junior year to go to medical school after studying French or modern dance but that is not most kids. If you want to go to medical school, you have to really, really focus on grades from the beginning of college. There is not much grace and your fellow students will be focusing on one thing: grades and medical school. Not finding the best night club and museum in Madrid and catching the next train to Barcelona.

This kids' peers (and eventual competition for getting into medical school from his undergrad class) at CWRU will be putting their noses down to the grindstone. I went to Case. It is a serious pre-med culture.




Me again. I just read the post before mine from the CWRU Madrid parent and saw that the Madrid kids don't do the pre-med classes. This makes 1000% sense to me. There would be no reasonable way to focus in the way that is demanded (plus the logistics of Case running laboratory science classes abroad doesn't seem like it would work).

So that is good! But yes, a kid like OP's would be a year behind in pre-med recs. Not really an issue. Many kids decided to become pre-med in sophomore year. And I imagine they have a pathway to completing a biology major after this Madrid year (the kid would also be out-of-sequence for this I'd imagine).

That all said, I would just be sure that the kid is prepared to get strong grades in Madrid and not goof off or party of sightsee every spare moment. No messing around and getting a 3.3 GPS in these gen-ed classes. All grades count for medical school--sure the sciences count more but the total GPA is very important. And his peers back in Cleveland (and eventual competition for medical school admissions) are going to be studying their hearts out. It is a pretty intense pre-med culture.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 10:05     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have a relative who did first semester in Spain with a different school not knowing Spanish and they had a good experience— used it as a base for visiting all over Europe too (low cost airlines mean for $50 you can fly lots of places for the weekend and find a fun hostel)

I actually think it might be good timing for pre-med (if you want a semester abroad) because by junior year it may be difficult to go away and still meet all your requirements?


Actually the opposite for a pre-med bio major. The most important years are freshman and sophomore because those are the years you take the pre-med classes.
You actually get more liberty the final two years.

I would never do this (Madrid) as a pre-med major. People are talking about travel and fun and all that comes along with doing a semester abroad.
Pre-meds that are successful at matriculating to medical school (because statistically the vast majority are not) really have to put their nose to the grindstone out-of-the-gate freshman year. Sure, there are non-traditional students who decided junior year to go to medical school after studying French or modern dance but that is not most kids. If you want to go to medical school, you have to really, really focus on grades from the beginning of college. There is not much grace and your fellow students will be focusing on one thing: grades and medical school. Not finding the best night club and museum in Madrid and catching the next train to Barcelona.

This kids' peers (and eventual competition for getting into medical school from his undergrad class) at CWRU will be putting their noses down to the grindstone. I went to Case. It is a serious pre-med culture.




OTOH aren’t Spanish skills important in the medical field these days? The kid could get a leg up on internships back in the US serving a Spanish speaking population. Seems like the decision would turn on how much they want to go to CW and developing a plan to make up for any issues with missing premed coursework, like doing summer school.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 10:04     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:I think this is really kid dependent. Yours has plenty of great options, including this offer from CWRU. I wouldn’t automatically rule it out. How does your child feel about the possibility?


Agree with this. There is a lot of bad information on this thread, OP please be discerning and look at better sources.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 10:02     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:As a freshman? Seems like odd timing. When I was in college, most people studied abroad junior year. Maybe it has to do with how the curriculum is structured in your child’s major?

I loved studying abroad and the city of Madrid and wouldn’t rule it out without strong consideration, especially since the tuition is the same.


"First semester freshman year abroad" is a thing a lot of schools are doing and I think it's to ease their freshman housing problems more than to benefit the students.


+1

Goodness gracious. Tell me you know nothing about college admissions today without telling me you know nothing about college admissions today.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 10:02     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:My son is a first year at CWRU and he did not do his first semester in Madrid, I’m in a group with other first year parents, a few of whom had children participate in this program. This was the first year for the program so while there were some kinks to work out, most of the parents said their children enjoyed the experience. I think there were about 25 CWRU students this past fall.

However, there is one (annoyingly) vocal parent who has done nothing but complain about the program. Her child is premed and she says they are essentially behind a semester with the premed requirements because none is the Madrid classes count toward the premed requirements. I wouldn’t have expected those classes to count towards the premed requirements but who knows what she was told. She also complained about the food and the fact that her daughter didn’t have access to a kitchen to cook her own food.

I do take everything she says with a grain of salt but just wanted to put that out there. All of the other Madrid parents have been lovely.


The fact is, some kids love to study abroad and benefit from it, and other kids just do not adjust and don’t enjoy being out of their comfort zone. I did a bunch of study abroad programs and there were always 2-3 kids for whom it did not work and they went home early. There’s zero shame in that! So OP’s kid should assess whether they are interested and excited about studying abroad or whether it’s just going to add stress. Food is a good metric. Yeah I’m sure Spanish cafeteria food can be gross and unfamiliar (overcooked stews, greasy cold tortillas). But Madrid abounds in cafes on every corner where you can get a delicious snack. Does that sound fun, or daunting? Does she have any interest in studying a language or is she going to hole up and only speak English?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 09:59     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:I have a relative who did first semester in Spain with a different school not knowing Spanish and they had a good experience— used it as a base for visiting all over Europe too (low cost airlines mean for $50 you can fly lots of places for the weekend and find a fun hostel)

I actually think it might be good timing for pre-med (if you want a semester abroad) because by junior year it may be difficult to go away and still meet all your requirements?


Actually the opposite for a pre-med bio major. The most important years are freshman and sophomore because those are the years you take the pre-med classes.
You actually get more liberty the final two years.

I would never do this (Madrid) as a pre-med major. People are talking about travel and fun and all that comes along with doing a semester abroad.
Pre-meds that are successful at matriculating to medical school (because statistically the vast majority are not) really have to put their nose to the grindstone out-of-the-gate freshman year. Sure, there are non-traditional students who decided junior year to go to medical school after studying French or modern dance but that is not most kids. If you want to go to medical school, you have to really, really focus on grades from the beginning of college. There is not much grace and your fellow students will be focusing on one thing: grades and medical school. Not finding the best night club and museum in Madrid and catching the next train to Barcelona.

This kids' peers (and eventual competition for getting into medical school from his undergrad class) at CWRU will be putting their noses down to the grindstone. I went to Case. It is a serious pre-med culture.


Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 09:53     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
My son is a first year at CWRU and he did not do his first semester in Madrid, I’m in a group with other first year parents, a few of whom had children participate in this program. This was the first year for the program so while there were some kinks to work out, most of the parents said their children enjoyed the experience. I think there were about 25 CWRU students this past fall.

However, there is one (annoyingly) vocal parent who has done nothing but complain about the program. Her child is premed and she says they are essentially behind a semester with the premed requirements because none is the Madrid classes count toward the premed requirements. I wouldn’t have expected those classes to count towards the premed requirements but who knows what she was told. She also complained about the food and the fact that her daughter didn’t have access to a kitchen to cook her own food.

I do take everything she says with a grain of salt but just wanted to put that out there. All of the other Madrid parents have been lovely.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 09:40     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:Kid received an offer to spend the Fall semester at CWRU in Madrid, before the Spring Semester at CWRU in Cleveland. The offer comes with merit scholarship for 8 semesters. All tuition and room & board pay to CWRU like usual, with the travel expenses to and from Madrid being the extra. Anyone has any experience in this?


how much?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 09:31     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
TheSpanishDoctor wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'd be worried that my kid would refuse to come back.


A classmate in college mentioned somewhat apologetically that she might look a bit older than the rest of us. It was her second time in undergrad. The first time she went off to Paris for study abroad—single—and came back six years later divorced.


Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 09:26     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
I think this is really kid dependent. Yours has plenty of great options, including this offer from CWRU. I wouldn’t automatically rule it out. How does your child feel about the possibility?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 09:05     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
I have a relative who did first semester in Spain with a different school not knowing Spanish and they had a good experience— used it as a base for visiting all over Europe too (low cost airlines mean for $50 you can fly lots of places for the weekend and find a fun hostel)

I actually think it might be good timing for pre-med (if you want a semester abroad) because by junior year it may be difficult to go away and still meet all your requirements?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 08:53     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:Kid received an offer to spend the Fall semester at CWRU in Madrid, before the Spring Semester at CWRU in Cleveland. The offer comes with merit scholarship for 8 semesters. All tuition and room & board pay to CWRU like usual, with the travel expenses to and from Madrid being the extra. Anyone has any experience in this?


Is this something they can opt into, or mandatory if they want to attend CWRU?
If the first, then why not?
If the second, then no...it is like a wait-list option, better to move on.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 08:28     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
One thing to check is the trajectory of tuition at CWRU. Last spring, they said that they had just raised it by 10% and to expect yearly increases in the 4-6% range. It’s actually going up again by 6.5% for the coming year (62k to 66k). Merit scholarships do not increase yearly.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2024 08:14     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:As a freshman? Seems like odd timing. When I was in college, most people studied abroad junior year. Maybe it has to do with how the curriculum is structured in your child’s major?

I loved studying abroad and the city of Madrid and wouldn’t rule it out without strong consideration, especially since the tuition is the same.


"First semester freshman year abroad" is a thing a lot of schools are doing and I think it's to ease their freshman housing problems more than to benefit the students.

This makes sense. But would a lot more housing necessarily open up in the 2nd semester?

OP, is the acceptance conditioned upon him going to Madrid, or is it just presented as an option? I would have been inclined to see it as a benefit rather than a drawback at that age, but not everyone would be interested
TheSpanishDoctor
Post 04/13/2024 07:42     Subject: CWRU in Madrid
Anonymous wrote:I'd be worried that my kid would refuse to come back.


A classmate in college mentioned somewhat apologetically that she might look a bit older than the rest of us. It was her second time in undergrad. The first time she went off to Paris for study abroad—single—and came back six years later divorced.